There is "no quantified evidence" about whether threatening to close schools affects their pupils' performance, the National Audit Office says.

Its report on the use of rewards and sanctions in the public sector said people believed there was an effect but those judgements were subjective.

Whilst value added measures of school performance were good practice, "threshold" measures, such as the proportion getting good GCSEs, could distort schools' behaviour.

The report noted that people needed to be able to affect the outcome if they were to be motivated by some sanction or reward. Unless a person can expect their actions to affect the outcome, the stick approach provides little motivation to strive for the desired levels of performance.

The audit office also noted that simplistic targets could distort what went on in the education system.

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