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Written question asked by David Laws (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 19 June 2009, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 23 June 2009. It was answered by Lord Coaker (Labour) on Thursday, 9 July 2009 on behalf of the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Office for Standards in Education Children's Services and Skills

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of school inspectors working on behalf of Ofsted (a) have been headteachers and (b) have qualified teacher status; and if he will make a statement.
Answer

This is a matter for Ofsted. HM chief inspector, Christine Gilbert, has written to the hon. Member and a copy of her reply has been placed in the House Libraries.Letter from Christine Gilbert, dated 6 July 2009:"Your recent parliamentary question has been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.""As of 2 July 2009, Ofsted employs 443 Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI), including 82 that have a management role. Of the total, 245 (55%) inspect schools. The remainder inspect further education, work-based learning, social care and other sectors. All of the 245 who inspect schools have teaching experience in one or more education sectors as this is a key criterion for selection to the role.""I am unable to provide the information you seek about which inspectors were formerly headteachers, as we do not record electronically the career profiles of individuals. This information could only be obtained at disproportionate cost through a review of each individual's personnel file or by a request to each individual to provide the information.""There are also 1948 additional inspectors provided through our regional inspection service providers (RISPs), of whom 1567 (80%) undertake school inspections. I can confirm that almost all of these additional inspectors have teaching experience, as this is one of the key criteria for selection to the role. However, there is a very small number who were former lay inspectors under the framework for inspection that was known as section 10, superseded by the current framework in September 2005. In the former framework, each inspection team included a lay inspector who was fully trained as an inspector, but had no previous experience in teaching or school management. Their purpose was to bring a lay person's view to the inspection process. A few of the most experienced of them have been employed by RISPs as additional inspectors.""I am unable to provide you with the number of these inspectors as this information is contained in the personnel records held by the RISPs. It can only be obtained at disproportionate cost through a manual search of personnel files.""With regard to the proportion of additional inspectors who have been headteachers, Ofsted does not have access to this information as we are not involved in the recruitment process. This work is undertaken by the RISPs.""A copy of this reply has been sent to Vernon Coaker MP, Minister of State for Schools and Learners, and will be placed in the library of both Houses."

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
495 c996-7W; 282069
Session
2008-09
Related items
Deposited Paper DEP2009-1974
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Deposited papers
House of Commons
Subjects
Staff Ofsted
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk