Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he requested data on the effect of the algorithm generated 2020 A-level results on the attainment gap between the date his Department received those results results and the publication of those results.

The Department was made aware of provisional data showing the impact of the proposed awarding process on attainment gaps between different groups of students shortly before Ofqual published those data in July 2020. The provisional data showed that there would generally be no widening of the gaps in attainment between different groups of students as a result of the proposed awarding process. The Department was provided with finalised data shortly before A and AS level results day as part of the standard pre-release of results, and this confirmed that this position had not changed.