Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will hold discussions with Ofsted on the potential merits of a protocol to enable formal confidential briefing to hon. Members by Ofsted on their results of local authority inspections in advance of publication.

As set out in the guidance for inspecting local authority children’s services, the report is embargoed until publication and local MPs have full access when reports are fully published. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inspecting-local-authority-childrens-services-from-2018/inspecting-local-authority-childrens-services.

Local council leaders should be made aware of the outcome of the inspections in advance of publication, as this is clearly set out in inspectors’ feedback to senior officers (such as the director of children’s services).

Current protocol enables the local authority to share this intelligence with their local MPs if they wish to do so at any stage before publication. It is not within Ofsted's powers to disclose such confidential information prior to publication and the decision sits firmly with the local authority.