Treasury holds the key to door

The truth behind A-level statistics is less than reassuring for the state sector: 44 per cent of pupils who gain three A levels come from the 7 per cent who attend independent schools, whereas 56 per cent come from the 93 per cent who attend state schools. These statistics are alarming and take no account of the fact that many academics already have serious doubts about the validity of A levels as a measure of intellectual attainment.

William Bedford. Welholme Avenue, Grimsby.