Sir Hamid Patel appointed interim Ofsted chair

Academy trust CEO Sir Hamid Patel has been appointed interim chair of Ofsted.

Patel, who has been a member of the Ofsted board since 2019, will serve in the post until a successor is found for Dame Christine Ryan, who announced in November she would be stepping down.

Ryan will leave her role at the end of March, following four-and-a-half years as chair.

Patel is chief executive of Star Academies, a multi-academy trust that runs 36 primaries and secondaries in northern England, the West Midlands, and London.

He will serve as interim chair of the Ofsted board for up to five months, until a new chair is appointed.

Ryan announced her decision to step down as chair last year, months after a damning independent review led by former HMI chief inspector Dame Christine Gilbert broadly criticised Ofsted’s response to headteacher Ruth Perry’s death.

Board criticised by Gilbert review

Gilbert said the watchdog’s response had appeared to be “defensive and complacent” and said it must move away “from the discourse that ‘inspectors are never wrong”.

The review also found the Ofsted board “had little or no involvement in determining the strategy for dealing with the crisis and communicating to the media and stakeholders”.

The board’s role “appears curiously limited, apparently leaving some of Ofsted’s most critical activities outside of its control, unless HMCI chooses to let it have some control”. 

“This degree of autonomy and entitlement for HMCI does not make for effective governance,” it said, adding that Ofsted should review its governance framework to “strengthen the role of the board with the aim of establishing constructive challenge to support Ofsted in its learning and reform”.

The watchdog accepted Gilbert’s recommendation to review its governance framework to “strengthen the role” of the board to help reduce the “entitlement” of the chief inspector.

The inspectorate said this work would “strengthen accountability and oversee Ofsted’s commitments to improved service delivery”.

“These efforts will support a newly appointed chair to take forward an ambitious, longer-term reform agenda.”

Announcing her decision to step down as chair, Ryan said in November it had been a “privilege” to serve in the role, but that there was still “much to accomplish in the months ahead”.

“Of course, there have been challenges – from the impact of the pandemic at the outset of my tenure, to the scrutiny and changes of more recent times,” she said at the time.

“The work Ofsted does is vital in ensuring that children and young people receive the education and care they deserve.”

Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver, thanked her for her service as chair during a turbulent time for the inspectorate.

“She has successfully led the board through a time of significant challenge and change, culminating in our current consultation on the future approach to education inspections,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

“I am very pleased Sir Hamid will be supporting us as interim chair, while the government recruits Dame Christine’s successor. I look forward to working more closely with him and, in time, with a new chair.”