Exams will not be taking place this year it has been confirmed.

Speaking in the House of Commons this lunchtime, Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said that GCSE and A-level examinations will not be held in the spring and summer.

Mr Williamson said they had "learned lessons" from last summer, adding that the fairest way to assess students amid the impact of the pandemic would be to not hold examinations.

Instead teacher assessments will determine grades, with training to be put in place to ensure they are "fair and consistent" across the country.

However, schools and colleges offering vocational courses would have a choice of whether to run exams - but should "not feel pressure to provide this."

Mr Williamson thanked teachers and school staff for the work they were doing to continue to provide education to children across the country, both in school to children of key workers and the vulnerable, and remotely to pupils learning from home.

He also paid tribute to the parents and carers who were helping this happen.

He said schools were legally required to provide between three and five hours of education for children each day, depending on their age group, and this was being enforced by Ofsted.

Mr Williamson said that to help this it was hoped that three quarters of a million laptops and tablets would have been delivered to schools by the end of next week, to distribute to children without access to digital devices, with 46 routers provided to children without access to the internet.

And he confirmed that funding would be provided for schools to continuing providing free meals to eligible children not in school - and for those unable to do this then a voucher scheme would be in place.