Following the GCSE Music Listening Paper (1919/03) taken on Friday 16 May 2008 and the subsequent media interest, we would like to inform you of the situation and the action we intend to take.

Our prime concern is to ensure that no candidate is disadvantaged, and to this end we have been working with the Senior Examining Team to assess the impact of the information contained within the copyright material on the final page of the question paper.

We have now established that only a small number of sub-questions have been affected, and we are addressing the issue of the marking of the paper with the examining team at the examiner standardisation phase.

We are liaising closely with our regulator, Ofqual, to ensure that all appropriate steps are taken, including any further action required at the awarding and mark review stages.

We would wish to offer our unreserved apologies to candidates and their teachers for the concern and uncertainty caused by this error. Please be assured we are investigating the cause and will ensure such an error does not occur in a future series.