Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the new Ofsted grading scale on in scope military training establishments.

Ofsted undertake two separate and distinct inspection regimes of Armed Forces’ training provision. The first is of the Armed Forces Apprenticeship Programmes which are inspected under the Education Inspection Framework. Any changes to Ofsted’s grading scale will have no significant impact in this area. The second is of the Care and Welfare of Armed Forces Initial Training which is inspected under the Ministry of Defence (MOD) Inspection Framework that is unique to the MOD. As such, the MOD and colleagues from Ofsted are working together during a period of consultation to determine whether all, or elements of, the new grading scale will apply to these inspections.