The Senior Officers' Seminar is always well attended and is highly valued by those that participate in it. There has been no formal external evaluation of the seminar and there are no plans at present to commission one.
The terms of reference for Ofsted to inspect training are as follows: to determine the extent to which progress has been made in addressing issues of care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees during initial training including examination of the self assessment process. Ofsted will evaluate the effectiveness of the strategic and operational management of the care, welfare and support for recruits and trainees during initial training and use the Common Inspection Framework (the national framework for inspection of post 16 education and training) to comment on the standard of initial training.
The terms of reference state that Ofsted should take account of the national care standards and safeguarding where relevant, make judgments on strengths and areas for development of initial training, visit training establishments, armed forces careers offices, acquaint and selection centres and service training headquarters and establishments identified as priorities. Under the terms of reference Ofsted meet MOD officials to provide feedback on inspection progress.
Ofsted is currently undertaking inspections following up on work previously undertaken by the Adult Learning Inspectorate on issues of care and welfare, including treatment, bullying and harassment. Additionally, Ofsted will comment on what it has observed in respect of the recruit journey, from contact with the armed forces careers office to phase 1 training. Ofsted will report its inspection findings in spring 2009.