TWO East Lancashire colleges have refused to publish students' A-level grades because they believe it is "unfair."

Burnley and Nelson and Colne colleges are the only sixth form centres in the area refusing to publish the results which were released to students yesterday.

Both said they felt gradings were confidential information and it would be unfair to students, particularly those who had not done well, to put them on general release.

A Burnley College spokesman said: "We have published them in the past, but this year we made a clear decision not to in light of the fact that publication is a sensitive issue and can be upsetting for some students."

She added that those who had done well and were happy with publicity would be recognised in other promotional material.

Ian Bannister of Nelson and Colne College added: "The Data Protection Act also says we cannot do it."

Assistant Data Protection Registrar Jonathan Bamford said the law only applied if colleges held the results on computer.

He said: "There is no absolute ban but information about people can only be used in ways that people expect it to be used.

"If students generally expect details to be passed on to the media, and don't object, then there's no problem and the information could be disclosed.

"The school has taken a very cautious approach in making sure these matters are addressed by a blanket policy."

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