HC Deb 13 June 2003 vol 406 cc220-1W
Paul Holmes

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what recent discussions have taken place between his Department and Ofsted concerning media releases by Ofsted prior to their issue; whether his Department approves Ofsted media releases prior to issue; and if he will make a statement. [114463]

Mr. Miliband

Ofsted does not clear media releases with the Department. The Department is often consulted about the timing of media events but not for the purposes of clearance. Ofsted is a separate non-Ministerial department and decisions about those releases are therefore a matter for HM Chief Inspector.

Paul Holmes

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what discussions have taken place between his Department and Ofsted concerning the report by the Adult Learning Inspectorate on College and Area Wide Inspections; whether his Department approved the report prior to publication; and if he will make a statement. [114464]

Margaret Hodge

The College and Area-wide Inspections Report is a joint report from Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate. Ofsted informed my Department of the content of the report prior to publication. Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate reports are independent and not subject to the approval of my Department.

There is a considerable amount of useful detail in the report, much of which is in line with previous reports from Ofsted and the Adult Learning Inspectorate.

The report recognises there is much good provision in colleges, 90 per cent. of lessons are assessed as satisfactory or better. It also highlights important areas where performance needs to improve.

This information has been used in the design of our reform programme set out in the document Success for All published in November 2002. These reforms are backed by substantial additional funding for colleges. The Success for All priorities are: improving the responsiveness and quality of provision, promoting excellence in teaching and learning, developing leaders, teachers, trainers and support staff and developing a new framework for quality and success.