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A large part of the row over exam results this year has been about the use of a flawed algorithm to moderate pupils' grades. (You can read about the algorithm here).

More than one in three pupils had their results downgraded, and the downgrading affected state schools much more than the private sector.

Schools minister Nick Gibb defended the plan to moderate the grades, saying: "The model was a good model."

But he told the Today programme that the problem came in "the way the model was applied".

"The model is a description of the methods that we want to make this fair. The regulator then has to turn that into a mathematical model that the exam boards apply to the grades. And something went wrong at that stage."

He said the model did not intend to punish pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But he said it "certainly was foreseen" that private school pupils could benefit from the use of the algorithm. That's because schools with smaller classes - usually seen more at private schools - were able to rely on teacher assessed grades more than those where there are larger classes.

"That certainly was foreseen because we knew that small cohorts had to rely more on the teacher-assessed grade than on the standardisation process, but that applied to the state sector as much as to the independent sector."

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Among the hundreds of thousands of pupils getting their GCSE results this morning is the Queen's granddaughter, Lady Louise Windsor.

Lady Louise, 16, is the daughter of the Earl of Wessex, Prince Edward, who is the Queen's youngest child.

She attends school in Ascot, Berkshire.

Buckingham Palace said Lady Louise's results were a private matter.

In June, the Countess of Wessex, Lady Louise's mother, told the Sunday Times she hoped her daughter would go to university because she is "quite clever".

"We try to bring them up with the understanding that they are very likely to have to work for a living. Hence we made the decision not to use HRH titles. They have them and can decide to use them from 18, but I think it's highly unlikely," she said.

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Labour are calling for Education Secretary Gavin Williamson to publish all his correspondence about the use of the controversial grading algorithm, after ministers admitted receiving warnings about its flaws.

“Gavin Williamson was warned again and again about the problems with the grading algorithm, and each time, he did nothing," said shadow education secretary Kate Green.

“This endless pattern of incompetence is no way to run a country. His failure to listen to warnings and to act on them risked thousands of young people being robbed of their futures."

She said it is "time for full transparency", adding that "young people deserve to know how they came to be let down so badly".

BBC correspondent Dan Johnson has been meeting staff and students at a school in south-east London this morning as they receive their results, and discovered that pupils at this centre have been given their BTec results - despite the decision of exam board Pearson to review them.

He said that students are being told their grades, knowing that they could be upgraded later. Most of them seem happy with their results, he told BBC Breakfast, with "lots of gasps around the room, people opening their envelopes and seeing they’ve got the grades they need to make the next move".

"Even if the BTec results change I’m still happy, they can only go up. And I’m happy with the grades I’ve got," said George, one of the school's BTec students.

GCSE student Harriet said: "Honestly I don’t think I could have been happier with the results. Where the government probably could have handled it better in the beginning, the U-turn was probably for the best, to let the teachers decide where they know us personally rather than letting an algorithm decide."

Dylan also said he was happy with his grades. "I’m just relieved that all the stress can go away. It’s been very hard, just the anxiety of getting these results was very high," he said.

This year's GCSE results have already thrown up many questions.

All day today, we'll be taking your questions and have two education experts on hand to answer them.

We've already answered some questions here. Send us a question by scrolling to the bottom of that page and filling in the form.

Since 2017, GCSE grades in England have looked a little different. Instead of letters from A* to U, grades are now numbered from 9 to 1.

The highest grade is 9, while 1 is the lowest, not including a U (ungraded).

Three number grades - 9, 8 and 7 - correspond to the old-style top grades of A* and A - this is designed to give more differentiation at the top end.

Exams watchdog Ofqual says fewer grade 9s are awarded than A*s, and that anyone who gets a 9 has "performed exceptionally".

A 4 is broadly equivalent to a C grade, although Ofqual warns against "direct comparisons and overly simplistic descriptions".

It says that, broadly, the same proportion of teenagers get a 4 or above as used to get a grade C or above.

But there is another pass mark too: a grade 5 is considered a "strong pass". The government's school league tables, external detail what percentage of pupils achieved a 5 or above in English, maths and other key subjects, so this is a crucial measure for them.

This year could see a big spike in the number of higher grades awarded, as GCSEs will be based on grades assessed by teachers rather than through exams sat by pupils. This is due to the coronavirus pandemic, which led to all summer exams being cancelled.

School Minister Nick Gibb has admitted on BBC Breakfast that the government was warned of the issues over grades being calculated by the algorithm six weeks ago, confirming a report in the Times, external.

He said after hearing concerns from Jon Coles - a former director-general at the Department of Education who now runs an academy trust - that the system downgraded disadvantaged students, he arranged a meeting with exam regulator Ofqual in July and was "reassured".

Mr Gibb claimed that although the algorithm did give flawed results, it "did not disproportionately affect young people from disadvantaged backgrounds".

He also apologised to students affected by the flawed grades, U-turns and delays this year.

Congratulating them on their results, he said he wanted to make clear "how sorry I am for the pain, anxiety and uncertainty" of this year's results process and to reassure students "we are doing everything we can to put this right".

He said exam boards had performed a "Herculean effort" to deliver millions of new grades in time today and that he had 100% faith in Education Secretary Gavin Williamson.

"We’re both working night and day to put these issues right so young people get the grades they deserve and they can move on to the next stage of their careers," he said.

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Exam results have dominated UK headlines over the last week – partly due to the row over how the grades were given out.

This year, all A-level and GCSE exams were cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The plan was for students to still receive their grades – but they would be worked out and moderated by the exam regulator. This was thought to be more accurate than relying on teachers’ predicted grades, which some feared could be more generous.

In England, the regulator Ofqual used an algorithm which looked at data from schools – including the predicted grades from teachers – and moderated the grades in accordance with schools’ past performance.

But the algorithm was flawed, penalising bright pupils from poor performing schools.

About 40% of last week’s A-level results were downgraded by Ofqual – and the downgrading affected state schools much more than the private sector.

There were angry protests from pupils and an outcry from teachers, MPs, academics and parents – so the education ministers of each part of the UK decided instead to use teachers’ predicted grades.

This morning, GCSE pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will get their results – which will be their predicted grades.

Read more on how the exam algorithm worked here, and here's some analysis on what went wrong.

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It's not just A-level and GCSE students who have been affected by this year's exam chaos - young people studying for BTecs have also been hit.

BTecs are vocational qualifications and they can be studied at a number of levels - including GCSE level (for those aged 16) and A-level (for 18-year-olds).

Last night - just hours before releasing its results - the exam board for BTecs pulled its results.

It said the results will be regraded in the same way A-levels and GCSEs have been, which are now being graded via school-based assessments.

The decision affects around half a million students. Of those, 250,000 got their BTec results last week, and the rest were due to get theirs this morning.

Exam board Pearson said the results they had moderated "had been generally consistent with teacher and learner expectations, but we have become concerned about unfairness in relation to what are now significantly higher outcomes for GCSE and A-levels".

Read the full story on the 11th hour move here.

Good morning. We’ll be bringing you coverage of today’s GCSE results in this extraordinary, exam-free year.

Pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are receiving grades calculated by their teachers, after exams were cancelled due to coronavirus. Those centre-assessed grades come after flawed algorithms in each of the nations were scrapped.

For many pupils collecting results in person this morning, it will be the first time they've been to their school since March.

We’ll also be following the fallout from a last-minute decision to delay many BTec results and grade them in line with A-levels and GCSEs.

Read the latest from our main story here.