Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with (a) AQA and (b) other examination boards on ensuring the continuance of A-level archaeology on the curriculum.

Officials at the Department held a range of discussions with the A level exam boards on this issue as soon as AQA made clear that it did not intend to continue developing a new A level in archaeology. However, it is for individual examination boards to decide which qualifications to offer and we regret that no board has come forward that is willing to develop a new A level in archaeology for teaching from 2017.

However, the option for an exam board to develop qualifications in this subject in future will remain open.