Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions her Department has had with Ofqual on ensuring that grade boundaries fairly reflect variations in the difficulty of A Level examination papers.

Each year, exam boards review a range of evidence when setting ground boundaries, including how students performed and the level of difficulty of the paper. If a paper is found to be more difficult than in previous years, grade boundaries will be set to reflect that. This established process is designed to ensure that students receive results that fairly reflect their knowledge and skills and that standards remain comparable across different exam series.

Ofqual, as the independent regulator, oversees exam boards to ensure that, over time, it is no more difficult to achieve a given grade in a subject from one year to the next, or between exam boards.