4.1 Where the second marking reveals issues or concerns with the marking at the partner organisation, this must be addressed immediately and the Faculty and Academic Quality and Standards should be notified of the situation.

4.2 The same applies to any critical comments or feedback from external examiners about the standard of marking at the partner organisation. Any issues with marking standards at a partner organisation will be reviewed in detail and, where appropriate, an action plan agreed with the partner to prevent recurrence. Where serious concerns are raised, second marking may be required across all levels of the cohort, with engagement from the external examiner and with the student marks being appropriately scaled prior to their ratification by the relevant Departmental Assessment Board (DAB).

4.3 Where there are or have been issues the proportion of sampled second marking will remain at the current level for the next year/cohort. The actual proportion will be determined by a robust ‘risk assessment’ of the problem(s) and the action plan in place. Once the relevant Department Board is convinced that the issues have been fully resolved then the proportion of second marking can be returned to the 'Steady State' value shown in the table above. Such instances will be highlighted at Collaborative Periodic Review and will be fully investigated.