Level 2 Attainment

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of people aged 19 achieved level 2 by (a) the age of 16 including English and mathematics and (b) by the age of 19 including English and mathematics in each year since 1997. (124834)

We do not currently have information on level 2 attainment by age 19 including English and Maths.

The proportion of pupils achieving 5+ GCSEs at grades A*-C including English and maths by the age of 16 are given in table 1.

*Table 1: proportion of pupils aged 15*¹ *achieving 5+ A*-C including English and maths*
	Percentage of pupils aged 15 achieving 5+ A-C inc. English and maths*
1997	35.6
1998	37.0
1999	38.6
2000	40.0
2001	40.7
2002	42.1
2003	41.9
2004	42.6
2005	44.3
2006	45.3
¹ Pupils aged 15 at the start of the academic year (i.e. 31 August).

The proportion of young people qualified to level 2 by age and cohort is given in table 2.

*Table 2: proportion of young people qualified to level 2 or higher, by age and cohort*
	Percentage
	Attained level 2+ by age:
Cohort	16¹	17	18	19	20	21	Population²
19 in 2004	49.2	56.1	62.0	66.3	69.1	71.1	614,560
19 in 2005	50.3	58.5	64.9	69.3	72.0	n/a	618,400
19 in 2006	52.2	60.1	67.1	71.4	n/a	n/a	631,890
19 in 2007	53.0	62.2	70.4	n/a	n/a	n/a	652,180
19 in 2008	55.5	64.9	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	645,400
19 in 2009	57.2	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	656,210
n/a = Data not available. ¹ Estimates at age 16 differ from other published figures on the attainment of pupils aged 15 in schools and colleges because different denominators are used and matching means the numerators are not quite the same. ² The population is the size of the cohort at academic age 14, taken from the Annual Schools Census count for the relevant year. For example, the 19 in 2006 population (people aged 18 on 31 August 2005) is the number of pupils aged 14 on 31 August 2001.

Volume 461: debated on Monday 4 June 2007