Legislation passed in 2009 under Labour, with this section left unamended by the coalition under Michael Gove in 2011, effectively required Ofqual to keep national results roughly constant every year. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/22/section/128

It was publicly clear as of last month that this function was at odds with what teachers were saying should be their pupils’ grades this summer.

The government could have dealt with this conflict by changing the law to suspend this requirement to keep average national grades broadly constant for this year, which is essentially what it has been forced to do in the end. But it did not.

Seems a poor show for the minister now to blame officials. They are there to advise; he needs to get to the bottom of the information they provide in order to make decisions, for which he and his government ultimately must be held accountable. https://www.educationuncovered.co.uk/diary/blog/147376/williamson-blaming-ofqual-yet-it-has-performed-the-role-it-was-set-up-to-doby-ministers.thtml

Trying to think back to the row 19 years ago between the (sacked) chair of the then Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and the Labour government, over another A-level crisis. Parallels? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/2285798.stm