Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he make an assessment of the potential merits of cancelling the GCSE examinations due to take place in 2021 in response to Year 11 pupils potentially having been disadvantaged by the (a) mass disruption to pupils and teachers and (b) amount of school teaching time lost as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Exams are the best and fairest way of judging students’ performance, and it is our intention that next year’s GCSE exam series will go ahead.

The Department is working with Ofqual to engage with the sector to develop contingency plans in the event that disruption as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak affects students’ ability to sit exams. Following a period of engagement, more detail will be published later in the autumn.

We have announced a number of measures to help schools and pupils make up for lost teaching time caused by the disruption to education this year, including extra time to prepare for exams next summer, and a catch-up package worth £1 billion: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/billion-pound-covid-catch-up-plan-to-tackle-impact-of-lost-teaching-time.