Education Scotland - school inspection questions: FOI release

Information requested

You asked for the following information:

1. How many school inspections did Education Scotland conduct in each academic year since 2007/08, including 2018/19.

2. How many school inspectors did Education Scotland employ in each academic year since 2007/08, including 2018/19.

3. How many inspections planned by Education Scotland were cancelled in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, and (c) 2018-19, and of these how many were successfully re-scheduled.

Response

1. How many school inspections did Education Scotland conduct in each academic year since 2007/08, including 2018/19.

Information related to the number of school inspections you have requested has been published and is available from https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-17-01775/. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

I have enclosed figures, in the table below, for academic years 2017/18 and 2018/19

Academic Year	17/18	18/19
Number of inspections	182	252

2. How many school inspectors did Education Scotland employ in each academic year since 2007/08, including 2018/19.

Information on the number of inspectors, employed as at 31 December each year, has been published and is available from: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00257/. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you.

3. How many inspections planned by Education Scotland were cancelled in (a) 2016-17, (b) 2017-18, and (c) 2018-19, and of these how many were successfully re-scheduled.

Information on the number of school inspections cancelled and rescheduled (i.e. completed) is detailed below. There is limited data available for 2016/17 as this information would not routinely be held once the inspection was complete.

Depending on the particular circumstances and timing of the cancellation it is not always possible to successfully reschedule an inspection within the same academic year. It also may not be appropriate to reschedule an inspection where changes are proposed to a school estate under the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

Schools for which inspections were cancelled in 2018/19 may not yet have received formal notification of the date of their rescheduled inspection, therefore have not been included in the table as successfully rescheduled (i.e. completed).

Academic Years	Cancelled	Successfully Re-scheduled
2016/17	1	1
2017/18	9	5
2018/19	7	1

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