To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many pupils obtained five O-level/higher grade GCSE passes which included mathematics, English, a science, a foreign language and history or geography each year since 1973; and what proportion they represent of the cohort.

The numbers of 16-year-old pupils in schools in England who obtained five or more GCSE passess at grades A to C including each of those subjects or combinations of subjects requested, in the academic year 1988–89 was 81,050–13·1 per cent. of all 16-year-olds, and in 1989–90 it was 79,470–13·7 per cent. Information is not available centrally in the form requested for academic years prior to 1988–89.