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2010-12
Type
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Subject
Publisher
To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reason changes to the geography GCSE are being implemented in September 2012, when updates to GCSEs in history and English literature will not be implemented until September 2013.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education for what reason changes to the geography GCSE are being implemented in September 2012, when updates to GCSEs in history and English literature will not be implemented until September 2013.
Asked by
Graham Stuart
(Conservative)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
29 February 2012
For answer on
5 March 2012
Answered on
15 March 2012
This is a matter for the statutory regulator of qualifications (the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, Ofqual). Glenys Stacey, the chief executive of Ofqual has written to my hon. Friend, and a copy of the letter has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Glenys Stacey, dated 8 March 2011:"I am writing regarding your parliamentary question about the changes to GCSE subjects (Geography, History and English literature) being implemented at different stages during the next two academic years.""As you will be aware, redeveloping qualifications to a high standard takes time. So we are dealing with this in stages—asking awarding organisations to focus on Geography first of all as this is the subject that initially caused us concern. They will then be asked to focus on the new qualifications in History and English literature with an implementation date of September 2013.""If you would like more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch."
Subjects
GCSE; Geography
Date
15 March 2012
Reference
98161; 542 c435W
House
House of Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the total number of key stage four qualifications accredited as GCSE or equivalent standard was for each academic year from 1999-2000 to date.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the total number of key stage four qualifications accredited as GCSE or equivalent standard was for each academic year from 1999-2000 to date.
Asked by
Tristram Hunt
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
20 December 2011
For answer on
10 January 2012
Answered on
12 January 2012
This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation. Glenys Stacey, its chief executive, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Glenys Stacey, dated 11 January 2012:"I am responding to your parliamentary question with regard to the qualifications we accredit.""I would like to bring your attention to two things to assist your understanding of the limits of the information we have provided.""Firstly, we only have access to information collected since 2007. We have no knowledge that data was collected in the years before Ofqual's existence. Secondly, to best answer your question, we have interpreted the concept of equivalence. That is, we have included accredited GCSEs and qualifications that are Level 1_2 or Level 2. This is the most sensible interpretation that we can use. In practice, equivalence is a little more exacting and refers to grades as well as qualifications.""You ask for information by academic year and it may that you are particularly interested in school qualifications. I should say that we don't have information here to show which of these qualifications are used in schools, but many of them won't be, because they are designed for the workplace.""The table shows the number of qualifications on the Register that are offered in England by awarding organisations and are available for pre-16 learning. This includes GCSEs and qualifications at Level 1_2 or Level 2 for Academic Years 2007/2008 to 2010/2011.""I am afraid we have not been able to fully answer your question. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need to drill down into the information further and we will endeavour to assist you."
| Academic year | |||||
| Type | Level | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 | 2010/11 |
| Basic Skills | Level 2 | 72 | 72 | 72 | 72 |
| English Other Languages | Level 2 | 36 | 36 | 39 | 39 |
| Free Standing Mathematics | Level 2 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Qualification | |||||
| Functional Skills NQF | Level 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 123 |
| Functional Skills QCF | Level 2 | 93 | 93 | 99 | 0 |
| General Certificate Secondary Education | Level 1_2 | 1,064 | 1,073 | ¹1,967 | ¹1,379 |
| General NVQ | Level 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Key Skills | Level 2 | 264 | 264 | 264 | 270 |
| NVQ | Level 2 | 204 | 222 | 168 | 129 |
| Occupational Qualification | Level 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Other General Qualification | Level 1_2 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 52 |
| Level 2 | 414 | 459 | 456 | 426 | |
| Principal Learning | Level 2 | 0 | 39 | 90 | 138 |
| Project | Level 2 | 6 | 12 | 18 | 18 |
| QCF Qualification | Level 2 | 72 | 978 | 1,958 | 3,640 |
| Vocational Qualification | Level 2 | 1119 | 1,182 | 1,092 | 650 |
| Totals | 3,371 | 4,457 | 4,324 | 5,581 | |
| ¹ There are duplicate GCSE qualifications in place during the period in which the specifications were revised. Source: National Register of Qualifications |
Subjects
Assessments; Pupils
Date
12 January 2012
Reference
88774; 538 c425-6W
House
House of Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Education which GCSE subjects are (a) tiered and (b) untiered; and whether there is variation between awarding bodies as to which GCSE subjects are tiered.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education which GCSE subjects are (a) tiered and (b) untiered; and whether there is variation between awarding bodies as to which GCSE subjects are tiered.
