Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether (a) she and (b) her predecessor had discussions with representatives of the agricultural and horticultural sectors on the potential effect on skills and recruitment into those sectors of the proposals to remove OCR environmental and land-based science from the curriculum; and if she will make a statement.

The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), the independent regulator of qualifications in England, consulted recently on proposals for completing the reforms of GCSEs and A levels (http://comment.ofqual.gov.uk/completing-gcse-as-and-a-level-reform/), including principles to guide the subjects that may be offered in the future. The consultation closed on 30 July 2014 and Ofqual have not yet announced the outcome. These proposals do not remove specific subjects from the curriculum; however, they may have implications for the range of subjects available as GCSE or A level qualifications provided by awarding organisations. The removal of some qualifications may be as a result of low take up of specific qualifications or significant overlap of content. As Ofqual is independent of Ministers, and is accountable directly to Parliament, neither the Secretary of State nor her predecessor have therefore discussed the proposals with agriculture and horticulture representatives, although they were able to respond to the consultation directly. I have asked Ofqual’s Chief Regulator, Glenys Stacey, to write to the Hon. Member. A copy of her letter will be placed in the House of Commons Library.