§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the average time lapse between the inspection of a school by Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools and the publication of the report consequent on each inspection.
§ Mr. DunnOf those inspections which have taken place since June 1986, and for which a report has been issued, the average time lapse between the two events was 42 weeks. Of those 90 per cent, were issued within 38 weeks. Reports are not issued, as a general rule, during school holidays and were not issued during the general election campaign. This has worsened the average.
However, no institution or governing body has to wait that long to know the findings of inspections as HMI 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.
It remains the aim of HMI that reports should be issued within six months of an inspection and it is working to achieve that time scale. It is hoped to introduce new procedures in the new year that will reduce the overall time taken to the six-month target.