Speeches by Phillipson.

“We want to deliver a fantastic education for every child, and inspection has to be a part of that. The new framework is about recognising where schools are doing things really well, and celebrating that success, as well as providing more granular insight into areas where there is scope to work with schools to do more. …”

“One of the key areas that teaching unions, and particularly headteachers’ unions, raise is not just the nature of inspection but its quality and consistency, and the judgments that arise from that. That is why Ofsted are doing further work on how to ensure greater consistency in terms of validating their judgments and …”

“By next year, we will have covered 60% of pupils. We want to move rapidly to get to every school by 2029-30, but we have made significant progress. Almost an extra million pupils and learners will by next April be benefiting from a mental health support team. I have visited one school that is already taking part. What …”

“I welcome the evidence and research put forward by the Education Policy Institute. It seems self-evident that if children are not in school, they are less likely to succeed in school. Some of the challenges we have seen around attendance have particularly affected certain groups. We are moving in the right direction on…”

“It has to be a combination. Attendance is clearly a critical factor and has been a real focus of effort from this Government. We have seen real progress around persistent absenteeism in particular—young people who are regularly missing more than 10% of their time in school. From January, our new attendance and behaviou…”

“Work is ongoing with Ofsted on tackling the practice of off-rolling, where children are removed from school rolls without formal permanent exclusion. We are clear that it is completely unacceptable; schools should not be seeking to game the system, and we continue to work with Ofsted to tackle that. When it comes to th…”

“I understood that the public finances were under significant pressure. That had been the case for some time. As the Chancellor set out, the impact of austerity, the impact of Brexit and the impact of the decisions taken at Liz Truss’s mini-Budget have all placed considerable strain on the public finances. That means we…”

“I think it is clear that the public finances were under considerable strain.”

“We talked earlier about the challenges that we are facing around SEND, the deficits that exist and the pressures that will continue to rise without action. Again, I emphasise that the starting point is about children and their life chances. I think your questions about the nature of discussions with the OBR that were c…”

“We want to publish the schools White Paper early next year. I do appreciate how strongly parents feel about this topic. I recognise the need for change and I have heard that from parents, but I also recognise that change brings uncertainty and that it causes concern among parents even where they recognise that the syst…”

“It will be non-statutory guidance, but we do expect schools to follow and implement guidance that is set out for them. I believe that in this area schools are seeking to do the right thing. These are questions about young people and their wellbeing. We can sometimes be talking about young people experiencing distress o…”

“FE colleges, like many public bodies, cannot recover the VAT they incur, whereas some educational institutions can. We keep all taxes under review. Any changes would need to be considered in the context of the broader public finances, and matters around taxation are ultimately above my pay grade, I’m sorry to say.”

“I am afraid I am not able to give you a date. I do recognise its importance, but I also believe that it is important that we get this right for young people and their wellbeing and for schools, so that they are confident and clear about the guidance that is set out.”

“Teaching about democracy and elections goes hand in hand with extending votes to 16, to make sure that young people are engaged positively around this. I stress that schools have to maintain their duties of political impartiality, but of course, schools are an important place where people, through education, can challe…”

“As you know, we inherited draft guidance that applied to children and young people in schools. We have been looking very carefully at that, working with stakeholders, and we intend to publish the guidance. I think it was right that we made sure that the guidance aligned with the final recommendations from Dr Hilary Cas…”

“It is an area that we always keep under review, but we have obviously just had a big curriculum assessment review that has set out rather a lot that we need to be to be getting on and doing. To be honest, there is also a challenge, given that English is such a well-spoken language across the world. That is not to say t…”

“We are still reviewing the draft non-statutory guidance. We have been looking through the consultation responses, discussing it with stakeholders and considering the evidence, including the final report of Dr Hilary Cass. I do want to get this right. I want to make sure that schools have the guidance that they need. Th…”

“This is one example of a number of areas where it is important that we start to make change happen ahead of the White Paper. The fact that inclusion is, for the first time, a central part of the new Ofsted framework is a critical way that we will make change happen right across the system. It is also why—taken together…”

“You will not have long to wait.”

“I want to emphasise our thanks to Professor Becky Francis and the panel for their excellent work and what they have brought forward in the review. It gives us really clear direction on making sure that children have a strong academic core running alongside a broad curriculum, to make sure that all our children are real…”