Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department plans to make the secondary legislation on the multiplication tables check.

The department amended the Education Order 2003 (National Curriculum, Key Stage 2 Assessment Arrangements, England) in 2019 to make provision for the statutory administration of the multiplication tables check (MTC). This is for all eligible year 4 pupils from the 2019/20 academic year. Due to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the department cancelled all primary assessments including the MTC in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 academic years, and disapplied the legislation for these assessments for these two academic years.

The department has confirmed that statutory primary assessments will take place in the 2021/22 academic year, including the MTC.