Asked by
Damian Hinds
(Conservative)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
16 December 2011
For answer on
20 December 2011
Answered on
10 January 2012
This is a matter for the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation and I have asked its chief executive, Glenys Stacey to write directly to my hon. Friend. A copy of her reply will be placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Glenys Stacey, dated 10 January 2012:"I am responding to your parliamentary question raised with regard to which subjects are tiered at GCSE and possible variations between awarding bodies.""I can confirm that there is no variation between awarding bodies as to which GCSE subjects are tiered. A list of subjects which are examined at foundation or higher tier and those which are examined at a single tier, are set out as follows.""If you wish to discuss this further, please do not hesitate to contact me."Single tier/Un-tieredArt and DesignBusiness SubjectsCitizenship StudiesClassical Subjects (Classical Greek)Construction and the Built EnvironmentDanceDesign and TechnologyDramaEconomicsEngineeringExpressive ArtsHealth and Social CareHistory (England and Wales only)Home EconomicsHospitality and /or CateringHumanitiesInformation and Communication Technology(ICT)LawLeisure and TourismManufacturingMedia StudiesMusicPhysical EducationPsychologyReligious StudiesSociologyTwo tiers (foundation and higher)BiologyChemistryClassical Subjects (Classical Civilisation, Classical Latin)EnglishEnglish LanguageEnglish LiteratureGeographyHistory (NI only)MathematicsModern Foreign LanguagesPhysicsScienceAdditional Applied ScienceStatisticsAdditional Science
Subjects
GCSE
Date
10 January 2012
Reference
87808; 538 c230-1W
House
House of Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures are in place to ensure examination boards adhere strictly to Ofqual's code of practice regarding the role of scrutineers in the setting of exams.
To ask the Secretary of State for Education what measures are in place to ensure examination boards adhere strictly to Ofqual's code of practice regarding the role of scrutineers in the setting of exams.
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
18 July 2011
For answer on
5 September 2011
Answered on
5 September 2011
Glenys Stacey, Ofqual's chief executive has written to the hon. Member with the information requested and a copy of the reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Glenys Stacey, dated 26 August 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary question raised in respect of measures in place to ensure examinations boards adhere to our Code of Practice regarding the role of scrutineers in the setting of exams. You will be aware that the Secretary of State has asked Ofqual to respond to this question.""I can confirm that Ofqual and the regulators in Wales and Northern Ireland jointly publish the GCSE, GCE, Principal Learning and Project Code of Practice (all of these are available on Ofqual's website for download). The Code states that:""1.11 The scrutineer is responsible for:""i. checking the final drafts of all question papers/tasks without reference to the mark schemes to ensure that the questions can be answered in the time allowed and that there are no errors and omissions;""ii. working through question papers, where appropriate;""iii. checking the mark scheme to ensure that the marks given are identical to those on the question paper;""iv. preparing a report for the awarding organisation officer.""Awarding organisations are responsible for following this Code of Practice. As part of Ofqual's regular monitoring work, various aspects of the Code are checked on the basis of risk, bearing in mind the need for our monitoring work to be proportionate.""Should awarding organisations not follow the Code of Practice, appropriate action in line with our legislative powers is put into place. This could include removal of awarding organisation status or removal of accreditation for the particular qualification. Any action taken is based on evidence and is particular to the issue being considered.""As you will also be aware, Ofqual have been alerted to concerns about examination errors in advance of and during the live examinations this summer. As a result of our concern regarding awarding organisation compliance to the Code of Practice, you will be aware that we have launched our Inquiry into examination errors and we have already invited you to submit evidence to the Inquiry if you wish. The Inquiry will take into account information and views we have already received from sources including candidates, schools and colleges, parents and student representatives and will also be gathering information from a list of interested and concerned stakeholders such as yourself.""It is intended that we will complete the Inquiry and publish our report by the end of the year.""I hope this information answers your query. However, if you would like any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me."
