Tories unveil new plans for A-levels

A radical bid to tackle the problem of "grade inflation" in A-levels and GCSEs is to be unveiled by the Tories.

The Conservatives are to announce plans to give the examinations watchdog full independence from ministers.

Shadow education and health secretary Tim Yeo believes urgent action is necessary to stop academic achievements becoming devalued.

He said there was a big "question mark" over figures that have seen marks at Alevel and GCSE steadily going up for years.

He added: "There is a suspicion that some of these results are not quite as robust as they need to be in what is a much more competitive world."

Mr Yeo plans to hand "much greater independence" to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, effectively taking the body out of Whitehall control and freeing it from ministerial interference.

He likened the move - part of a drive to establish the Tories as a serious contender to Labour on public services - to Gordon Brown's ground-breaking decision to hand the Bank of England full independence in setting interest rates.

The Chancellor's move in May 1997 was described by Mr Yeo, in an interview with the Evening Standard, as "one of the great successes of this Government".

He said: "With something as important as examination results it ought to be possible to take the politics out of it.

"In a way, as secretary of state, I might be quite proud if for the first time in 25 years I announced a deterioration in results. That would show not necessarily a worsening performance by pupils or teachers. It might show standards have been made tougher."

Mr Yeo also admitted that the Tories had lost the argument over tuition fees - despite the mauling inflicted on the Government by Labour backbenchers. He said it was a mistake to have claimed that universities could be provided with the necessary billions

of pounds extra simply by capping student numbers.

"I don't think that was a sustainable claim - and we abandoned it," he said.

But Mr Yeo added: "That does not include the principle that fees would be charged - tuition fees or top-up fees. There'll be no fees. That was a commitment we made last year and it's one we want to honour."