Scottish board loses two more over exams mayhem

A senior exam board official resigned and another was suspended yesterday, a further two high-profile victims of the Scottish exam results fiasco.

A senior exam board official resigned and another was suspended yesterday, a further two high-profile victims of the Scottish exam results fiasco.

Jack Greig, the head of operations at the embattled Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), was suspended, and David Eliot, the director of awards, left his job, the organisation said last night. Ron Tuck resigned as the chief executive earlier this month.

As the SQA announced the departures, officials promised that half of the 4,000 pupils who had received incomplete or inaccurate Standard Grade - the equivalent of the GCSE - results last week would hear their true grades today. Two thousand Standard Grade results were being sent out again, the authority said.

The new problems follow the chaos over Scottish Higher results, the A-level equivalents, which led to 5,000 students being given incorrect grades at a time that jeopardised their chances of securing places at university.

Bill Morton, the authority's new chief executive, promised an internal review would prevent the wrong results being sent out again. He said: "The review will show us the way ahead and ensure there is no repetition of the problems we have had this year. I am determined not to let the young people of Scotland down again."

Figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service showed the effect of the Scottish fiasco, with a 4.1 per cent decline in the number of Scottish students getting university places, compared with the same date last year.

Meanwhile, Sam Galbraith, the Education Minister, defended moves to limit questions in the Scottish parliament on the affair to 15 minutes. He said: "I do not require protection. I am looking for every opportunity to lay out mine and the executive's case on this."