Subjects
Assessments
Date
5 September 2011
Reference
68162; 532 c306-7W
House
House of Commons
(4) on what date the AQA GCSE mathematics paper of 14 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the examination was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the AQA have taken in consequence;
(4) on what date the AQA GCSE mathematics paper of 14 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the examination was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the AQA have taken in consequence;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62554; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(18) what (a) the policy and (b) practice of (i) Ofqual and (ii) its predecessor has been on the collection of information on live examination errors;
(18) what (a) the policy and (b) practice of (i) Ofqual and (ii) its predecessor has been on the collection of information on live examination errors;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62572; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(9) what information he has received from Edexcel on the steps it plans to take to quantify the potential effect on examination results of the error in the biology examination of 16 May 2011;
(9) what information he has received from Edexcel on the steps it plans to take to quantify the potential effect on examination results of the error in the biology examination of 16 May 2011;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62563; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(16) on what date errors in the OCR AS-level ICT Coursework mark scheme were first identified; by whom; what steps OCR have taken in consequence; and what consideration was given to issuing an erratum notice in respect of the errors;
(16) on what date errors in the OCR AS-level ICT Coursework mark scheme were first identified; by whom; what steps OCR have taken in consequence; and what consideration was given to issuing an erratum notice in respect of the errors;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62570; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(13) which examination papers set in the examination period of May and June 2011 contained live errors; and in respect of which such papers erratum notices were issued;
(13) which examination papers set in the examination period of May and June 2011 contained live errors; and in respect of which such papers erratum notices were issued;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62567; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(14) on what date errors on the OCR mathematics paper of 26 May 2011 were first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the examination board have taken in consequence;
(14) on what date errors on the OCR mathematics paper of 26 May 2011 were first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the examination board have taken in consequence;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62568; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(15) on what date errors in the Edexcel Economics Unit 2 AS Macro paper of 27 May 2011 were first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the examination board have taken in consequence;
(15) on what date errors in the Edexcel Economics Unit 2 AS Macro paper of 27 May 2011 were first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the examination board have taken in consequence;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62569; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(10) what steps Edexcel has proposed to take to remedy issues arising from errors in its examination papers in 2011; and on what date he was notified of such proposals;
(10) what steps Edexcel has proposed to take to remedy issues arising from errors in its examination papers in 2011; and on what date he was notified of such proposals;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62564; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(12) what estimate his Department has made of the (a) potential maximum and (b) average difference to a mark issued for an examination paper in which there was a live error once the examination board has taken steps to account for the error;
(12) what estimate his Department has made of the (a) potential maximum and (b) average difference to a mark issued for an examination paper in which there was a live error once the examination board has taken steps to account for the error;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62566; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(11) how many GCSE, AS and A-level exam papers were sat between 9 and 22 June 2011; how many such papers (a) were and (b) were not double-checked for errors; and in respect of how many which had been double-checked errors were discovered while students were sitting the examinations;
(11) how many GCSE, AS and A-level exam papers were sat between 9 and 22 June 2011; how many such papers (a) were and (b) were not double-checked for errors; and in respect of how many which had been double-checked errors were discovered while students were sitting the examinations;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62565; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(8) on what date he was first informed of errors in examination questions in the Edexcel biology paper of 16 May 2011; what information Edexcel provided to him (a) at that point and (b) subsequently; what steps the examination board have taken in consequence; what estimate has been made of...
(8) on what date he was first informed of errors in examination questions in the Edexcel biology paper of 16 May 2011; what information Edexcel provided to him (a) at that point and (b) subsequently; what steps the examination board have taken in consequence; what estimate has been made of...
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62562; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(7) when Ofqual completed its additional checks on examination papers;
(7) when Ofqual completed its additional checks on examination papers;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62561; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(5) on what date the AQA AS-level computing paper of 14 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the diagram was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the AQA have taken in consequence;
(5) on what date the AQA AS-level computing paper of 14 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the diagram was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the AQA have taken in consequence;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62555; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(3) on what date the errors in the AQA business studies paper of 24 May 2011 were first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the AQA have taken in consequence;
(3) on what date the errors in the AQA business studies paper of 24 May 2011 were first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the AQA have taken in consequence;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62553; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
(2) on what date the OCR GCSE Latin paper of 20 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the examination was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the OCR have taken in consequence;
(2) on what date the OCR GCSE Latin paper of 20 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the examination was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the OCR have taken in consequence;
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62552; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons
To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) on what date the OCR A-level physics paper of 21 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the examination was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the OCR have taken in...
To ask the Secretary of State for Education (1) on what date the OCR A-level physics paper of 21 June 2011 was rechecked for errors; on what date the error in the examination was first identified; by whom; and what steps (a) he and (b) the OCR have taken in...
