SCOTLAND'S exam body has been bailed out by ministers after recording a £5 million deficit.

The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) said the £4.9m shortfall occurred in 2015/16 because of the extra costs of rolling out new exams.

In the last few years a raft of new qualifications have been introduced with Nationals replacing Standard Grades and a modernising of Highers and Advanced Highers.

As part of the roll-out the SQA has been required to produce support materials for schools as well as holding discussion events around the country for teachers.

In 2014 it emerged the government had given an extra £3m to the SQA after it recorded another deficit.

A spokesman said: "The requirement for additional grant funding was identified at the start of the last financial year and the position was regularly discussed with the Scottish Government throughout 2015/16.

"As anticipated SQA received sufficient funding to ensure that it met all of its financial commitments in the year to March 2016."

Last night, teaching unions said part of the additional costs could be explained by the "growing burden of bureaucracy" introduced alongside the new exams.

Seamus Searson, general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, said: "This money has racked up in the way that it has because of the extra bureaucracy. The system is far too complicated and something has to be done about it.

"All the extra verification and marking processes that have been introduced are far in excess of what is required and the SQA needs to live within its means and reduce the burden on schools.

"We certainly would not want these costs to be passed on to schools by raising the charges for sitting exams. The youngsters on the margins would be disadvantaged because schools would not want to put them forward."

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, also called on the SQA to address the burden of bureaucracy in secondary schools.

He said: "Clearly, the SQA is experiencing some difficulty operating within its allocated budget – a situation many schools across the country can relate to following years of severe strain on their own diminished resource budgets.

"It is important the SQA can carry out its function and refrain from passing additional workload, or additional costs, onto already heavily burdened schools and teachers. These are issues that require to be addressed by the SQA and by the Scottish Government."