There was a marked improvement in the quality of entrants and more companies at or near the excellent level.

He said that a 'marked improvement' was needed to the 111 service to stop patients turning up at hospitals needlessly.

That was a marked improvement on the 7 per cent fall in the first ten months of the year.

In the first decade of this century there was a marked improvement in security as the economy grew.

That would be a marked improvement on the half-year performance.