1 INTRODUCTION
1. The Office for Standards in Education
(Ofsted) was established in 1992 as a non-ministerial Government
department. HMCI reports to the Secretary of State for Education
and is formally accountable to Parliament, principally through
scrutiny by this Committee.
2. Since the 1999 Report on the work of
OFSTED of our predecessor Committee, meetings with Her Majesty's
Chief Inspector of Schools (HMCI) on the matter of his Annual
Report have become an annual occasion. We also meet with HMCI
each year to take evidence on the full range of the inspectorate's
work. The first of these meetings took place on 30 October 2002
when Mr David Bell (HMCI), his colleagues Miss Elizabeth Passmore
and Mr David Taylor (both Directors of Inspection), Mr Robin Green,
Director of Strategy and Resources and Mr Maurice Smith, Acting
Director of Early Years, gave evidence on the work of Ofsted.
On Wednesday 12 March 2003 we met Mr Bell once again with Miss
Passmore, Mr Taylor and Mr Smith, to take evidence on his Annual
Report for 2001-02, which had been published on 5 February 2003.
The 2001-02 Annual Report is the first to be published since Mr
Bell took up his appointment as HMCI.
3. This report incorporates the oral evidence
from both of these sessions, our conclusions and recommendations
and the written evidence submitted by interested parties.
4. Inevitably, only a relatively small proportion
of the work of Ofsted and the issues dealt with in HMCI's Annual
Report could be covered in the oral evidence given by Mr Bell
and his colleagues. The issues addressed in this report reflect
the themes raised in previous reports on the work of the inspectorate,
those brought up in written evidence, and matters of public concern
and/or discussion.
5. In addition to the evidence sessions
which are the subject of this report, we regularly take evidence
from Ofsted on matters relating to our formal inquiries across
the range of the Department for Education and Skills' responsibilities.
We are grateful to HMCI and his colleagues for their willing cooperation
across the broad range of our work.
6. During the Committee's long relationship
with Ofsted it has been our pleasure to receive evidence on many
occasions from Miss Elizabeth Passmore, Director of Inspection
for Ofsted and a member of its senior management team. Miss Passmore
retired from Ofsted on 31 March 2003 and we take this opportunity
to record the Committee's appreciation of the valuable contribution
that she has made to the work of Ofsted and this Committee.
7. Other staffing changes are also worthy
of note at this time. In April 2003 Ofsted announced the appointment
of Mr Maurice Smith as Director of Early Years. Mr Smith had been
acting in this role since September 2002 and we welcome the confirmation
of his appointment. At the same time HMCI announced the creation
of four new divisional manager posts within the inspectorate and
that, as a consequence of Elizabeth Passmore's retirement, David
Taylor was to become Ofsted's sole Director of Inspection.[2]
We will seek HMCI's reflections on these developments at our next
meeting.
2 Ofsted press notice NR 2003-50, 8 April 2003. Back
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