Written question asked by Lord Hammond of Runnymede (Conservative) on Thursday, 16 December 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 21 December 2004. It was answered by Stephen Twigg (Labour) on Tuesday, 21 December 2004 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, what reason she has adduced for the decline in Britain's place from eighth to eighteenth in the league table under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment in respect of mathematics; what reason she has adduced for the decline in Britain's place from seventh to eleventh in the league table under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment in respect of reading; what reason she has adduced for the decline in Britain's place from fourth to eleventh in the league table under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment in respect of science.

Answer: Mr. Hammond: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what reason she has adduced for the decline in Britain's place from eighth to eighteenth in the league table under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment in respect of mathematics; [206799] (2) what reason she has adduced for the decline in Britain's place from seventh to eleventh in the league table under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment in respect of reading; [206800] (3) what reason she has adduced for the decline in Britain's place from fourth to eleventh in the league table under the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment in respect of science. [206801] Mr. Stephen Twigg: It is the view of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the body overseeing the running of PISA, that the data for the United Kingdom from the 2003 study cannot be reliably compared with other countries' scores or with UK PISA results from 2000. It would therefore not be appropriate to try to construct rankings for the UK against the advice of the OECD, still less to draw conclusions from doing so.

Secondary information