Clause 98
Education and Inspections Bill
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister (Schools), Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
I beg to move amendment No. 265, in clause 98, page 74, line 11, leave out ‘The Office' and insert ‘Ofsted'.
Frank Cook (Stockton North, Labour)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following amendments: No. 266, in clause 98, page 74, line 12, leave out ‘The Office' and insert ‘Ofsted'.
No. 267, in clause 98, page 74, line 13, leave out ‘the Office' and insert ‘Ofsted'.
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister (Schools), Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
The amendments are purely probing. Until now, Ofsted has been known in law as the Office of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools in England. The Bill alters that by establishing a separate body corporate, of which the chief inspector will be a member.
The problem is that the new body is to be known as the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, and the mnemonic for that is “off-sex”. Do the Government wish it to be known as that? The purpose of the amendments is to probe how the new body is to be known.
Sarah Teather (Shadow Secretary of State for Education and Skills, Education & Skills; Brent East, Liberal Democrat)
Far be it from me to be in favour of “off-sex”, but it is a good idea to rename the body and streamline the inspectorate. Many teachers have felt that the burden of Ofsted, and the fear that it would come to their schools, made it difficult to develop any constructive relationship. I hope that a new, renamed and streamlined inspectorate will enable a more constructive working relationship. I suspect that the Government will have to change the acronym, but I am very much in favour of renaming and streamlining.
Phil Hope (Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Adult Skills), Department for Education and Skills; Corby, Labour)
The amendments, which are intended to probe, would change the statutory abbreviation used in the Bill. I hope that they will not be agreed to, but interestingly, if they were, they would introduce the first reference to “Ofsted” in primary legislation.
However, we have chosen the title of Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills to reflect exactly what the hon. Member for Brent, East (Sarah Teather) said. We did not want to use a statutory shorthand and entitle it “Ofsted” in the Bill. However, we are aware of the need for a general brand name by which the office will be known, and do not want to suggest that changing the name will mean any less focus on schools and their importance to the organisation’s role.
We will use “Ofsted” as the brand for the organisation. Although it will have a longer name to encompass its new responsibilities, the organisation will be known popularly as “Ofsted”, as it is now. We do not want to put that into statute, but it is the branding that we shall encourage in future.
Ofsted is one of the most accepted and recognisable of all our public service inspectorates; for that reason, I am happy to confirm that we are not suggesting any change to its branding. I hope that, with that reassurance, the hon. Gentleman will feel able to withdraw his amendment.
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister (Schools), Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
I am grateful for that assurance. The Bill states that the new body corporate is to be known as “the Office”, which sounds like where David Brent works. However, with the Government’s assurance that the office will be known as “Ofsted”, and given that that is the broad direction of our amendments, I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.