Asked by
Lord Mann
(Labour)
Answered by
Nick Gibb
(Conservative)
Answering body
Department for Education
Type
Written questions
Status
Answered
Tabled on
22 June 2011
For answer on
27 June 2011
Answered on
4 July 2011
The errors that have come to light in GCSEs and A Levels are extremely serious and are unacceptable. As the regulator of awarding organisations and the qualifications they offer, the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual) have taken swift and robust action to hold awarding organisations to account for these mistakes, and to check that any mistakes in as yet untaken exams are identified and put right. Ofqual will also be checking the awarding organisations' arrangements for securing redress, to ensure they are fair both to the candidates who were directly affected, and those who were not. The Secretary of State for Education has had regular updates from the chief executive of Ofqual, Glenys Stacey, on Ofqual's current action. He has also asked to be kept informed about further steps they will be taking to ensure that awarding organisations do not repeat these mistakes. Fiona Pethick, Director of Regulation at Ofqual has written to the hon. Member providing further details and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Fiona Pethick, dated 28 June 2011:"I am responding to your parliamentary questions on behalf of Glenys Stacey, the Chief Executive of the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual). Ofqual is the independent regulator of qualifications, examinations and assessments in England and of vocational qualifications in Northern Ireland.""You will be aware that a number of your parliamentary questions relating to errors in this summer's examination papers have been passed from the Secretary of State to Ofqual to answer as they fall within our regulatory remit. These errors in examination papers are unacceptable and Ofqual is taking action to understand the root cause, ensure candidates affected get as fair a result as possible, and to consider what changes may be needed in future to awarding organisation processes and procedures. Later this week we will be publishing details of our inquiry into these errors.""There are three particular areas where Ofqual is not in a position to answer your questions. First, we do not hold information ""about which specific individual or centre identified the error. Secondly, we do not hold information about the dates on which checks on examination papers were made, nor do we hold information about the numbers of papers that were or were not re-checked. (Both, ref PQ nos: 62551, 62553, 62552, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62568,). Thirdly it is not possible to estimate the maximum and average difference to a mark issued as each situation is different. (Ref PQ: 62566).""Where we are in a position to answer your questions, I have grouped our responses below by theme.""Action Ofqual has taken""(Ref PQ no: 62561)""On 7 June Ofqual wrote to all GCSE and A level awarding organisations to require them to carry out additional quality checks on examinations that had yet to be taken. Each awarding organisation provided Ofqual with written assurances by 13 June that such additional quality checks had been made or would be made before papers were taken.""When it became apparent that further, avoidable, errors had occurred, I visited OCR to discuss these errors. Glenys Stacey and I also met with the Chief Executive Officers of the Awarding Organisations delivering GCSEs and GCEs last week.""We have published two statements on our website - one specifically aimed at candidates and another setting out the action we are taking. Ofqual has also published a detailed list of the specific examination papers that have been affected so that candidates can know whether or not they are affected and to know which awarding organisation to contact if they wish for further information.""We have announced that we will publish, this week, information about our inquiry into the errors this summer to establish all the facts, identify the root causes and make recommendations for action to help ensure, so far as possible, that such avoidable errors do not happen in future.""Live errors""(Ref PQ nos: 62565, 62567)""The published examination timetables show that between 9 and 22 June this year, 438 GCSE and 345 GCE papers were scheduled.""The following papers taken by candidates in England had errors in them which were not identified and corrected before the paper was taken. The notification dates are also included.""(Ref PQ nos: 62553, 62555, 62556. 62554, 62563, 62552, 62568, 62551)"
"Of these errors, three came to light after the additional checks had been made.""You also asked a series of questions about Edexcel Biology. We understand that 17,003 candidates sat this particular paper. Only one mark is affected for this particular AS unit so it is unlikely to have a significant impact on students' future education opportunities. (Ref PQ no; 62562)""Complaints""Ofqual has received complaints in relation to two papers that are mentioned in your Parliamentary Questions. These are:""OCR GCE AS level ICT coursework. Ofqual received a complaint about this paper on 16 June 2011. We have requested a detailed response from OCR to ascertain the number of candidates potentially affected by this complaint, the timeline, the rationale for not re-issuing a corrected mark scheme and the specific instructions