Education: Finance

Mr. Laws
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families pursuant to the answer of 20 October 2009, Official Report, columns 1408-9W, on education: finance, how much of the allocation to Making Good Progress will be spent on the single level tests; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Coaker
The Department has allocated a total of £5.22 million to the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency during the financial year 2009-10 to develop and administer single level tests (SLTs). This covers funding for SLTs as part of the Making Good Progress pilot, which ran until July 2009, and for the extended SLT pilot, announced in the Department’s response to the Expert Group on Assessment’s report. Funding has not been confirmed yet for the financial year 2010-11.

In addition the Department is allocating in 2009-10 a participation allowance to schools participating in the extended SLT pilot of £2 per pupil to support participation in evaluation activity. £0.4 million has been allocated in this financial year for the independent evaluation of the MGP pilot (which includes SLTs) and of the extended SLT pilot.