Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has considered the potential merits of establishing an independent body to assess complaints relating to Ofsted inspections.

His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Martyn Oliver, announced a pilot of a new complaints service for Ofsted on 16 October. This pilot introduces another level of independence to Ofsted’s complaint arrangements, where schools can request a review of how Ofsted handled their complaint including, for the first time, the outcome of the complaint and aspects linked to inspection findings. The review will be undertaken by an independent body, through a contract held by the department. Further details will be available in due course.