Section 57: Duty of the Chief Inspector to inspect and report
187.Subsection (1) sets out different kinds of education and training that must be inspected by Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training for Wales.
188.The Chief Inspector, the other inspectors appointed by Her Majesty to form part of the inspectorate with the Chief Inspector, the Chief Inspector’s staff and additional inspectors appointed by the Chief Inspector form a body known as ‘Estyn’.
189.Estyn is not a body corporate with legal personality, which is why statutory functions are conferred on the office of Chief Inspector. Although the functions are conferred on the Chief Inspector by the Act, the functions may be exercised in practice by other inspectors and staff at Estyn by virtue of provision in paragraph 5 of Schedule 2 to the Education Act 2005, which is why these notes refer to ‘Estyn’.
190.Estyn must inspect:
further education or training funded or secured by the Commission (this would include further education in colleges and apprenticeship training);
further education or training funded or secured by the Welsh Ministers;
further education or training funded by a local authority in Wales (this would include mainstream sixth form provision in maintained schools and community-based adult learning partnership provision);
further education or training where the Commission or a local authority in Wales is contemplating giving funding to the provider of the further education or training;
education or training for compulsory school age learners in a further education or higher education provider in Wales;
any education or training provided in Wales that is specified by the Welsh Ministers in regulations.
191.The requirement to inspect under subsection (1) does not apply to education inspected under Part 1 of the Education Act 2005, or if the funding is given for a specific purpose, to education or training at which that support is not directed (subsection (2)).
192.Estyn must publish a report for each inspection to include, but not limited to, views on:
the quality of the education or training inspected;
the standards achieved by the learners receiving the education and training;
whether the financial resources given to the provider are managed efficiently and used in a way which provides value for money (subsection (3)).
193.The Welsh Ministers may, by regulations, require inspections to be carried out at specified intervals and require reports to be completed within a specified period (subsection (4)). Before making such regulations, the Welsh Ministers must consult the Commission and Estyn (subsection (5)).
