Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether Ofsted plans to inspect academy chains as well as individual academies; and if she will make an assessment.

Ofsted already inspects multi-academy trusts (MAT) through focused inspections of batches of academies within MATs. The published inspection outcome letters describe Ofsted’s assessment of the overall performance of the MAT, as well as a summary of the outcome of the individual academy inspections. The EFA provides assurance over the use of public funds and the MATs' compliance with the accountability framework.