BOLTON'S inspection unit is battling against the odds to secure contracts in the secondary sector.

The authority's team of registered OFSTED inspectors recently tendered for 30 secondary contracts and 15 primary with a view to securing six secondary inspections and three primary.

But the authority has recently learned it has successfully secured only two secondary contracts and three primary.

Each secondary inspection generates between £20,OOO and £25,000 income but Brian Atkinson, deputy director of education, said doubts were surfacing about the viability of tendering for secondary contracts.

Cllr Paul Fitzpatrick told the services for schools sub committee: "We have to look at how much it is costing us to tender for the secondary sector inspection contracts. The whole process strikes me as a waste of time and money."

Mr Atkinson said there was a flourishing market in the inspection business, mostly made up of people from the education world who have taken early retirement and operate private teams, recruiting on a freelance basis.

They are able to tender for contracts at levels below those which other teams are unable to compete against.

Mr Atkinson said: "There have been some complaints about some of the teams.

"I know of one report produced on a Bolton school which was a sloppy piece of work.

"There were serious grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Some schools have said after the inspection that they found the process very worthwhile.

"But when reports are produced which contain serious flaws it is not fair to the schools, which find the process time consuming and intense."

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