Brown urged to scrap A-levels

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Former chief schools inspector Sir Mike Tomlinson, who proposed a similar baccalaureate system in a 2004 review, said there was a new "willingness" in Government to look at the issue.

Sir Mike said the Government's 14-19 diploma, focusing on vocational skills, "enhanced" the division between academic and non-academic qualifications.

The first pupils will begin the diplomas next year in five subject areas; including construction and engineering.

Sir Mike said he believes his recommendations were shelved partly because of fears that scrapping A-levels would have cost votes at the 2005 general election.

"There continue to be serious questions about A-levels, the extent to which they are the gold standard and the extent to which they do the job they were initially set out to do," he told BBC Radio 4's The World At One.

He said: "The Prime Minister is very concerned about skill levels and very keen to find ways of enhancing them."

He has not spoken to Mr Brown since he entered Number 10 but said the Government will conduct a review of his report next year.

Labour former education secretary Baroness Morris said she hoped the Prime Minister would move towards an integrated qualification. She told The World At One: "He's the right man for the right time as far as this is concerned and I very much hope that he looks at this and is really radical."

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokeswoman said there were no plans to scrap the existing A-level qualifications.