Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what his Department's guidance is on Ofsted inspections for schools that have recently undergone a change of head teacher; and whether those schools are permitted more time following that change to implement reforms before a full inspection is carried out.

The department has not set conditions on the timings of inspections where there is a change of headteacher, and there are no plans to request that Ofsted defers full inspections in these circumstances. It is important that Ofsted is able to inspect all schools in a timely manner in order to provide independent assurance about the quality of education being provided to pupils, and their safeguarding.

During an inspection inspectors will be aware that new leadership is in place and will take account of this in the evaluation of the leadership and management of the school. A change of leadership will be noted in the context section of the school’s report. In addition, where a change of leadership is relevant to what inspectors find on inspection, they will comment on this in the main body of the report.