New inquiry announced: The role and performance of Ofsted

The Education Committee is announcing an inquiry into the role and performance of Ofsted.

Written submissions are invited, addressing the following points:

• What the purposes of inspection should be (relating not only to schools but to all organisations, settings and services under Ofsted’s remit)
• The impact of the inspection process on school improvement
• The performance of Ofsted in carrying out its work
• The consistency and quality of inspection teams in the Ofsted inspection process
• The weight given to different factors within the inspection process
• Whether inspection of all organisations, settings and services to support children’s learning and welfare is best conducted by a single inspectorate
• The role of Ofsted in providing an accountability mechanism for schools operating with greater autonomy

The Committee asks for written submissions in accordance with the guidelines below by noon on Friday 8 October 2010.

Further information:

A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to educom@parliament.uk and marked “Ofsted inquiry”. The Committee’s strong preference is for submissions in electronic form, although hard copy originals will be accepted and should be sent to Kathryn Smith, Committee Assistant, at:

Education Select Committee
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London, SW1P 3JA

Each submission should:

• be no more than 3,000 words in length;

• have numbered paragraphs; and

• (if in electronic form) be in Word format or a rich text format with as little use of colour or logos as possible.

For Data Protection purposes, it would be helpful if individuals submitting written evidence send their contact details separately in a covering letter. You should be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please supply a postal address so that a copy of the Committee’s report can be sent to you upon publication.

A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the parliamentary website at: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/witnessguide.pdf

Please also note that:

• Memoranda submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organization submitting it is specifically authorised.

• Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, although not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence.

• The Committee does not normally investigate individual cases.