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Sutherland Inquiry

If hon. Members had taken time to read the report, they would have found that the answers are right here on the page. I am afraid that their questions betray the fact that they have not yet had time to study the report. We have asked the OGC to implement Lord Sutherland's recommendation that in future we should ensure that such information comes to light. When the information came to light in May, as the hon. Gentleman knows, I had a phone call and a meeting with Mr. Ken Boston, who assured me in a meeting on 2 June that things were on track with the delivery of the tests in 2008. The hon. Gentleman asked what Ministers did, and I just say again that in February, March, April, June and July, Ministers were informed by DCSF officials that there were concerns. [Interruption.] I will state what Lord Sutherland says, because he conducted the independent review:"““On this basis, ministers usually pressed QCA's Chief Executive for answers.””—[Interruption.]" Well, the word ““usually”” means that that is what they did, and that is what we did on 2 June and 17 June. Lord Sutherland continues:"““At this point, because information was not being escalated within QCA effectively, ministers were given strong reassurances by QCA that all was on track.””" The assurance I gave the hon. Gentleman was the assurance we were receiving from the QCA. It was the responsible body and it had the remit to deliver those tests. It failed to deliver that remit, as Lord Sutherland's report—[Interruption.] Well, I advise the hon. Member for Beverley and Holderness (Mr. Stuart) to read the report; as a Select Committee member, I am sure he will. We did not take the advice of Conservative Members, however. We did not take the advice of the Leader of the Opposition, who throughout July repeatedly called on us to sack summarily the contractor, ETS. As the legal advice made clear to me, if we had done so we would have been in a legal dispute with ETS, and we would not have got the £24 million back to the taxpayer, which we secured in August. Throughout July, Opposition Members, having made no comment on this matter at all until May, grandstanded time and again, calling for steps that would have cost the taxpayer millions of pounds. We did the proper thing, which was to ignore their calls, their grandstanding and their irresponsibility; instead, we did the right thing by the taxpayer, and that is what I am determined to do. The fact is that, as Lord Sutherland's report makes clear, there was a delivery failure by the QCA. The leaders of the QCA and of the part of it that delivered the test, the NAA, have both now been suspended. There are a number of recommendations, all of which will be implemented in full. That will not repair the damage of the tests this year, and I cannot take away the inconvenience suffered by pupils and teachers. What I can do, however, is take seriously the conclusions of an independent inquiry that clearly says where the blame lies, and act upon that to ensure that in future we return to the way things were before ETS Europe, with a proper delivery of tests in our country.