Official Statistics

Methodology: changes following the March 2020 consultation

Published 31 March 2022

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/state-funded-school-inspections-and-outcomes-as-at-31-december-2021/methodology-changes-following-the-march-2020-consultation

In March 2020, we consulted on revising our post-inspection and complaints-handling arrangements so that any queries or concerns about an inspection can be dealt with quickly and before an inspection report is finalised. We received more than 600 responses and most supported the proposals. Following this, we implemented the new arrangements, including:

  • setting a new, consistent timeline across all inspection remits
  • giving providers more time to comment on their draft report
  • allowing formal complaints to be submitted before the report is published

Our inspection handbooks explain that we now expect to publish reports on our website within 38 working days of the end of the inspection, unless we receive a formal complaint.

As a result of these changes, the average number of working days taken to publish an inspection report has increased.[footnote 1] For inspections that took place between September 2018 and July 2019, the average number of working days was 18, compared with 27 days for inspections between April and July 2021.

In previous official statistics releases, the cut-off date for the inclusion of published inspection reports was 1 calendar month after the end of the reporting period. This allowed time for most of the relevant reports to have been published. Of the inspections that took place between September 2018 and 2019, 99.6% were included in the official statistics release for the reporting period. Following the changes to our post-inspection process, of the inspections that took place between April and July 2021, only 90.4% were included in the official statistics release.

In order that we can continue to include most inspections carried out within the reporting period in our official statistics, we have increased the cut-off date for the inclusion of published inspection reports. In this and future releases, we will allow 1 calendar month plus 1 week after the end of the reporting period. This will not affect our publication date, as we will incorporate these changes into our internal production processes.

  1. Working days do not include weekends and school holidays. ↩

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