THE watchdog charged with the job of ensuring that accident-prone exam boards clean up their acts last night admitted its own part in setting a duff question.

Hundreds of pupils fell victim to the latest blunder, which left them sitting an exam riddled with errors.

Pupils at Darlington College of Technology were affected by the latest blunder - along with teenagers at centres across the country.

But it only came to light when teachers received a fax afterwards from the exam board correcting the errors.

Forty-four students sitting a Communications Key Skills Level 3 exam on Tuesday found that papers contained missing and duplicate questions.

A page was also in the wrong place and labels were missing from a set of pictures.

The mistake, blamed on a proofing error, was in papers set by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which ironically has instructed exam boards to tackle their "failing performance" after a series of high-profile blunders in recent months.

The most pilloried of those boards is Edexcel, which is responsible for printing, distributing and marking the Key Skills papers at the centre of the latest controversy.

It has reignited the debate over the increasing level of errors just as the main examination season is about to begin.

Embarrassed officials said they had moved to correct the errors as quickly as possible and would give "special consideration" to allocating disadvantaged students additional marks to compensate.

Last night, a member of staff at the Darlington college, who did not want to be named, said: "An erratum notice had been sent out, but we never received it in time and nobody rang the office to say there was a problem.

"It is not fair on the kids who sat the exam and we don't know if they will pass or not."

The member of staff claimed a notice identifying mistakes in another Key Skills paper on Monday had only arrived minutes before that exam.

Teachers and union officials said the latest errors were proof of a "creaking" exam system.

Earlier this year, David Dunn, headteacher of Yarm School, near Stockton, highlighted a printing mistake which made a nonsense of a question in a maths paper set by Edexcel.

Last night, he said: "I would be amazed if further stories about problems with exams do not emerge during the summer.

"But we now have so many exams, with the number increasing. Examiners are under pressure - there are not enough markers and the system is clearly creaking."

Elaine Kay, principal officer for the National Union of Teachers northern region, said: "Something is failing and questions need to be asked. The exam boards are very stretched, but they should have stringent processes for checking papers before they go out."

No grades are awarded for the Key Skills Communication exam, which is sat on a pass or fail basis and lasts for an hour-and-a-half.

Beverly Evans, QCA chief officer, said: "We make no excuses and this error should not have happened, but we have made sure no student will suffer as a result."

Her admission came on the very day QCA chairman Sir William Stubbs told MPs that the 2002 exam season would not see the sort of problems that had caused so many complaints last year.

But giving evidence to the Commons Education Select Committee, Sir William confirmed that the big English exam boards - Edexcel, AQA and OCR - were struggling to find enough examiners.