THE GOVERNMENT is to give its curriculum quango fresh powers to intervene when exam boards make mistakes following blunders by the qualifications body Edexcel.

An amendment to be tabled to the education Bill, now in the House of Lords, will give the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority the ability to issue orders to an exam board as soon as it has concerns about its performance.

Edexcel came under fire from teachers and pupils in January for leaving out a page from a communication paper due to be sat by 1,000 candidates, and for setting an AS-level maths question which was virtually impossible to answer.

A government source said that the new power would enable the QCA to take action more quickly by allowing it to act as soon as it suspects that there are problems or that pupils have been disadvantaged. Currently, ministers have to order an investigation.

The source said: “We want to give the QCA more power to intervene, to direct what action should be taken and to maintain public confidence.”

Peers were critical of government plans in the Bill to promote innovation and to allow a minority of schools the freedom to opt out of the national curriculum and teachers’ pay and conditions.

A school would be able to apply to the Education Secretary to opt out of any piece of education legislation, if it had an “innovative project” which was not possible under current law.

Crossbencher Lord Dearing, one of the most respected figures in education, joined the Conservatives in warning of the “army” of civil servants needed to assess potential bids by 20,000 schools.

He also criticised as perverse the Government’s plans to give 1 in 10 schools freedom with regard to the curriculum and teachers’ pay and conditions. Schools would end up paying more for teachers if they tried to negotiate individually with unions over pay, he warned.

He said that as regards the curriculum, the schools who could benefit most from greater freedom would not get it. Under pressure from the opposition and her own backbenchers, Baroness Ashton, education junior minister, said she would look again to see if changes could be made to allow more schools to qualify.

A new amendment to the Bill will give parents the right to complain about schools’ admissions before they apply for a place for their child. Parents can only complain to the local government ombudsman if they believe they have been victims of maladministration, effectively delaying a protest until after a child has been denied a school place.

The move comes as the London borough of Lewisham was fined for failing to stop Prendergast school from interviewing prospective pupils, despite a clear breach of government rules.

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