§ Mr. Norman HoggTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he has any plans to reorganise Her Majesty's inspectorate of schools; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 25 November 1991]: A number of changes to the organisation and operational procedures of Her Majesty's inspectorate will be made to meet the commitments of the parents charter and to take account of emerging developments in education, for example, in quality assurance at school and education authority level.
An audit unit will be established as a separate, identifiable division of Her Majesty's inspectorate. A principal function of the unit will be to collect, analyse and publish evidence about how well schools and education authorities are performing.
Inspection procedures are being reviewed and revised:
- —to take account of the development of written educational plans and targets in schools, including reviews of progress against these;
- —to introduce assessment of the efficacy of quality assurance arrangements in place in schools and education authorities;
- —to allow targeting of inspections on the basis of evidence from the audit unit and other sources;
- —to ensure that parents, through school boards, are adequately consulted in the course of inspections and that they receive clear summary inspection reports showing the strengths and weaknesses identified.
Inspection guidelines are also being reviewed to incorporate performance indicators which will shortly be published.