Dear Mr Hogan

Your request for information

Thank you for your email dated 21 December 2009 sent to [email address] in which you requested the following information:

The Freedom of Information Act

We have dealt with your request in accordance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000.

Some schools which have only recently opened have not yet been inspected by Ofsted. However, where a school has been inspected I can confirm that Ofsted holds information as to the inspection grades. All these schools have been inspected at least once since September 2005 and therefore all judgements are made on the 1-4 scale referenced in your email.

Ofsted publishes details of its inspection judgements on a termly basis on the Ofsted website. The most recent data, from the autumn term school inspections, will not be published until March 2010. However the inspection judgements for previous years can be found by following the links below:

2008/09

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Annual-Report/2008-09/Inspection-judgements-2008-09-for-maintained-schools

2007/08

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Annual-Report/2007-08/Inspection-judgements-2007-08-for-maintained-schools

2006/07

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Annual-Report/2006-07/Inspection-judgements-2006-07-for-maintained-schools

2005/06

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/Publications-and-research/Browse-all-by/Annual-Report/2005-06/Inspection-judgements-2005-06-for-maintained-schools

These spreadsheets provide a comprehensive record of all judgements made on all section 5 maintained school inspections over the past 4 academic years. I hope this addresses your question.

If you have any problems accessing this data then please let me know and I'll be happy to talk you through the process.

The section below explains our position around schools inspected since September 2009. However, all inspection reports are published on our website at www.ofsted.gov.uk and you may find this a useful source of information.

Exempt Information

Section 2(2) of the FOI Act describes circumstances in which information is `exempt' and therefore does not have to be provided in response to a request. As stated above the inspection judgements covering school inspections from September to December 2009 (the autumn term) are due to be published on the third Wednesday in March 2010 on the Ofsted website. This data is exempt from release under section 22 of the FOI Act - Information intended for future publication. Section 22 states:

a) the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date (whether determined or not),

(b) the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for information was made, and

(c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in paragraph (a).

Ofsted considers that all three of the above conditions apply, therefore the exemption is engaged.

The Balance of the Public Interest

When a qualified exemption applies to information we are required to address the `public interest test'.

Your request is asking for data that Ofsted have yet to fully assemble and analyse. There is some public interest in being provided `live' lists of inspection outcomes, as they occur. However, this is counterbalanced by the fact that all inspection outcomes are already published on the Ofsted website in the form of individual reports. Moreover the fully assembled and analysed list will be published within a short space of time.

Ofsted also has a clear duty to ensure that all the statistical information placed in the public domain is accurate. In this case the data that is currently held has not been checked for errors (our validation process). Only when all these quality assurance and validation checks have been completed should such statistical data be published. It is clearly in the public interest for Ofsted's statistical publications to undergo these necessary checks.

If you feel we have not dealt with your request satisfactorily, you can contact me at [email address] to see if these matters can be resolved informally.

If you are dissatisfied with Ofsted's response or the handling of your request you may request a formal internal review. In order to do this, please write to the following address, explaining what areas of Ofsted's response you are unhappy with:

Email: [email address] or write to:

Head of Information Rights

Legal Services Division

Ofsted

Aviation House

125 Kingsway

London

WC2B 6SE

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you also have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision as to whether or not Ofsted have complied with its obligations under the FOI Act with respect to your request. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

FOI Case Reception Unit

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Helen Barugh

Inspection Insight
Inspection Development