Summer holidays began last week for schools in Shropshire. Teachers and pupils would normally be relaxing by now with only those having sat their GCSE and A-Levels waiting for their results next month.

But not this summer. Not for most 11 and 14 year olds, many of whom have not been given results of their external SATs (Standard Aptitude Tests) for Key Stage 2 and 3. The shambles of the exam marking system contracted out to ETS Europe has been widely condemned.

What is not so well known is the impact on the schools themselves and the uncertainty this could create for teachers, parents and pupils.

This was brought home by the Assistant Headteacher at one of the largest secondary schools in the constituency. He pointed out to me that by last Tuesday his school had not yet received any Maths SATs results and only 73% of Science results. It also had no English results, yet the Results section on the government's Key to Success website incorrectly showed 30% of the school's pupils as absent for their English test.

The most recent Ofsted inspection categorised the school as Satisfactory - mainly as a result of pupil performance in Maths and English. If this performance is now distorted by the incompetent test marking system, this could also undermine credibility of the school inspection regime.

This debacle has further damaged the confidence that parents, teachers, universities and employers have in the current education system. Education is a core responsibility of a competent Government, and you will recall, was meant to be the key priority of this Labour government.