Member

I would like to say a brief word about Amendments 430 and 436, in the name of my noble friend Lady Morgan of Cotes, which are aimed at bringing the inspection of independent schools by the Independent Schools Inspectorate into Ofsted. I find myself in an unusual position: I always agree with everything my noble friend says, but I am afraid I am going to have to make an exception to the rule on this occasion. I hope she will forgive me. The ISI, the creation of which was very much due to the work of my noble friend Lord Lexden, has worked well for 26 years, inspecting some 1,200 schools a year and covering around half a million children. It is also one of the approved inspectorates for overseas schools teaching a British curriculum. It is not, as I think the noble Baroness, Lady Berridge, was implying, some form of cosy cartel; it is a fully fledged independent body, regulated by the DFE, with its board and leadership team wholly independent of the Independent Schools Council, its associations and the schools that ISI inspects. Ofsted itself produces an annual report on its work. It has never found evidence that ISI is any less strict than Ofsted in its inspections—something it would surely have reported on had it found that to be the case. That would certainly be true if it ever found an issue relating to safeguarding.