In a further bid to raise standards, schools and Local Education Authorities are being given the means to assess performance. Inspections by the Office For Standards in Education are carried out at intervals of several years and the new initiative is designed to allow the questions posed in inspections to be raised on an annual basis.Schools will shortly receive ‘School Evaluation Matters’ which sets out criteria and indicators from the OFSTED Framework For Inspection. 

The Select Committee report on the work of the Public Appointments Commission is highly critical of past achievements and future plans. The Commissioner, Sir Len Peach, is responsible for scrutinising appointments to NHS bodies and the larger national quangos. About 5,000 people are appointed to NHS Boards and some 38,000 to the national quangos.