Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what powers the Department for Education has to suspend, make conditional, or withdraw the accreditation of an initial teacher training provider; and on how many occasions each power has been exercised since September 2024.

To ensure initial teacher training is consistently high-quality, the department regulates the initial teacher training (ITT) market by accrediting ITT providers to deliver courses leading to qualified teacher status and the setting of ITT criteria, which all accredited providers should follow as a condition of their accreditation.

Ofsted independently inspects the quality of ITT provision and compliance with the ITT criteria. Where an inspection identifies that a provider is not meeting the expected standard in all evaluation areas, Ofsted will re-inspect within 12 months.

The Secretary of State for Education may withdraw the accreditation of an ITT provider where the provider no longer meets the requirements of accreditation. The circumstances that may lead to withdrawal are outlined in the ITT criteria and include non-compliance with one or more of the specified criteria, or failure to achieve the expected standard in Ofsted re-inspection.

The department has not withdrawn accreditation from any ITT provider since September 2024.