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MPs have questioned the “fitness for purpose” of the new expanded Ofsted, which from April took on responsibility for inspecting children’s services, secure training centres and Cafcass functions.

A report by the House of Commons education and skills committee welcomes the potential for the new Ofsted to take “a more comprehensive and strategic view of the issues affecting children”. But it raises concerns about the “complex set of objectives and sectors that Ofsted now spans and its capacity to fulfil its core mission.”

The report published today also questions the ability of Ofsted’s new non-executive board to “rapidly grasp this complexity” and calls on the organisation to intensify its work on engaging service users and providers in all the sectors it is now responsible for.

The committee said it was “sometimes unclear” how Ofsted inspections could help the delivery of Every Child Matters and urged the organisation to explore ways to strengthen their monitoring of the five ECM outcomes.

More information

The House of Commons Education and Skills Committee report: The Work of Ofsted

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