given to moderators. (Ref PQ no: 62570)""Edexcel GCE AS Economics paper. Ofqual received a number of complaints about this paper and Edexcel have confirmed that although the paper does not contain an error it does contain a ""question which could be answered in more than one way. Guidance has been issued to the marking team highlighting the two acceptable answers. (Ref PQ no: 62569)""Redress and actions that awarding organisations have taken""(Ref PQ no: 62551, 62552, 62553, 62554, 62555, 62556, 62563, 62564, 62568)""Ofqual has written to all relevant awarding organisations highlighting the importance of taking effective steps to limit the impact on students' marks and grades. The appropriate mechanisms for redress will differ depending on the context and we have confirmed that the following options could be considered:""Adjustments of the marking scheme to omit the question concerned or to give all students credit for the question concerned,""Taking account of all available evidence in awarding grades, including:""statistical analyses to understand any potential impact on students performance on questions that followed the error, and""statistical analyses comparing students' performance on the affected units with their performance on other units.""Allowing applications for special consideration, where appropriate,""Providing a no fee re-sit at the next opportunity, and""Providing an additional no fee re-sit before the end of the summer 2011 series.""Each awarding organisation has .been required to provide Ofqual with a detailed report for each affected question paper which details the actions planned, informed by the analysis, together with the rationale for those actions. These will be received in the coming weeks once marking is completed.""In all cases awarding organisations have sent a letter of apology to schools and colleges (known as centres) where an error in an examination paper has come to light.""For the AQA GCSE Mathematics paper where the issue was a printing error, AQA have instigated an investigation with the printer of this paper.""Errata and re-prints""(Ref PQ no: 62571, 62572)""It is established policy and practice, both by Ofqual and its predecessor organisation, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), to require awarding organisations to provide timely notification of incidents that pose a threat to the integrity of the qualifications system. In the context of examination errors, we require awarding organisations to notify the regulators where an error is found that may threaten the validity of the assessment, An element of professional judgement has always been required about the nature and impact of an error.""Where an error is found before an examination paper is taken, either the paper is replaced or an erratum is issued. We routinely collect information at the end of each examination, series about the number of errata issued. We can confirm that in 2010 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2009 there were 34 erratum notices, in 2008 there were 18 erratum notices and in 2007 there were 27 erratum notices. For the 2011 examination series we will receive final information about errata that were issued prior to 7 June 2011 once all the examinations have been taken. However, we do know that there were 15 erratum notices which were issued as a result of the additional checks that we required.""For each of the following awarding organisations we can confirm that the following errors were identified and rectified as a result of the checks. (Ref PQ nos: 62573, 62574)"
"Please be assured that Ofqual takes the issue of errors in examinations very seriously and we will continue to oversee the actions of the awarding organisations to make sure that candidates are not unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged.""I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you to discuss these issues and to hear your views on the regulation of awarding organisations. My office will be in touch to offer dates."
| Awarding organisation | Subject | Date Sat | Date notified to Ofqual |
| AQA | GCE AS Business Studies—Unit 2 Managing a Business: BUSS2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Computing—Unit 2 Computer Components, The Stored Program Concept and the Internet: COMP2 | 7 June 2011 | 8 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCE AS Geography—Unit 2 Geographical Skills: GEOG2 | 24 May 2011 | 3 June 2011 |
| AQA | GCSE Mathematics (new specification)—Unit 2 Number and Algebra: 43602F¹ | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| CCEA | GCSE Business Studies—Unit 2 Business Development | 6 June 2011 | 7 June 2011 |
| Edexcel | GCE AS Biology—Unit 1 Lifestyle, Transport, Genes and Health: 6BI01 | 16 May 2011 | 17 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCSE Latin—Unit 3 Latin Prose Literature: A403/02 | 20 June 2011 | 20 June 2011 |
| OCR | GCEAS Maths-Decision—Mathematics 1:4736 | 26 May 2011 | 27 May 2011 |
| OCR | GCE A2 Physics A—Fields, Particles and Frontiers of Physics: G485 | 21 June 2011 | 21 June 2011 |
| ¹ Printing error affecting some of the question papers. |
| Number of errors | Erratum | Clarification notice | Replaced | |
| AQA | 8 | 6 | 0 | 2 |
| Edexcel | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| OCR | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Subjects
GCSE; GCE A-level
Date
4 July 2011
Reference
62551; 530 c985-90W
House
House of Commons