Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to monitor the availability in schools of additional mathematics GCSE.

Some schools have historically offered additional qualifications to complement the mathematics GCSE and provide stretch and challenge for the most able students. We have not issued any explicit guidance on the teaching of these qualifications and we do not directly monitor their availability in schools.

From September 2015 a new mathematics GCSE will be taught in schools which will be more challenging, ambitious and rigorous, and will ensure that children have the mathematical skills vital to continue in higher education, training and employment. For the most able students, it will provide greater stretch while better preparing them to move on to A levels in mathematics and further mathematics.

Final decisions about whether to offer additional mathematics qualifications for the most able students following the introduction of the new GCSE rest with schools. We believe that schools and teachers are best placed to make such decisions if they consider it to be in the best interests of their students.