Ofsted rates Armed Forces initial training outstanding and good
The welfare and duty of care for recruits and trainees at every MOD site have been rated as either outstanding or good by Ofsted.
Phase one Army training near Pirbright
Today the independent education watchdog, the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, published its report on the effectiveness of welfare and duty of care after visits to nine establishments and three headquarters between September 2014 and January 2015.
Two of this year’s eight graded establishments resulted in judgements of outstanding: 14 Regiment Royal Artillery, which was inspected for the first time, and HMS Sultan, which maintained this achievement from its previous inspection.
Anna Soubry, Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, said:
Initial training is the bedrock of our Armed Forces and lays the foundation upon which our young men and women can progress and build successful careers in the future. I am therefore delighted that Ofsted, following rigorous assessment, have graded our establishments as either good or outstanding.
This continues the trend of year-on-year improvement and reaffirms our enduring commitment to achieving the very best for our recruits, cadets and trainees.
For the first time, inspectors carried out an ungraded monitoring visit into the welfare and duty of care of Reserve recruits at the Army Training Centre in Pirbright, reflecting the increasing importance of Reserves to the Armed Forces.
In another new development, inspectors made their first visits to Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force training headquarters. While they were not graded, inspectors identified strengths in the provision of support and strategic direction to the training establishments.