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School Accountability Update

Following the tragic death of Ruth Perry, the Department for Education and the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) have today published their respective responses to the Regulation 28 report from the Senior Coroner for Berkshire, Heidi Connor, following her inquest.

Over the past year, I have engaged with the Ruth Perry’s family, colleagues and friends to support the introduction of important changes to inspection, announced in June 2023. Further changes were made by Ofsted in the autumn, and it carried out additional inspector training earlier this month.

Both the Department and Ofsted will continue to improve the inspection and wider accountability arrangements, to make sure they are implemented with empathy and sensitivity, while also providing the necessary assurance that pupils are kept safe and receiving a high quality education.

A copy of the responses will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.