Education (Scotland) Act 2025

Accountability

45 Inspection plan

(1) The Chief Inspector must, as soon as reasonably practicable after the day on which this section comes into force—

(a) prepare and publish an inspection plan, and

(b) lay the inspection plan before the Scottish Parliament.

(2) An inspection plan under this section—

(a) must set out—

(i) the period to which the plan applies,

(ii) the frequency with which different types of relevant educational establishments, other than excepted establishments, will be inspected,

(iii) the approximate number of such establishments to be inspected,

(iv) where a relevant educational establishment is to receive notice of an inspection, information about—

(A) when that notice will be given, and

(B) the form in which the notice will be given,

(v) information about the different types of inspection model which may be used,

(vi) the standards against which establishments will be evaluated,

(vii) how inspections will evaluate the extent to which relevant educational establishments are taking action to secure better or further effect of the rights of children,

(viii) information about the extent to which, and how, inspections will evaluate outdoor education (including the standards against which outdoor education will be measured),

(ix) the process for making recommendations to establishments,

(x) the process for establishments to respond to any recommendations received,

(b) may include such other material as the Chief Inspector considers appropriate.

(3) The Chief Inspector—

(a) must keep the inspection plan under review,

(b) may prepare a new inspection plan at any time, and

(c) must publish and lay before the Scottish Parliament any such new inspection plan.

(4) In preparing an inspection plan, the Chief Inspector must consult—

(a) the Scottish Ministers,

(b) the Advisory Council,

(c) such persons as the Chief Inspector considers representative of relevant educational establishments as the Chief Inspector considers appropriate,

(d) such persons as the Chief Inspector considers representative of registered teachers and college teaching staff as the Chief Inspector considers appropriate, and

(e) such other persons as the Chief Inspector considers appropriate.

(5) Before publishing an inspection plan under subsection (1)(a) or (3)(c), the Chief Inspector must lay a draft of the plan before the Scottish Parliament for a period of 40 days.

(6) The Chief Inspector must have regard to—

(a) any representations about the draft plan made to the Chief Inspector during that period,

(b) any resolution relating to the draft plan passed by the Parliament, and

(c) any report relating to the draft plan published by any committee of the Parliament for the time being appointed by virtue of the Parliament’s standing orders.

(7) In calculating the period of 40 days for the purposes of subsection (5), no account is to be taken of any time during which the Parliament is dissolved or is in recess for more than 4 days.

(8) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations modify this section in order to make provision about the frequency with which the Chief Inspector must review the inspection plan (including any revised inspection plan).

(9) Before making regulations under subsection (8), the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) the Chief Inspector,

(b) the Advisory Council,

(c) such persons as the Scottish Ministers consider representative of relevant educational establishments as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate,

(d) such persons as the Scottish Ministers consider representative of the interests of persons (other than relevant educational establishments) likely to be affected by the Chief Inspector’s functions as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate,

(e) such other persons as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

46 Reports on inspections

(1) The Chief Inspector must—

(a) secure the preparation of a report on the findings of each inspection carried out in pursuance of section 38(2), and

(b) publish each such report.

(2) In preparing a report under subsection (1)(a), the Chief Inspector must have regard to any representations made by persons representing the interests of registered teachers or college teaching staff providing teaching or training in the inspected establishment.

(3) Subsection (4) applies where an inspection is carried out in pursuance of section 38(2) in respect of a single relevant educational establishment or what the Chief Inspector considers to be connected relevant educational establishments.

(4) The Chief Inspector must, unless the Chief Inspector considers that there are exceptional circumstances which justify not doing so, give a copy of the report prepared under subsection (1)(a) in respect of the inspection to the establishment or establishments in question—

(a) as soon as reasonably practicable after it has been prepared, and

(b) before it is published.

(5) The Chief Inspector must, as soon as reasonably practicable after it has been prepared, give the Scottish Ministers a copy of any report relating to an inspection requested by them under section 38(2)(b).

(6) The Chief Inspector may lay a copy of any report published under subsection (1) before the Scottish Parliament.

(7) It is for the Chief Inspector to determine the form and content of each report.

(8) The managers of a relevant educational establishment must, in discharging their functions in respect of the establishment, have regard to the most recent report published under subsection (1) in respect of the establishment.

(9) For the purposes of subsection (8), “managers”, in relation to a relevant educational establishment, means the governing body, trustees, or other person or body of persons responsible for the management of the establishment.

47 Annual report

(1) The Chief Inspector must, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each financial year—

(a) prepare and publish a report on the Chief Inspector’s activities during that financial year,

(b) send a copy of the report to the Scottish Ministers, and

(c) at the same time as sending a copy of the report to the Scottish Ministers, lay a copy of the report before the Scottish Parliament.

(2) A report under subsection (1) must include—

(a) in relation to any advice provided by the Advisory Council during the financial year, a summary of—

(i) the advice provided,

(ii) the Chief Inspector’s response to that advice,

(b) the number of times during the financial year that the Chief Inspector has not provided a copy of a report as mentioned in section 46(4) because the Chief Inspector considered that there were exceptional circumstances which justified not doing so.

(3) It is otherwise for the Chief Inspector to determine the form and content of each report.

48 Report on performance of the Scottish education system

(1) The Chief Inspector must, as soon as reasonably practicable after the end of each reporting period—

(a) prepare and publish a report on the Chief Inspector’s assessment of the performance of the Scottish education system (so far as it relates to the Chief Inspector’s functions) during the reporting period,

(b) send a copy of the report to the Scottish Ministers, and

(c) at the same time as sending a copy of the report to the Scottish Ministers, lay a copy of the report before the Scottish Parliament.

(2) A report prepared under subsection (1)(a) must include an overview of the findings set out in reports published under section 46(1) during the reporting period insofar as those findings relate to the performance of the Scottish education system.

(3) It is for the Chief Inspector to determine the form of each report and, in particular, the report may be part of another document.

(4) The managers of a relevant educational establishment must, in discharging their functions in respect of the establishment, have regard to the most recent report on the performance of the Scottish education system published under subsection (1).

(5) For the purposes of subsection (4), “managers”, in relation to a relevant educational establishment, means the governing body, trustees, or other person or body of persons responsible for the management of the establishment.

(6) In this section, “reporting period” means—

(a) the period beginning with the day on which this section comes into force and ending on the following 31 July, and

(b) each subsequent period of 1 year beginning on 1 August.

(7) The Scottish Ministers may by regulations modify this section so as to modify the meaning of “reporting period”.

(8) Before making regulations under subsection (7), the Scottish Ministers must consult—

(a) the Chief Inspector,

(b) the Advisory Council, and

(c) such other persons as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate.

49 Other reports

(1) The Chief Inspector may, in addition to the reports published under sections 46 to 48, prepare and publish a report about any other matter relating to the Chief Inspector’s functions.

(2) The Chief Inspector—

(a) must send a copy of any report published under subsection (1) to the Scottish Ministers,

(b) must, at the same time, lay a copy of any report published under subsection (1) before the Scottish Parliament.

50 Protection from actions of defamation

(1) For the purposes of the law of defamation any statement in a report published by the Chief Inspector has absolute privilege.

(2) In this section, “statement” has the same meaning as in the Defamation and Malicious Publication (Scotland) Act 2021.