Officials have broadly welcomed another rise in Higher exam pass rates as thousands of young Scots received their results on Friday.

The government denied exams were getting easier, arguing the small increase in Higher passes was a result of better schools and a lot of hard work.

The biggest rise - a full 1% against last year - was in the number of pupils getting the top two categories at Standard Grade: the credit level passes rose from 39.4% to 40.4%.

The pass rate for the Highers, before appeals, is the highest ever at 69.6%. It represents a rise of just over half a percentage point on last year.

The Scottish Executive's Education Minister, Sam Galbraith, and Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) Chief Executive, Ron Tuck, both paid tribute to pupils and staff as they welcomed the rise in the number of Standard Grade Credit level passes.

Mr Galbraith denied the exams were easier than in the past.

He said: "This is a real improvement. It is due to the teachers, pupils and parents and I congratulate them all."

But Mr Galbraith is now calling for an even better performance in the future.

The key exam results show:

• 130,558 certificates have been sent to 122,916 candidates, of whom 97% are school pupils

• candidates range in age from 12 to 77, 52% are female

• at Standard Grade the number gaining credit, general or foundation passes rose from 95.4% to 96.1%

• there were 448,135 entries at Standard Grade in 36 subjects

• at Higher, the overall pass rate rose from 69% to 69.6%, and nearly 16% got at least one top-level A pass, which is equivalent to a 0.2% rise

• the number of Higher entries fell by 2% to 160,887 across 34 subjects

• a decade ago only 11% of young people passed five or more Highers but nowadays that figure is approaching 20%

• for Certificate of Sixth Year Studies the proportion achieving grades A-C held steady at 76.5%, from a record 13,105 entries in 25 subjects

• the rate of CSYS A passes fell slightly from 15.9% to 15.4%, but there was a 0.2% rise in the number of A/B passes

"Pass rates have been rising slowly but steadily over recent years," said Mr Galbraith. "But they must increase further if we are to achieve our aim of achieving world class education standards for Scotland.

Sam Galbraith: "Excellence must be sustained and widened"

"Education is this government's number one priority and our focus must be on realising the potential of each child. Excellence already exists but it must be sustained and widened."

Ensuring all pupils receive their results on time has been a massive undertaking for Royal Mail.

Its role started months ago when it picked up more than 43,000 bags bulging with exam papers from 700 schools and colleges before delivering them to 6,600 markers across Scotland.

At this time of year only an overall picture is given in the official statistics. Details for individual institutions - from which the league tables are constructed - will not be published until the late autumn.

Nearly half of all Scottish school leavers will be going on to university and many of the rest to college.

Special helplines are offering advice for those who are unsure of their next step - or whose grades are not all they had hoped for.

The Scottish Careers Services will operate a freephone number - 0800 101 901 - supported by the SQA, the BBC and the Scottish Executive.