There have been renewed calls for greater transparency from Ofqual, as it said it would not reveal the latest figures on appeals to this summer’s school-assessed GCSE and A-level grades.

The embattled exams regulator has also declined to release the number of entries for the exams in both sets of qualifications being held this autumn.

The closing date for A-level autumn entries passed on Friday, but Ofqual has still not said exactly when it will reveal it how many students will be sitting the exams.

Now the chair of an influential Parliamentary committee is calling on the exams watchdog to be more open about the figures. 

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Robert Halfon, chair of the Commons’ Education Select Committee, said: “One of the significant problems in the exams controversy has been the transparency in communication from Ofqual, and we need to know exactly how many students are doing autumn exams, how many students are appealing, and other questions that are raised by people in the media.

“Not just because of the need for openness, but also because it can inform decision-making and we can understand how much support is going to be needed for those students who for example may be doing autumn exams.

“It’s absolutely vital that we find out that information, and as a committee, we’ll be asking further questions to Ofqual about these matters.”

When Tes first asked Ofqual for the number of students appealing their centre-assessed GCSE and A-level grades, and entry numbers for autumn exams, the watchdog said that the figures were a matter for the exam boards.

But when Tes approached individual exam boards and their umbrella body - the Joint Council for Qualifications - they referred the matter back to Ofqual.  

The exams regulator finally provided an official response yesterday, but would not reveal the information.

An Ofqual spokesperson said: “Entries to the autumn series and appeals in respect of the summer results continue to be made to the exam boards.

“We will publish details of entry data as official statistics later in the autumn, and details of appeal numbers and outcomes after that.

“We expect the number of students entering in the autumn series to be far lower than in the summer, but details will be made available later in the year. The number of appeals each year is generally low, and we are expecting much the same situation to prevail this year.”

Students can only appeal against their grades this year if they have evidence of bias or discrimination against them during the grading process, Ofqual said last month. 

A spokesperson from the regulator said at the time that a “student can’t appeal because they don’t agree with the centre assessment grade submitted by their school or college.”

Mr Halfon’s call for Ofqual to publish the figures comes as his committee continues its inquiry into the summer GCSE and A-level grading fiasco. 

Last week, Ofqual chair Roger Taylor appeared before the committee and admitted that the algorithm used to award grades had effectively been doomed from the start.

He also said that education secretary Gavin Williamson had been responsible for the decision to award pupils calculated grades.