§ Mr. StrawTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) what was the total establishment of Her Majesty's inspectors of education; and how many were in post, in the years 1979, 1983 and 1988;
(2) how many (a) full individual school inspections, (b) other individual inspections and (c) whole authority inspections were carried out by Her Majesty's inspectors in each of the years 1983 to 1988; and what proportion of the total number of (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools were so inspected by category in each year;
(3) if he will publish a table for each local education authority in England showing the number of inspectors and advisers employed by each authority, and the ratio of that number to the number of the pupils in that authority's area, with national totals and the ratio for England as a whole.
637W
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe total complement of Her Majesty's inspectorate, and the numbers of staff in post (including inspectors of further and higher education), were as follows, on 1 January in the year in question:
1979 1983 1988 Complement 430 440 485 Staff in post 404 386 477 Inspections which resulted in published reports on individual institutions and whole authorities in the calendar years 1983 to 1987 are listed in the following table. The proportion of schools inspected relative to the total number of schools in England in those years is shown in brackets. Figures for 1988 cannot be provided as a number of reports arising from inspections begun in that year have yet to issue.
Primary Secondary Whole authority Number per cent. Number per cent. 1983 95 (0.5) 88 (2.0) 3 1984 74 (0.4) 76 (1.7) 5 1985 99 (0.5) 83 (1.9) 1 1986 102 (0.5) 68 (1.6) 1 1987 90 (0.5) 59 (1.4) 1 These figures exclude inspections of schools relating to some 300 district and national survey reports which issued over the period in question, and all inspections of youth and community work and further and higher education institutions.
Her Majesty's inspectorate does not undertake "other individual inspections", but makes thousands of visits to schools in the course of its day-to-day business. Estimated figures for the academic years requested are provided in the following table. The proportion of schools visited relative to the total number of schools in England in those years is shown in brackets.
Primary Secondary Number per cent. Number per cent. 1983–84 3,600 (18) 3,400 (77) 1984–85 3,000 (15) 2,200 (50) 1985–86 3,000 (15) 2,100 (49) 1986–87 3,200 (16) 2,300 (54) 1987–88 3,300 (17) 2,400 (58) Thus, on average, each secondary school is visited about every two years and each primary school about every five years.
I regret that information in the form requested relating to local authority advisers and inspectors is not collected centrally.