13 June 2012

An Edexcel spokesperson said:‪‪

“On Monday, we were made aware of a potential security breach relating to some of our exam papers. The British Council, which is responsible for administering Edexcel exams in Egypt, had accidentally sent a small number of live exam papers to schools, inside sealed packets of past exam papers. ‪

“The British Council has taken immediate steps to locate and secure the papers as far as possible. ‪‪For our Biology and Chemistry papers, we have reviewed the situation and are confident that the security risk has been contained.‪

“For our Maths paper, due to be sat on Thursday 21st June, we have not been able to satisfy ourselves that the paper remains secure.  For that reason, as a precautionary measure, we have decided to use a replacement paper, which we always have available for such situations. 

"While we have well-established procedures in place to replace and deliver the paper, and to contact every single school, replacing a paper at such short notice does mean that there remains a small risk of a small number of students sitting the original paper. Should this happen, we have clear protocols to make sure that all students' papers are marked fairly and everyone receives the grade that they deserve.

“We are confident that no student will be unfairly advantaged or disadvantaged. While there is no firm evidence that the paper has been shared with those unauthorised to see it, we believe our decision is in the best interests of schools and students.‪ 

“We are concerned by how this breach has taken place. We will be conducting a thorough investigation, alongside the British Council, to understand how the incident occurred, and to ensure that every precaution is taken in future.”

If you are a member of the press, and have more questions, please contact:

Pippa Vaux on 0207 1905191 or pippa.vaux@pearson.com

If you are from a school, and have more questions, please email:

 edexcelmathsQP@pearson.com