Corporate report

Ofsted Board minutes: 2 December 2020

Updated 15 July 2021

Applies to England

Present

Christine Ryan (Chair)
Hamid Patel
Amanda Spielman (HMCI)
Pamela Scriven
Kathryn August
Martin Spencer
John Hughes
Carole Stott
Laura Wyld
Venessa Willms
Julie Kirkbride
John Cridland

Apologies

Yvette Stanley

Deputies

Lisa Pascoe (Deputy Director, Regulation and Social Care Policy)

Also in attendance

Matthew Coffey (Chief Operating Officer)
Chris Russell (Acting National Director, Education)
Louise Grainger (Director, Finance, Planning and Commercial)
Chris Jones (Director, Corporate Strategy)
Emily Williams (Deputy Director, Strategy and Governance)
Matt Terry (Corporate Governance Manager)
Lucy Mayor (Corporate Governance Officer)
Kate Dixon (Department for Education - observer)
Paul Joyce (Deputy Director, Further Education and Skills – Item 5)

Status

Approved. Submitted for approval at the Board meeting on 3 February 2021.

Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

The Chair welcomed all attendees to the meeting.

Julie Kirkbride declared that she has been employed as an adviser to the Lotteries Council.

Minutes, matters arising, action log and forward look

The minutes of the October board meeting were agreed without amendment.

Update from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI)

HMCI presented her update. The Board noted that:

• The Annual Report launch took place virtually on 1 December. The report landed well, and we received media interest regionally and nationally.

• DfE will make the announcement for our gradual restarting of inspection for all remit areas starting from January later this week.

• HMCI’s role chairing the Ofqual recovery committee will end in December as planned.

Update from the National Director, Social Care

The Deputy Director, Regulation and Social Policy presented the Regulation and Social Care update.

As part of a deep dive into the work of the regulatory review and EY regulation, the Board noted:

• The Early Years regulatory policy objectives support the organisation to regulate over 76,000 childcare services.

• The different workstreams support Ofsted to work with stakeholders effectively and to sustain a right touch approach to our regulatory work.

Update from the National Director, Education

The National Director, Education presented his update.

As part of a deep dive into the work of further education and skills, the Board noted:

• Inspector capacity will be increased to support earlier monitoring and inspection of new apprenticeship providers. This will ensure an earlier intervention for providers that are showing any areas of concern.

• A thematic survey on the implementation of the new T levels will take place with the first full report published in September 2022.

Update from the Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The Chief Operating Officer presented their update. The Board noted:

• We continue to support the DfE emergency response team, providing advice and support on issues related to COVID-19.

• We have identified contingency work in the event of an extended lockdown or circumstances that result in face-to-face inspection becoming suspended in the coming months. This will ensure all parts of the workforce are fully occupied.

Action: COO will share areas of work staff can support in these circumstances.

Update from the Director, Corporate Strategy

The Director, Corporate Strategy presented his update. The Board noted that:

• We received media coverage across all remits following the publication of the second report on our findings from the interim visits. The main area of interest was on the regression of some younger children during school closures earlier this year. The final report on autumn visits will be published on 15 December.

The Board reviewed the progress made against the strategic priority workstreams for the current strategy. Recommendations for our strategic priorities for the next 12 months will be shared at a future Board meeting.

Strategic risk register

The Board commented on the strategic risks register. The highest rated risks related to the long-term impact of COVID-19 continue to be monitored.

Finance report

The Board noted the finance report.

Action: The Director of Finance, Planning and Commercial will share the outcome of the spending review once finalised.

Audit and Risk Assurance Committee update

The Committee noted the progress made against the internal audit reports at the November meeting.

Conflicts of interest policy

The Board agreed to the revised conflict of interest policy with no comment.

Any other business (AOB)

No further business was raised.