MPs grill exams chief on Sats delay

Ken Boston, chief executive of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has been called to appear before an emergency Commons committee meeting on Monday.

The "one-off" session" will "discuss the current situation on National Tests".

Results of tests for 11 and 14-year-olds were due to be published this week, but administrative chaos delayed the marking of papers, and delivery will now be late. Some schools are now not expected to get their marks before the start of the summer holidays.

Barry Sheerman, chair of the Childrens, Schools and Families select committee, said: "I didn't concern myself that much with the original news that the results would be delayed by a week. I thought as long as the results are all ok, it's not the end of the world. But as time has gone on, the rumour mill has got going, there has been telephone and email traffic and the situation appears to be rather more serious than anyone understood.

"The best thing to do seemed to be to get Ken Boston in, find out what's really going on, and ask the man who runs the QCA and is responsible for hiring this company, what the situation is."

The National Assessment Agency has apologised to schools, pupils and parents for the delay, which it blamed on a "serious failure" by the private firm ETS Europe, which has the contract to carry out marking. The NAA has given assurances that the quality and accuracy of marking will be as good as last year.

But earlier this week, Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said schools were reporting "all kinds of problems" with marking, and warned parents should not rely on Sats results as the sole indicator of their child's progress.

He urged schools to give parents teachers' assessments of pupils, as well as any Sats results, and advised that these be treated as "provisional". Mr Brookes said: "There are stories of markers being transported up and down the country with their schools being recompensed for supply cover, and with them being given rail travel and hotel accommodation to help with marking. It really is desperate. There are bound to be mistakes in marking."

Former Ofsted chief Lord Sutherland, has been appointed to lead an independent inquiry into the delays, and will report back in the autumn.