When it comes to the biggest issues facing England’s schools system, Meg Hillier has proved to be one of the sharpest and most incisive critics of the Department for Education.
In a year in which concerns about “fake news” have risen to ever greater heights, the parliamentary spending watchdog that the Labour MP chairs proved invaluable to the education debate with its pointed, yet factual reports, as well as its forensic questioning of key figures.
The Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has not been the only public body to perform a vital oversight role this year - the Education Select Committee has stuck doggedly to its focus on social justice, and the UK Statistics Authority has repeatedly called out the DfE’s questionable use of statistics - but the breadth of the PAC’s work has made it stand out.
On Ofsted, the committee highlighted “clear shortcomings” in the inspectorate’s performance and warned that its credibility could “evaporate” if budget cuts continued to “erode” the level of inspection.
On the teacher-recruitment crunch, the PAC did not shy away from using the word “crisis”, which ministers remain unable to utter, branding the DfE’s approach “sluggish and incoherent”. And on academies, it warned of how “excessive” academy salaries “deprive the front line of vital funds”, while Hillier, in typically robust style, called time on the “chancers” who seek to manipulate the system for their own ends.
DfE permanent secretary Jonathan Slater has said he “relishes” his encounters with the PAC. It is certainly an experience that regularly gives him a rigorous workout.
Tes’ people of the year 2018
