Section 63: Area inspections
202.Estyn must carry out an area inspection if requested to do so by the Commission or the Welsh Ministers and publish a report for each area inspection (subsection (2)). It may also conduct such an inspection without being asked (subsection (1)).
203.An area inspection is an inspection of:
the quality and availability of an aspect of education or training in a specified area of Wales for learners aged 15 or over;
the standards achieved by the learners receiving the education or training;
whether the financial resources made available to those providing that education or training are managed efficiently and used in a way which provides value for money.
204.The aspect of education or training to be inspected through an area inspection is any education or training described in section 57 or within Estyn’s remit as provided for in any other primary or subordinate legislation (subsection (3)).
205.The power to require Estyn to carry out an area inspection may only be used by the Commission with regard to any education or training it funds or secures (subsection (4)(a)). The Welsh Ministers may require Estyn to carry out an area inspection in regard to any other provision which meets the definitions set out in this section (subsection (4)(b)).
206.The focus of an area inspection may extend to the manner in which financial resources have been allocated to the education or training being inspected by Estyn, and whether this provides value for money, if funding has been applied by the Commission or a local authority in Wales (subsection (5)).
207.Information related to the area inspection must be provided to Estyn by any provider of education or training who is subject to the area inspection, any local authority in Wales within the area that is the focus of the area inspection, the Commission, and the Welsh Ministers (subsection (7)).
208.The Welsh Ministers may, by regulations, make further provision in regard to the requirement to provide information and the time scales in which the reports of area inspections must be published (subsection (9)).
