Ofsted will begin publishing the inspection reports that were held back because of the coronavirus pandemic from next week.

The watchdog had paused publication of all inspection reports because they were “well aware providers have enough to deal with” in responding to Covid-19 changes.

But in an update today, Ofsted said as more schools and colleges are reopening more widely they have decided to publish the paused reports before the summer holidays.

“It is important that learners, parents and carers have access to the most recent inspection information about providers when they make decisions about their future or their children’s future.

“To delay publication any longer would not be in the public interest. We will begin to publish these remaining reports from next week and will contact affected providers beforehand to confirm this.”

Ofsted began releasing some of the pre-Covid-19 inspection reports in May in cases where individual providers requested they be published.

The watchdog said today they have now “published the reports for providers that asked for this”.

The inspectorate previously told FE Week it was sitting on 50 FE and skills reports that had been completed before the Covid-19 outbreak. Since then, 39 have been published at the request of providers.

Ofsted’s pause on inspections still stands. A spokesperson for the inspectorate told this publication last week that “no decision has been made about resuming inspection activity”.

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