Johnson 'buried primary test results'

The Labour leadership contender Alan Johnson was at the centre of a row over spin yesterday in the wake of this year's poor primary school test results.

A series of e-mails showed civil servants at the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) repeatedly warned the figures should not be released on the same day as GCSE results. However, they were overruled and told that the Education Secretary's special advisers "positively want" the two sets of results to be released together.

The two sets of results - one showing a rise in the GCSE pass rate and the other showing a fall in reading standards among both seven and 11-year-olds - were published at exactly the same time (9.30am on Thursday, 24 August). This has already led to speculation that it was an attempt to make sure "bad news" was not widely reported like that by the special adviser Jo Moore, who suggested that the 11 September 2001 terror attacks in the United States represented "a good day to bury bad news".

The e-mails show two employees in the communications department of the DfES had expressed their concerns over the timing of the results - leading Conservatives to claim the episode had the "whiff" of earlier spin scandals.

The timing of the row is embarrassing for Mr Johnson, who has already declared his intention of challenging for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party when John Prescott resigns and is thought by some to be a possible alternative to Gordon Brown as leader.

Tracey Beams, from the strategic communications planning unit, and Ruma Multani, a DfES press officer, both raised concerns in e-mails about the decision. Ms Multani said: "We can't publish the GCSE and KS1 and 2 primary school stats (the results of tests for seven and 11-year-olds) on the same day. Last year we did the KS results on the 23rd and the GCSE results on the 25th. Can't we do them a couple of days before the GCSE results? Also, we usually hold a press briefing for the KS results in which case ministers will not want them on the same day."

But Andrew McCully, DfES director of school standards, replied, saying the release of the results had already been discussed at a high level. "Ruma, this has already been discussed with special advisers," he said. "We positively want it to be the 24th."

The next message - sent two days later - showed that this intervention ended the matter. Ms Beames wrote: "On this basis - happy with 24 August for KS1/2."

The Conservative education spokesman, David Willetts. said that, as a result of the e-mails, he had written to the Statistics Commission, which had already investigated the timing of the results, asking it to tell the DfES not to publish the two together in future. "Publishing all the results on the same day diminishes the scope for public scrutiny," he said.

"The e-mail correspondence reveals that it was special advisers, acting on behalf of ministers, and not statisticians, who determined the date of publication and pressed for a release of all three results on the same day. This has the whiff of previous scandals about 'burying bad news'."

A spokesman for the DfES added: "Publication of the data was carried out in accordance with the rules governing the publication of national statistics.The results received widespread media coverage, not least because we highlighted the data in a national press release and ministers gave interviews to national broadcasters on the subject.Statisticians invited views on the date, a variety of opinions were offered, but they made the decision."