That is why Ofqual works with exam boards to ensure they have sufficient capacity to make sure the marking of exam papers is prompt and accurate".
Britain's education secretary, Estelle Morris, who has been under pressure in a controversy over the marking of school exams, resigned today.
In an exclusive interview with The Independent on Sunday in advance of the conference, which opens on 6 October, he said: "We are very concerned about the quality of marking of public exams.
Increasing evidence of the unreliable marking of public exam scripts is harder to stomach, as is the annual round of advising victims of inexplicable marking whether to 'twist or stick' in the roulette game of remarking.
Philip Britton, head of Bolton School Boys Divisionn, an independent school, said in a statement: "The quality of marking in exams is a huge issue for schools nationally".
This has been due to permissive attitudes toward the exam boards – one that is insufficient to ensure consistency and quality in marking and grading of exams or in the fairness and rigour of the appeals process".
Exams are often held up as being this objective standard, but there's a lot of subjectivity in the marking and grading of exams.
The ritual of "Suicide Sunday" is a Cambridge University tradition marking the end of exams.
While they may not have been writing grant reports of marking exams, they were likely seeking patronage, carrying on journalistic careers, undertaking the duties of a doctor or a vicar, teaching, family business or otherwise making a – usually non-scientific – living.
Ms Stacey also told the cross-party group of MPs that English was a particularly difficult subject to set standards for and there was a "large element of judgment" involved in marking the exams.
