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Ofsted's expenditure criticised by independent school head

Posted on 16th September 2008

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A private school headmaster has criticised Ofsted for dedicating £400,000 of funds to the recruitment of new PRs.

Master of Wellington College Anthony Seldon told the Daily Telegraph that this appears to be a "disproportionate amount of money" to spend on a new communications team.

The schools watchdog said that it will be devoting these funds to recruiting about a dozen new members of staff in a bid to "inform the public".

But Mr Seldon argued that this is a waste of taxpayers' cash.

However, Ofsted maintained that it will be devoting most of the money to ensuring that educational providers are "properly and publicly held to account" by making all reports widely available.

It also noted that only one of the advertised positions is for a new member of staff.

The standard of early years education was criticised by Ofsted last month, which rated less nurseries and childminders as 'good' and more as 'inadequate'.