Ms Andrea Feeney:

I will make a more general point about the scheme and the system of examinations over which the SEC presides. We want every individual student to be able to perform to the best of his or her ability in the examinations. We do not have a "Gotcha" examinations situation. We are trying to test students. It is a measure of attainment and as a result, there is a competitive nature to it. In providing that system, we are trying to be fair to all students taking their examinations and to do our best to provide a system of examinations in which there continues to be public trust and confidence.

The team that operates the RACE scheme provides an individual service to schools and candidates. It has been said of us that we are one of the few organisations that when you ring, you can talk to a person. We get a lot of feedback from schools. It would be unfair of me to come here today and not mention the team that provides a system of support for candidates who are taking their examinations. All candidates are important to us, whether they have special needs or not. When they are undertaking their examinations, they have high expectations of the service with which they are being provided. They might not like it because it is an examination, but they expect it to be provided in a context that they feel is well delivered and well organised. That is what we have set out to do. We aim to provide the best possible scheme to administer the system as fairly as we can. We are committed to changing it and are undertaking a process of review. There will be changes but I will mention again that we need time to work that through. There are, however, imminent changes that will be introduced for 2026.