Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2021 to Question 1192, what plans he has to make changes to SATS tests in the 2020-21 academic year in terms of (a) content, and (b) the collation of results to facilitate their use as a diagnostic assessment of lost learning rather than as a test of progress; and whether he plans for those results to be used to rank schools' performance.

The Department has no plans to make changes to the content of primary assessments planned to take place in the 2021/22 academic year. The purpose of the National Curriculum assessments is to determine pupil attainment in relation to the National Curriculum. They enable parents to understand the performance of their child with respect to national expectations.

Primary assessments are different from qualifications, where it is essential that we try to account for lost education given the importance of the outcomes for the next stages of education and employment. The assessments will help identify the impact on pupil attainment of lost time in education and, although not designed as fully diagnostic assessments, will support schools in planning the appropriate next steps for teaching. As a result, it would not be appropriate to change the content of primary assessments as this would provide only a partial picture of pupil attainment.

The Department is considering possible approaches to school accountability data in the 2021/22 academic year and plan to confirm details in due course.