Lord Sutherland of Houndwood
Main Page: Lord Sutherland of Houndwood (Crossbench - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Sutherland of Houndwood's debates with the Department for Education
(10 years, 6 months ago)
Lords ChamberMy Lords, does the Minister agree that Ofsted must be judged on the basis of the quality of its evidence and of the surveys that it carries out in schools and the implications for a policy such as this, rather than on political matters?
The noble Lord is absolutely right. Of course, given his background, he is vastly experienced in this. I could not agree more. Ofsted is doing an outstanding job. It is our sharpest tool. The first thing that the chief inspector did was to abolish the appalling and mediocre term “satisfactory” that had been allowed to exist for years. That shows where he is coming from, and he is having a great effect. Indeed, Ofsted reports that last year our schools improved at a faster rate than any other time in history.