Entry and inspection condition

Entry and inspection

19.1Cooperation from awarding organisations is normally expected; it is proposed that all awarding organisations should be subject to a general condition to cooperate with Ofqual. However, the Act allows us to set an entry and inspection condition to enable us to enter premises to inspect and copy documents when cooperation is not otherwise forthcoming. Such a condition may be used to allow us to seek assurances that standards are being maintained or to secure information that will help us determine whether a fee capping condition should be imposed, and, if so, what that condition should be.

19.2The legislation places certain limits on the situations in which an awarding organisation would be required to permit entry under an entry and inspection condition. These include:

• the premises must be used by an awarding organisation and not be used as a private dwelling
• entry must be by an authorised person
• reasonable notice has been given to the awarding organisation
• entry must be at a reasonable time.

Situations when an entry and inspection condition may be set

19.3We would normally expect to obtain the information we need with the agreement of the awarding organisation and without having to impose an entry and inspection condition. We would aim to give awarding organisations sufficient notice and details of the information that we require, and ensure our monitoring activities are planned with awarding organisations being notified in advance. Where we need to visit premises, for example to observe a meeting, view learners’ work or inspect documents, this would normally be arranged in agreement with the awarding organisation.

19.4Where agreement cannot be reached, and entry and inspection is needed for specific purposes, it may be necessary for us to impose an entry and inspection condition. Potential situations may include those where:

1. we have grounds to believe that an awarding organisation has been involved in malpractice or maladministration in relation to the award or authentication of a regulated qualification and it is important for us to preserve the integrity of evidence
2. we need to inspect or copy documents which have previously been requested but the awarding organisation has been unable or has refused to supply¹
3. we have not otherwise been able to obtain information needed to inform a decision to impose a fee-capping condition
4. we are responding to incidents, for example security breaches with live question papers, which could affect the maintenance of standards and undermine public confidence. We may wish to visit at short notice to inspect an awarding organisation’s arrangements for the storage of live question papers
5. we need to gain access to computer records that are key to the maintenance of standards of a regulated qualification and that can only be accessed at the awarding organisation’s premises.

Arrangements for approving the setting of an entry and inspection condition

19.5We propose to put in place a process for approving the setting of an entry and inspection condition on an awarding organisation. A decision to set an entry and inspection condition will only be taken:

• where there are reasonable grounds to believe there is an on-going risk to the maintenance of standards in relation to the award or authentication of a qualification and in connection with the potential need to cap fees and
• after reasonable attempts to gather the information voluntarily have been exhausted.

19.6We propose that a decision to impose an entry and inspection condition should be made by a member of our staff who is authorised by the Chair of Ofqual’s Board to impose such a condition. That person would consider the information being sought, a justification as to why the setting of an entry and inspection condition is necessary, details of any previous attempts to obtain the information by agreement and the amount of notice that is proposed to be given to the awarding organisation.

19.7If it is agreed that an entry and inspection condition would be appropriate, a copy of the signed permission would be sent to the awarding organisation in advance of the entry and inspection condition being imposed. The method of delivery of the notice will be determined by the urgency of visit and the notice that is therefore being given. The notice will set out the reasons for entry and the information/documentation/process which we wish to inspect. If entry is required in order to access computer systems, notice of the need to provide suitably trained personnel to enable us to access records will be given.

19.8We would expect to have access to any premises where an awarding organisation conducts its business but not to a private dwelling house.

Access to centres

19.9The purpose of the entry and inspection condition is to enable us to inspect and copy documents held by the awarding organisation. Where the information/documents which we require are held by a centre or a third party contracted by the awarding organisation to support the delivery of qualifications, we would expect the awarding organisation to cooperate and obtain the necessary information/documents from these parties.

19.10To enable us to carry out our normal monitoring and enforcement functions, an awarding organisation will need to ensure that each centre agrees to provide both it and us with access to premises, people and records, and to cooperate with the awarding organisation’s own monitoring activities and ours. We propose that this should be covered by a general recognition condition.

19.11As we will not have the authority to access private dwellings it is proposed that it should be a condition of recognition that awarding organisations must operate out of business, that is, non residential premises.

Authorised persons

19.12Entry to premises must be by an authorised person. An ‘authorised person’ is defined as being a member of Ofqual’s staff who is authorised (generally or specifically) for this purpose.

19.13We will maintain a record of all staff who are authorised to enter awarding organisations’ premises. Authorisation will normally be restricted to staff who are routinely engaged in monitoring or complaint investigation activities. All staff visiting an awarding organisation will have information on the purpose of the visit. The awarding organisation should be able to contact us for confirmation that the member of staff is authorised by Ofqual to enter premises under an entry and inspection condition.

Reasonable notice

19.14The amount of notice that we would give an awarding organisation may depend on the nature and potential impact of the issue. In giving an awarding organisation notice that we wish to enter its premises, we would have to balance the requirement to act reasonably with the need to preserve the integrity of the information/evidence being sought and the urgency of any remedial action. This will be particularly important in cases where we may have grounds to believe an awarding organisation has been involved in malpractice in relation to the award of a regulated qualification.

19.15We would normally ensure the awarding organisation is given a minimum of five working days’ notice of the arrangements for the visit, but this may need to be reduced if there is an urgent need to access information in order to ensure the maintenance of standards or public confidence in the qualification arrangements.

19.16The period of notice that entry will be required that we will consider reasonable will depend on, and be relative to, the urgency of gaining entry to carry out an inspection. In instances where we need to enter premises at short notice, for example in response to allegations of serious malpractice, we propose that a minimum of 24 hours’ notice will normally be given.

Reasonable hours

19.17We would normally expect to be permitted to have access whenever an awarding organisation is conducting its business. We would expect to have access during office hours, but would also expect access when an organisation is holding meetings or undertaking other activities later in the day or at the weekend.

Question:

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1. An awarding organisation would be able to exclude from inspection any documents that were subject to legal privilege, that is, communications with its lawyers. [↩]