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National Curriculum Tests

I understand my hon. Friend's concerns. I am pleased that she supports the decisions that we have made on key stage 3. However, at level 4, GCSE, the qualifications are managed, marked and processed by a combination of private and charitable companies. They do that well and with objectivity. In today's statement we have strengthened teacher assessment at key stage 3, as we have already done at key stage 1. However, in my judgment, parents want the same certainty at key stage 2, at the end of primary school, that they currently get with GCSE qualifications. Asking schools to take on the burden of marking all those scripts would not be popular with our teaching profession and would not be the right thing to do for parents. That is why we have not gone down the road of teaching assessment at key stage 2.