§ Mr. Hicksasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the normal period of time between an inspection by Her Majesty's inspectors of a primary school and their published report; and if he is now able to publish Her Majesty's inspector's report on Callington primary school following the inspection visit in July 1985.
§ Mr. DunnI am pleased to tell my hon. Friend that the report by Her Majesty's inspectors on Callington primary school was issued on 8 October 1986 and was published on 22 October 1986.
As to the wider issues he raises, since 1 January 1983 there have been a total of 700 reports published on schools and colleges on the basis of full inspections, of which 294 related to primary schools. The average time between inspection and publication is nine months. It remains the aim of Her Majesty's Inspectorate that reports should be issued to individual institutions within six months of an inspection. It is working to achieve that time scale.
946WHowever, no institution or governing body has to wait that long to know the findings of the inspections, as Her Majesty's Inspectorate discusses these and other matters with the head and staff during and at the end of each inspection and with the governing bodies shortly after.