Education secretary @GavinWilliamson will be taking questions from @CommonsEd this morning. Stay tuned for live tweets #edselctte

Here we go. @halfon4harlowMP begins by asking @GavinWilliamson about continuing partial closures and track and trace #edselctte

Williamson says 99.9% of schools have welcomed children back, but government has "always been conscious" people would need more access to testing, and has opened ordering system for schools to order more home testing kits #edselctte

Williamson says he met with test and trace boss Baroness Harding to raise concerns expressed by schools about turnaround.

@halfon4harlowMP asks for a "testing guarantee" - wants Williamson to pledge tests for all staff and pupils who need them within 48 hours #edselctte

Williamson pivots to talk again about home testing kits (schools were given just 10 each). Says reason he met with Harding was to emphasise importance of having swift tests available #edselctte

Williamson keeps mentioning the stock of tests sent to schools. He also emphasises that only those with symptoms who should get tests - for example if a cohort sent home because only one child has symptoms, only the symptomatic child should get a test #edselctte

Moving on to exams, @halfon4harlowMP asks about "triple lock" announcement on August 12 and why govt instructed Ofqual to proceed despite concerns raised by the regulator #edselctte

Williamson says govt "wanted to do everything we can do to ensure youngsters were in the best possible position and that any unfairness that potentially there was...we wanted to make sure there was a system that was as open as generous as possible" #edselctte

Asked whether he still felt results would be fair the day before results were released, Williamson says "absolutely", but said there was "always a concern" that some students wouldn't get the grades "they truly deserve" #edselctte

Halfon asks Williamson to define the legal relationship between the DfE and Ofqual. Williamson says they are more answerable to parliament than to ministers - says he can issue directions but they don't have to follow them #edselctte

Asked if he thinks Ofqual got it wrong, prompting Collier's resignation, Williamson says they "came forward with a good solid set of policies", but reality when it came to the awarding "the idea of calculated grades wasn't something that was going to be acceptable" #edselctte

Williamson is also asked if senior officials in the DfE got it wrong (prompting perm sec's resignation). He says all political parties (mentions Labour) reached the same policy decision. He is prompted to answer the question but again doesn't do so #edselctte

Williamson says the decision of the Ofqual chief regulator to resign "was a decision that she reached with the board". Asked to say in one word whether he was happy with advice from officials, Williamson provides a long sentence instead #edselctte

Williamson is asked whether he asked Ofqual to retract its statement on definition of "valid mock exams". Again, he doesn't answer. He confirms he approved the statement that went up "but we'd always wanted to see if it could be enhanced and improved" #edselctte

Williamson said it became "increasingly clear that an appeal system no matter how robust how wide was not going to be sufficient" #edselctte

Asked again if he asked Ofqual to remove the statement on valid mocks from its website, Williamson says "no" #edselctte

"At every stage I think everyone was taking the steps to ensure there was maximum fairness for all youngsters," says Williamson #edselctte

Halfon asks if DfE will publish or authorise Ofqual to release minutes of "all relevant meetings submissions and emails" between the DfE and Ofqual since late March. He says he's "very happy" to work with the committee "as to what information is required" #edselctte

Asked specifically if DfE will release briefing for Number 10 policy unit on August 7, Williamson says it "probably wouldn't something that would be included". Again, no specific commitments to release documents #edselctte

Here's @IanMearnsMP. He asks about Ofqual's "options paper" from March and Ofqual's claim that Williamson announced the exams approach without further consultation with Ofqual #edselctte

Williamson says prior to March 16 when infections were rising he asked Ofqual to look at different options. Says options paper had 11 options in it, and it has been shared with the committee #edselctte

Williamson is asked at what stage it became clear that the algorithm would result in around 40% of grades being downgraded.

He instead starts talking through the options presented by Ofqual

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Asked who took the decision to discount the 10 options not used. Williamson says Ofqual felt there were only three viable options, and it was decided that exams couldn't go ahead as planned or be delayed to September. Again, he doesn't say who made the decision #edselctte

Williamson is asked if Ofqual's reputation is now "damaged beyond repair". Williamson starts talking about why Ofqual was set up.

"I think what we both failed to recognise was the fact we weren't in peacetime but in a very different situation"

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Williamson says some of the systems and structures that were historically in place "were not always best designed for when you're in that global pandemic".

He still hasn't answered the question

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Williamson is asked if there were any ministerial directions he wished Ofqual had taken more notice of.

