The Department works closely with the Implementation Review Unit (IRU), an independent group of front-line practitioners, to ensure that the bureaucratic and work load implications of both new and existing policies are kept under review, and to a minimum. Most recently, the IRU have been remitted to conduct a review of obstacles to effective delivery of government policies which is due to report late spring. We have also made a number of commitments to the Merits Committee and are managing better the impact of new policies on schools.
In answer to the second part of the question, since the removal of the key stage 3 national tests the national performance standards for schools have remained constant in the last 12 months.