Plans to allow some private Muslim and Christian schools to set up a joint inspection body have been abandoned by the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls.
The proposal, allowing for an independent body to check 60 Muslim schools and 50 Christian schools instead of the official schools inspectorate Ofsted, was approved by the government in January this year.
The government said in January that the independent body – called The Bridge Schools Inspectorate and created by the Association of Muslim Schools and the Christian Schools Trust – would contribute to community cohesion.
However, in a recent parliamentary statement, Mr Balls said that future inspectorates must oversee at least 350 schools in order to ensure objective inspections.
The statement follows warnings from Ofsted that the move would lead to "increased fragmentation". Christine Gilbert, head of Ofsted, said: "We believe it would be difficult for an organisation to form an objective view of the quality of schools inspected if it dealt with only one type of school and therefore lacked a broad perspective."
The Conservative shadow schools secretary, Michael Gove, said he welcomed the move by the government:
"I am pleased that they have taken on board the need to improve the inspection regime and ensure that certain schools don't effectively police themselves."
