Education secretary Gavin Williamson has repeatedly batted away questions about whether he would resign over this year’s exam grading U-turn fiasco.

He also said this morning that Ofqual “didn’t deliver” the system that the Department for Education had been assured would be in place for this year’s results.

During a round of media interviews today, he was asked whether he had offered his resignation to prime minister Boris Johnson following a chaotic week in which the government has changed students’ A-level results after they were published.

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Mr Williamson did not answer the question directly but instead told BBC News that he was focused on delivering grades for students, returning all children back to school in September and delivering the world’s best education system over the next year.

There has been mounting speculation over Mr Williamson’s future following yesterday’s GCSE and A-level grading U-turn, which will result in students being awarded teachers’ centre-assessed grades if they are higher than Ofqual’ moderated grades.

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When asked again whether he would resign, Mr Williamson said: “What we’re doing is we’re focusing on delivering the grades for those children.

“We’re making sure that we’re going to make sure that all schools are returned, and I’m absolutely determined over the coming year that I’m going to be delivering the world’s best education system.”

He also said that he was “incredibly sorry” for the distress caused to young people by the downgrading of results in the Ofqual moderation process.

When it was put to him that Ofqual had “failed”, Mr Williamson told the radio station LBC: “We ended up in a situation where Ofqual didn’t deliver the system that we had been reassured and believed that would be in place.”

And asked if he had confidence in chief regulator Sally Collier, Mr Williamson said: “Our focus and what I expect from Ofqual is to ensure that they deliver the grades that youngsters need over ... this week and over the next few weeks and ensure that the appeals process is properly managed and people get the grades that they’ve worked towards and that they deserve.”

Labour shadow education minister Emma Hardy said: “I’m not quite sure how [education secretary Gavin Williamson] was unable to see this algorithm before it was produced on Thursday.

“I’m not quite sure how that works because, from what I’ve been reading, secretaries of state in the past have always had advance sight of this and have known the problems before they’ve actually been announced.

“This is again where this government show that lack of leadership. They have no foresight, they don’t seem to be aware when it comes to education of the problems coming down the track towards them. It’s like it’s their blind spot.”

Asked whether she believes Mr Williamson should resign, she said: “Well, I know if I was in charge of the government he certainly wouldn’t be in my team, but that’s a matter for Boris Johnson.”