Having a single exam board would make no difference to A-level results 

Every August brings complaints about A-levels. The latest suggestion is that there should be a single national awarding body for schools examinations. This idea has been around for years: Michael Gove, for instance, considered nationalising exams.

Complaints mainly seem to focus on the unreliability of results (manifested by high numbers of appeals) and on apparently falling standards. But is the existence of competing boards really the problem here?

As with calls to renationalise railways, utilities or Royal Mail, we should be wary of simplistic solutions. Many of the problems faced are either intrinsic to the services involved, or the result of ham-fisted government regulation.

In the case…