§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent communications she has had from(a) the Edexcel examination board and (b) the QCA about (i) that board's history A-level (syllabus code 9267) marking in 2001, (ii) that board's handling of parents' and examinees' complaints about examination marking and administration and (iii) that board's handling of schools' complaints about examination marking and administration. [31093]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisMy right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has had no communications from Edexcel or QCA about History A-level (syllabus code 9267) marking in 2001. The QCA is responsible for maintaining all awarding bodies' performance in the delivery of examinations. The authority will be publishing its audit of Edexcel's performance in the delivery of general qualifications in 2001 in the near future.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many complaints and appeals were lodged with the Edexcel examinations board relating to the A-level history (syllabus code 9267) examination in each of the last five years. [31095]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisI am advised that the number of complaints and appeals lodged with Edexcel relating to the A-level history (syllabus code 9267) in each of the last five years was as follows.
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Year Number Complaints 1997 5 1998 2 1999 8 2000 9 2001 6 Appeals Stage 1 inquiries 1997 1— 1998 6 1999 8 2000 3 2001 6 Stage 2 appeals hearings 1997 0 1998 21 1999 0 2000 21 2001 31 1No information. 2Not upheld 3Pending Source:
These figures have been provided by the Edexcel Foundation
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what performance targets she sets and performance standards she expects of examination boards; when they were last reviewed; and what monitoring procedures are in place. [31096]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe Government introduced statutory arrangements in 1997 to regulate external qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Details of how the regulatory authorities ensure quality and consistent standards are contained in the document: "Arrangements for the statutory regulation of external qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland" (published 2000).
Awarding body procedures are governed by codes of practice, issued by the regulatory authorities. General codes of practice are supplemented by codes for each qualification type. All are reviewed regularly.
To support further improvements in awarding body performance, the regulatory authorities plan to publish specific performance targets, building on proposals in the Curriculum 2000 review report.
The regulatory authorities' regular monitoring of awarding bodies includes: audits of their management and systems of quality assurance and control; detailed scrutinies of individual subjects and the way these are managed; and an extensive programme to monitor compliance with the codes of practice.
§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average time taken by each examination board to handle appeals and requests for re-marking was in the last 12 months. [31097]
§ Mr. Ivan LewisThe Qualifications and Curriculum Authority has set targets for the awarding bodies to meet all requests for remarking and appeals and QCA monitors annually the awarding bodies' performance against the targets. The data for 2001 are not available at this stage, as the remarking and appeals process is not yet complete.
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