Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of students who have taken up computer science as an option in the EBacc in each of the last five years.

Computer science has been included in the science element of the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) since 2014. To enter the EBacc science pillar, pupils can enter core and additional science GCSE; enter GCSE science double award; or enter three single sciences at GCSE. The single sciences are biology, chemistry, computer science and physics.

A time series of the total number of entries in GCSE computer science for the last three years is published as part of the “Revised GCSE and equivalent results in England: 2014 to 2015 (revised)” statistical first release (SFR).[1]

[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/502685/SFR01_2016_Subject_Timeseries.xls (“Subject time series tables: SFR01/2016” document)