IA National Data Service – April 2021 Data Update

Economy & Employment

Claimant Count (Mar 2021) and Annual Population Survey – APS – (Jan 2020-Dec 2020) were last updated on the 20th of April. All affected reports were published by the 29th of April.

As a quick reminder, the Annual Population Survey is a residence-based labour market survey encompassing population, economic activity (employment and unemployment), economic inactivity and qualifications. These are broken down where possible by gender, age, ethnicity, industry and occupation. Available at Local Authority level and above. The APS is updated quarterly.

Education

Key Stage 5 Results for the academic year 2019/20 were released. This release has been uploaded as a new dataset in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the exams were cancelled and the results were awarded by a centre assessment grade (based on what the school or college believed the student would most likely have achieved) or their calculated grade using a model developed by Ofqual – whichever was the higher of the two. The statistics have increased as a result of this awarding method – more than would be expected in a typical year – between the 2018/19 and 2019/20 academic years. This reflects the change to the way grades were awarded rather than improvements in pupil performance. As a result, the 2019/20 data should not be directly compared to attainment data from previous years to measure changes in student performance. For these specific reasons, the measures for Key Stage 5 in 2018/19 e the same measures for 2019/20 are now two separate datasets. Furthermore, the department decided to not publish value-added measures, as these measures are calculated by a model that is based on national averages. Considering the awarding method, the estimated model would not measure the progress made by a pupil in a meaningful or accurate manner. However, for consistency and transparency, the remaining headline measures were reported in this statistical release (amongst others):

• Attainment in terms of Average Point Score (APS) per entry for A level (subset of Academic), Applied General, Tech Level, and Technical Certificate exam cohorts

• English and maths progress

For additional information, please consult the website:

A level and other 16 to 18 results, Academic Year 2019/20 – Explore education statistics – GOV.UK (explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk)