Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the recommendations direct towards Ofsted arising from the Cabinet Office's Regulatory Futures Review, published in January 2017.

Ofsted has been applying the principle of ‘earned recognition’ across most areas of its remit, with providers judged less than good now receiving more frequent inspections in early years, state-funded schools, further education and children’s social care than has been the case in the past. Ofsted also carries out risk assessments to determine when and whether inspections should take place, and to make a professional judgement on how to act when they receive new information.

In relation to cost recovery, the Department has taken forward regulatory changes in order to increase fees for regulated providers. This was agreed as part of Ofsted’s 2015 Spending Review settlement. The Government has laid regulations to increase fees for the inspection of independent schools, with immediate effect. The structure of fees have also been increased for inspection of social care settings by 10%. This allows Ofsted to recover a greater amount of the inspection cost from providers. The Department will continue to take into account recommendations from the Review when considering future fee increases.