Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg has confirmed that the Labour Party is broadly in agreement with the coalition over proposed changes to the National Curriculum for primary school pupils.

The government has announced plans to improve arithmetic skills among children in primary. As part of this move, the government has scrapped the approach currently used for Sats tests and to measure pupil ability.

Additionally, the government - as it has previously stated - has made a conscious effort to ensure that pupils' basic skills in course subjects improve.

These reforms have been welcomed by Mr Twigg, who said: "Labour supports a strong focus on the core subjects of English, maths and science from an early age, as well as making learning a foreign language compulsory from age seven."

He has, however, called on the coalition to ensure that "it bases its reforms not on ideology, but on what works in the classroom".

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