Written question asked by Baroness Cash (Conservative) on Thursday, 10 September 2026, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 24 September 2026. It was answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 October 2026 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Secondary Education: Reform

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government why they decided to reform Progress 8 and Attainment 8 notwithstanding the recommendation of the curriculum and assessment review that Progress 8 be retained with no change to its structure or subject composition; and what evidence informed that decision.

Answer: The government accepted the Curriculum and Assessment Review's recommendation that Progress 8 should remain the headline key stage 4 performance measure. The government subsequently consulted on possible reforms to the composition of Progress 8 and Attainment 8 and is currently considering the consultation responses. The government will publish its response to the consultation in due course. There was no available Progress 8 data in 2025 because prior attainment data was not available for that cohort. The department has therefore not undertaken modelling of the effect of proposed breadth slots on the ranking of the 50 schools with the highest Progress 8 scores in 2025.

Secondary information