Ofsted board chair is not head of the ‘UK education system’ as posts claim

An image being shared widely on social media misrepresents the positions of government minister, Shabana Mahmood, and the interim chair of Ofsted’s board, Sir Hamid Patel. 

The image is a collage featuring photos of both Ms Mahmood and Sir Hamid, alongside London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and Brighton and Hove’s mayor, Councillor Mohammed Asaduzzaman (which is a ceremonial role). It has been shared with captions including: “This is the UK 2025” and “The takeover continues”. 

However, overlaid text on the image describes Ms Mahood as the “Head of UK Justice System” and Sir Hamid as the “Head of UK Education System”. Neither of these claims is quite correct. Text does correctly describe the positions of Sir Sadiq and Cllr Asaduzzaman, however. 

Ms Mahmood is the Lord Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Justice, which means she is responsible for the Ministry of Justice, including courts, prisons and probation services. 

Before the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, the role of Lord Chancellor was the head of the judiciary in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, the speaker of the House of Lords and the senior judge of the House of Lords in its then-judicial capacity (before the Supreme Court was established under this act). Now the Lord Chief Justice is the head of the judiciary and President of the Courts, but this is only for England and Wales, not the UK.

That role is currently held by Baroness Sue Carr, who is responsible for representing the views of the judiciary to parliament, maintaining the welfare, training and guidance of the judiciary, and the deployment of the judiciary within courts. 

The head of the judiciary in Scotland is Lord Pentland, while the equivalent position is held by Dame Siobhan Keegan in Northern Ireland. 

Similarly, Sir Hamid is not the head of the “UK education system”. He was appointed interim chair of the Ofsted board on 11 March. He is also the chief executive of Star Academies (a network of primary and secondary schools).

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills, and is a non-ministerial department that inspects all state-funded schools, some fee-paying schools and other care and education providers in England. The board is responsible for determining Ofsted’s strategic priorities and monitoring its performance, as well as providing governance and scrutiny of its functions. 

The leadership and management of Ofsted is the responsibility of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, a role which is currently held by Sir Martyn Oliver. 

Education is a devolved matter, so the Department for Education is responsible for education in England, and will, for example, set the national curriculum. This is led by the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, who appoints the chair and non-executive board members of Ofsted.

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills in Scotland is Jenny Gilruth, while the equivalent role is held by Lynne Neagle in Wales. Paul Givan is the education minister in Northern Ireland. Estyn, Education Scotland and the Education and Training Inspectorate inspect schools in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, respectively.

We’ve recently written about the false claim that school curriculums will be changed following Sir Hamid’s appointment as the interim chair of Ofsted's board on 11 March. Before sharing information that you see on social media, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source.

You can find more of our work on claims relating to education on our website.