The Working Group for 14–19 Reform was chaired by Mike Tomlinson, former Chief Inspector of Schools at Ofsted.
In other words, examinations were seen to be getting easier, a theory partly supported by increasingly impressive results, year-on-year throughout the 1990s.
Most notably absent from the government's white paper was the Working Group's suggestion for an overarching diploma system.
In the run up to a General Election, and in the face of strong resistance from the Confederation of British Industry, they chose to reform existing qualifications by making them harder, and more clearly tied to basic skills.
These were: Construction and the Built Environment; Creative and Media; Engineering; Information Technology; and Social, Development and Health.