Corporate report

Ofsted Board minutes: 22 June 2021

Updated 28 July 2022

Applies to England

Present

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

Also in attendance

Matthew Coffey (Chief Operating Officer)
Sean Harford (National Director, Education)
Yvette Stanley (National Director, Social Care)
Louise Grainger (Director, Finance, Planning and Commercial)
Emily Williams (Deputy Director, Governance, Strategy and Private Office)
Mark Leech (Deputy Director, Communications and External Relations) (meeting item, Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges update)
Corporate Governance Manager
Department for Education - observer
Department for Education - observer

Apologies

Venessa Willms (Board member)
Chris Jones (Director, Corporate Strategy)

Status

Approved at the board meeting on 13 October 2021.

Welcome, apologies and declarations of interest

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and apologies were noted from Chris Jones and Venessa Willms. Alex Marsh, recently appointed Director of School Systems, Academies and Reform, DfE was welcomed to the meeting as an observer.

The Chair congratulated Senior Board member, Hamid Patel on recently being awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s birthday honours in recognition of outstanding services to education.

The Chair and board members welcomed the reappointment of HMCI for a further 2 years which will end on 31 December 2023.

The following declarations were made:

• Laura Wyld declared that from 1 August 2021 she will become a member of the Court of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and is a member of the Jubilee Advisory Committee
• The Chair has joined an expert panel established by DfE looking at International Qualified Teacher Status (iQTS)
• Carole Stott has been appointed a Governor, National College for Advanced Transportation and Infrastructure (NCATI) which is inspected by Ofsted and has been made a trustee of the Mayor of Bath’s Relief Fund
• John Cridland has been appointed Chair of a new Skills Taskforce for Global Britain and is also a member of the National Infrastructure Commission Levelling Up Panel

Action: Board secretary to liaise with members to ensure the register of interests is updated with declared interests.

Minutes, matters arising, action log and forward look

The minutes of the April board meeting were agreed as a correct record, subject to one amendment.

Board forward plan

The board considered and commented on the forward plan.

The plan should be flexible to be able take account of new emerging priorities, such as a surge in winter viruses.

The Chair confirmed that ways of working, how best to use the Board’s time and future priorities would be discussed at the forthcoming away day.

Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges update

The Deputy Director, Communications and External Relations summarised the response from the government, media and stakeholders following the launch of the Ofsted review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges on 10 June 2021.

The report had prompted widespread stakeholder commentary, largely in support of the review findings, and generated media coverage.

The board commended staff for delivering the high-profile report within a demanding timeframe. The board discussed areas where Ofsted can improve its own practice including amendments to the inspection handbook for further education and skills.

Update from Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI)

HMCI provided an update on her meetings and activities over the past 2 months and priorities for the coming months.

The board noted that the review into sexual abuse in schools and colleges had dominated priorities.

The DfE’s education recovery plans announced in early June were much reduced and funding for the Ofsted related elements was not secured. However, the government now has a better understanding of the ways inspection can contribute to educational recovery. Ofsted has been commissioned by DfE for 4 pieces of evaluation work on education recovery – 2 each on the National Tutoring Programme and the ECF/NPQ programme.

Update from the Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The volumes paper would be circulated to members after the meeting.

Action: Volumes report to be circulated.

In preparation for the easing of restrictions, work is happening to ensure that the Ofsted offices are ready for staff returning.

The inspection deferral policy developed in the first lockdown has proved useful and will continue to be applied consistently across the country. We will continue to follow government guidance in areas where there has been an increase in variants and the number of new COVID cases.

The board noted the continuing work of the security team to protect Ofsted systems to reduce the risk of a cyber-attack.

Annual report and accounts 2020-21

The Deputy Director, Governance, Strategy and Private Office introduced the Annual report and Accounts 2020-21.

The quality assurance processes have been very smooth and no issues have arisen from the audit so far. The external audit is due to be completed in July. The Audit and Risk Assurance Committee (ARAC) was thanked for scrutiny of the drafts at the various drafting stages. The Chair of ARAC confirmed that the committee had agreed at its meeting on 16 June to advise the board to recommend that HMCI certify the accounts.

The board recommended that HMCI certify the accounts.

Corporate Strategy directorate update

The Deputy Director, Governance, Strategy and Private Office provided an update on the work of the corporate strategy directorate.

As agreed at the last board meeting, a subgroup had been established to refine and endorse the metrics in the current strategy and the development of metrics for the 2022 strategy.

The Chair of the subgroup, Hamid Patel informed members that the subgroup had met on 7 June and recommended that 3 new metrics for this year are developed: the review of sexual abuse in schools and colleges; the return to inspection; and the spending review.

Update from the National Director, Regulation and Social Care

Following the publication of the sexual abuse review, Ofsted and ISI have had an initial meeting to discuss how to co-produce and jointly deliver further training on inspecting safeguarding in education settings, including looking at issues of peer-on-peer sexual abuse.

A recurring theme from this year’s ‘Point in time’ survey was that children in foster care and children’s homes said they wished they could stay where they were for longer. The survey also found that 99% of children in foster care who responded to the survey felt safe where they lived.

Update from the National Director, Education

Preparations are continuing for the return to a full programme of EIF inspections in all education remits from September.

EIF inspections for Further Education and Skills are on a slightly different track due to the greater amount of off-site, online education in the sector. The different positions providers are in with respect to wider reopening was being assessed through pilots. In the meantime, summer term is being used mainly for new provider monitoring visits.

Audit and Risk Assurance Committee Annual report

The board noted the ARAC Annual Report setting out the activities of the committee in the financial year 2020-21.

The overall opinion from the internal auditors remains substantial for the second year running. The external auditors also provided an excellent report and were complimentary about Ofsted’s financial management and controls system. The Chair of ARAC commended staff for this excellent achievement.

The June ARAC included a deep dive review into the risks relating to safeguarding in the social care remit. ARAC was reassured by the information provided.

Strategic risks update

The board noted the changes to the strategic risk register since the previous meeting.

The strategic risk relating to credibility had been amended to reflect the reputational risks arising from the sexual abuse review following a request from the ARAC Chair.

The Chair of the Audit and Risk Assurance Committee welcomed the opportunity to engage with the executive on the risk register in between meetings and encouraged board members to do the same.

Finance update

The financial position at the end of April 2021 was presented to the board.

HMCI has agreed that where resources and budget allow, we should bring forward appropriate inspections to avoid peaks in future years and to reduce the average time between inspections. Work is under way to review the regional supply for 2021-22.

AOB

The board away day will take place in Bristol on 21-22 July and will be the first time since the pandemic that the board will meet in person.

Board members will be sent a survey seeking their views on the strategy in advance of the away day.

End of scheduled items

Private board session

The board met in private.