Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department was first alerted about missing Level 2 BTEC exam results in summer 2022.

The department was notified on 18 August that some students had not received their level 3 BTEC results as they had expected on A level results day due to issues with finalising grades.

Officials from the department immediately contacted Ofqual as the regulator, who assured the department that they were meeting with the awarding organisation to resolve the issues. Daily updates were provided by Ofqual and relevant awarding organisations, and the department joined daily situation report calls with Ofqual and UCAS to ensure that we were aware of progress.

The former Secretary of State for Education, alongside some of the relevant awarding organisations and Ofqual also met to discuss progress addressing the issues on 24 August. The department was made aware that some level 2 results were not ready for issue and the actions already being taken to address this.

Problems with results and the actions awarding organisations take, including communications with students and colleges, are matters for Ofqual and I have asked its Chief Regulator, Jo Saxton, to write directly to the hon. Member. A copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.