HC Deb 08 February 2002 vol 379 cc1218-20W
Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many requests for re-marks in England and Wales of(a) A-level, (b) A-S level and (c) GCSE papers in 2001 were refused because of the loss of the relevant exam scripts; and what the corresponding (i) A-level and (ii) GCSE figures were for the previous four years. [33103]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

Awarding bodies do not refuse requests for re-marks where scripts are lost. If a script cannot be found after an exhaustive search, the awarding body will make a special award based on careful consideration of the other assessment evidence of the candidate's performance. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority does not as part of its monitoring exercise collect figures on the incidence of such cases.

Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many re-marked(a) A-level, (b) A-S level and (c) GCSE papers there were in England and Wales during 2001 by subject; if he will list each figure as a percentage of the overall number of relevant subject papers; and if he will list the corresponding (i) A-level and (ii) GCSE figures for the previous four years. [33104]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

Figures are not normally collated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority at subject level as quality assurance focuses on qualification type and awarding body performance.

Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the average length of time taken by exam boards limits in England and Wales during 2001 was to re-mark(a) an A-level script, (b) an A-S level script and (c) a GCSE script; and what the corresponding (i)A-level and (ii) GCSE figures were for the previous four years. [33102]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has been collecting data since 1999 on the percentage of re-marks completed by the awarding bodies within the agreed target periods. Reports for 1999 and 2000 are available on the QCA website. The report for 2001 will be published on 25 March 2002.

QCA does not collect information on exactly how many days any particular re-mark took. In the table, the percentage of remarks completed within the target time is given for 1999 and 2000 by all awarding bodies offering GCSEs in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland:

Percentage
A/AS-level GCSE
1999 82 68
2000 95 93

Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many pupils in England and Wales were subject to the remarking of(a) A-level, (b) AS-level and (c) GCSE papers in 2001; what the total of these figures is as a percentage of the total number of pupils; and what the corresponding (i) A-level and (ii) GCSE figures were for the previous four years. [33105]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

Data are only collected with respect to candidates. The data for 2001 are currently being collated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and will be included in the authority's annual report to be published on 25 March. Figures have been collated only since 1999; the figures for 1999 and 2000 are set out as follows.

2000 1999
A-level
Number of candidates subject to remarks 29,640 25,983
Percentage of candidates subject to remarks 3.8 3.3
AS-level
Number of candidates subject to remarks 1,149 1,005
Percentage of candidates subject to remarks 1.5 1
GCSE
Number of candidates subject to remarks 57,772 26,371
Percentage of candidates subject to remarks 1 0.5

Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many re-marked(a) A-level, (b) AS-level and (c) GCSE papers in England and Wales during 2001 resulted in upgrades; what percentage these figures were of the total number of papers; and what the corresponding (i) A-level and (ii) GCSE figures were for the previous four years. [33108]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

Data for 2001 are currently being collated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and will be included in the Authority's annual report to be published on 25 March 2002. Figures have been collated only since 1999; the figures for 1999 and 2000 are set out as follows.

2000 1999
A-level
Number of remarks resulting in an upward grade change 4,644 3.476
Percentage of total number of papers 0.6 0.4
GCSE
Number of remarks resulting in an upward grade change 6,601 2,960
Percentage of total number of papers 0.1 0.06

Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many schools in England and Wales asked for(a) A-level, (b) AS-level and (c) GCSE papers to be re-marked in 2001; and what the corresponding (i) A-level and (ii) GCSE figures were for the previous four years. [33109]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

The monitoring of progress and outcomes of a remark is at candidate level rather than school or college level. It is not possible within the current systems to collate information about individual candidates across awarding bodies to produce cumulative data for schools.

Mr. Goodman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many of the re-marked(a) A-level, (b) AS-level and (c) GCSE papers in England and Wales during 2001 were upgraded by two or more grades; what the total of these figures is as a percentage of the total number of re-marked papers; and what the corresponding (i) A-level and (ii) GCSE figures were for the previous four years. [33107]

Mr. Ivan Lewis

Information on remarks resulting in upgrades by two grades or more is not available. The data collated by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority focus on the number of grade changes made by the awarding bodies rather than the degree of change.

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