Two examiners have been suspended following allegations that teachers were given unfair advice on how to improve pupils' GCSE and A-level results.

It comes as an urgent inquiry ordered by ministers began into claims that teachers attending seminars run by exam boards were given detailed advice on forthcoming questions and how students could score higher marks.

A spokesman for the Welsh exam board WJEC said: "Two history examiners have been suspended."

WJEC also confirmed that it has begun its own inquiry into allegations made in the Daily Telegraph, and it is hoped that this will report back by the end of Friday.

England's exams regulator Ofqual has warned that exam boards could be forced to rewrite next year's GCSE and A-level papers if it is found that teachers were given unfair advice on how to boost results.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has ordered Ofqual to look into the Telegraph's claims, and report back by Christmas.

According to an investigation by the newspaper, teachers paid up to £230 a day for seminars hosted by chief examiners. During some of these seminars they were allegedly given advice on the wording students should use to increase their marks and which questions they were likely to face.

It is understood that the two WJEC examiners who have been suspended are Paul Evans and Paul Barnes, both of whom were named in the Telegraph's report.

Undercover Telegraph reporters attended 13 seminars run by exam boards, the newspaper reported. It alleged that at these seminars teachers were "routinely" given information of upcoming questions, words or facts that student should use to gain marks, and areas of the syllabus that teachers should focus on.

In a statement, WJEC said it is taking the Telegraph's allegations "very seriously indeed" and is "investigating the circumstances revealed by their undercover reporter as a matter of urgency".