He says he was glad Ofqual changed its appeals process, but "the biggest issue was there were too many youngsters with a grade that didn't reflect their efforts" #edselctte

Asked if the problems could have been avoided by going ahead with socially-distanced exams, Williamson says "we weren't in a position where we'd have been able to run those exams" #edselctte

"What people wanted in March was certainty," says Williamson, who says his "biggest worry" if exams had gone ahead in June or September is that disadvantaged pupils "would suffer the most" #edselctte

Halfon goes back to the statement issued by Ofqual on August 15, Williamson confirmed it was cleared by the DfE. He says Ofqual did "an amazing amount of work", and he would "rather one set of appeals than no set of appeals" #edselctte

Asked again whether he asked Ofqual to change the statement, Williamson says he had hoped "there was a possibility to revise that and open the terms a little bit wider" #edselctte

Williamson is asked if DfE had sufficient oversight of how standardisation process was working. He instead talks again about how 4 nations reached roughly the same policy conclusions #edselctte

Williamson is asked whether DfE needs more oversight of impact of standardisation in future. He says "we do need to have those discussions", and Ofqual "have been open to the idea of changing their approach and how they work with the department" #edselctte

Asked about home-educated pupils, Williamson says there "wasn't a policy fix" to provide an "easy answer" for those pupils. Says autumn series of exams is going ahead in part to help private candidates #edselctte

Asked about schools that deflated their own grades, Williamson says this was why it was important that the autumn series is going ahead. "We felt that that was the best form of appeal" #edselctte

Williamson says from a policy point of view it's "not realistic" to start allowing schools to resubmit their centre-assessment grades #edselctte

. @IanMearnsMP up again. He says ministers are constantly telling us there are more children in good or outstanding schools, "and yet we're not expected to have any significant level of grade inflation" #edselctte

Mearns says as a result of "prime directive" that there be no grade inflation, there are inconsistencies.

"Why aren't we allowed to have grade inflation?" he asks

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Williamson says the government DOES allow grade inflation - points out more youngsters got As and A*s under calculated grades #edselctte

Asked how govt responded to warnings from the committee and @JonColes01 about the algorithm, Williamson says he listened to concerns and there was an emergency meeting with Ofqual. Says those concerns drove changes to the appeals system #edselctte

Asked about decision to keep league tables for this year, Williamson says he's "incredibly conscious" of broader pressures on schools. But says it's "important that we do start to look towards the future" in terms of measures of accountability #edselctte

On exams in 2021, Williamson claims govt is doing the "absolute maximum" to ensure youngsters are not disadvantaged #edselctte

. @KimJohnsonMP asks what advice he was given by former perm sec Jonathan Slater gave about direction taken, and why PM felt there was a need for fresh leadership #edselctte

(He doesn't answer) #edselctte

More questions about exams in 2021 now. Williamson is asked to reassure students that changes published so far are final. He says govt has "no plans on regular curriculum change" #edselctte

Here DfE acting perm sec @SusanAclandHood says ahead of next year's exams, DfE is being "very attentive" in terms of lost learning and supporting schools on catch up #edselctte

She says a "firm stake in the ground" is that DfE will do "absolute utmost to make sure exams take place effectively next summer" #edselctte

Asked about possibility of delaying exams to later in the summer of 2021, @GavinWilliamson says it's under "active consideration and discussion" #edselctte

Williamson says DfE is "also planning for the fact that there may need to be a different approach in terms of creating additional capacity within schools and wider use of public buildings for exam centres if that is required and needed in local communities" #edselctte

Williamson is asked about suggestion of online exams. He says govt "will look at making sure there's back-ups for exams" so "hypothetically" in a local areas that can't have them, govt will be "making sure we do have a back-up", but there "aren't any algorithm plans" #edselctte

Williamson is asked when govt will announce 2021 exam timetable. "I think very shortly. Definitely the month of October" #edselctte

Asked whether DfE performed well in setting "clear standards and expectations" in terms of remote learning and checks on pupils, Williamson talks about guidance issued to schools in July and "innovations" like the Oak National Academy #edselctte

Williamson says he's seen schools responding "brilliantly", but he wants to "drive up consistency across the board to make sure that all schools are doing an absolute minimum" #edselctte

Asked if he regrets not getting Ofsted more involved in inspections during the pandemic, Williamson says DfE has "particularly targeted" vulnerable children and encouraged them back into schools #edselctte

Williamson says he's been pleased with collaboration between schools and social workers. Says he'd like to see more social workers based in schools #edselctte

Williamson is asked if he's confident there will be enough tutors to deliver the national tutoring programme "all over the country". He says DfE is working with the EEF "to ensure that's the case" #edselctte

Williamson says he wants to thank "all those teachers, all those teaching assistants, all those support staff...who have just done so much" #edselctte

Williamson is asked when the SEND review will be published. He says it will be "reporting later than I would have liked to have seen it", but "it will be in the early part of next year" #edselctte

Asked whether DfE will help schools cover additional cost. He mentions measures that were in place before the summer, and DfE will keep that "under review" #edselctte

Asked whether pupil premium should be "more ringfenced", Williamson says "I think we need to ensure it's always focused on driving the attainment of children it was designed for" #edselctte

Asked whether govt will consider an annual catch-up fund, Williamson says "I don't think we'll get into spending review just yet" #edselctte

And that's it. Thanks for following #edselctte