Regional Schools Commissioners

(asked on 13th October 2014) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the formal relationship between Regional School Commissioners and Ofsted; and how information will be shared between the two.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Nash
This question was answered on 22nd October 2014

Ofsted forms a key part of the overall accountability system for schools and is responsible for judging the quality of education in all maintained schools and academies.

The eight Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) are responsible for taking decisions regarding academies (including free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools) on behalf of the Secretary of State in their regions. This includes:

  1. encouraging and approving new academy sponsors to operate in their regions;

  2. taking decisions on the creation of new academies;

  3. a phased role on free school applications;

  4. decisions about changes to open academies; and,

  5. monitoring performance and intervening to secure improvement in underperforming academies, free schools, university technical colleges and studio schools.

The Department for Education has regular contact with Ofsted. At a regional level, each RSC will have an operational working relationship with the Ofsted Regional Director to ensure that information is shared and the necessary action is taken in academies where there are concerns.

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