Independent school governance standards
IICSA · The Residential Schools Investigation Report · Issued 1 March 2022 · Addressed to: Department for Education
Government responseNo response yet
DeliveryNo statement from Department for Education found
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation, E
The Department for Education and the Welsh Government should: amend the Independent School Standards to include the requirements that there is an effective system of governance, based on three principles of openness to external scrutiny, transparency and honesty within the governance arrangements, and the ability of governors to have difficult conversations both internally and with those providing external scrutiny; amend the Independent School Standards to stipulate that the proprietor cannot be the designated safeguarding lead; and amend the current system of registration of independent schools to apply the same standards to registrants as those applying to open a free school or early years provision.
IICSA, The Residential Schools Investigation Report · 1 Mar 2022 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry recommended strengthening independent school governance, safeguarding roles, and school registration standards. In a summary of a June 2022 response archived in July 2022, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse reported that the UK government agreed in principle to revise governance standards and bar proprietors from acting as designated safeguarding leads (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jul 2022). The Inquiry noted the government intended to consult on revised standards in 2023, update safeguarding guidance, and explore aligning independent school registration with free school standards (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jul 2022). It also recorded that the Welsh Government agreed to amend its regulations and registration processes across all points of the recommendation (The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Jul 2022).
Sources
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026.
Government response
●No formal government response recorded
The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.
Delivery
No statement on delivery from Department for Education has been found in the sources searched. This is separate from the response above.
What other bodies have found
●Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse · 25 Jul 2022
On 30 June 2022, the UK government stated that it agreed to the first two points of the recommendation in principle. It stated that it intended to consult on revised Independent School Standards in 2023 and was making changes through Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance to stipulate that the proprietor cannot be the designated safeguarding lead. The UK government also stated that it will continue to explore the registration system and ensure, where appropriate, that the registration system for independent schools is reflective of the system for early years and free schools. On 30 June 2022, the Welsh Government stated that it will amend and strengthen the Independent School Standard Regulations in line with each point set out in this recommendation, including in respect of the designated safeguarding lead and the three principles set out in the recommendation, and that it will amend the registration process for independent schools in Wales.
From: Recommendations - Residential schools investigation report
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.