Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 9 March 2015 to Question 226295, what assessment her Department has made of the appropriateness of decisions taken by individual awarding organisations on the future of particular A levels; and what guidance she provided to those organisations on that issue.

In June 2014 Ofqual consulted on a set of proposals about how GCSE and A level subject availability should be determined from September 2017. The consultation can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/377804/2014-06-24-completing-gcse-as-and-a-level-reform.pdf

Ofqual’s consultation set out the proposed process for reform and principles it would use to determine if a subject is likely to lead to the development of the GCSE, AS and A level qualifications. Ofqual’s consultation states that exam boards are likely to take the opportunity to review their range of subjects.

Ofqual will announce in due course which A levels can be reformed for introduction in 2017.