Ofsted board names Sir Hamid Patel as interim chair
Patel, who has been a member of the Ofsted board since 2019, will serve for a period of up to five months until a new substantive chair is appointed
Ofsted has announced the appointment of Sir Hamid Patel as the new interim chair of its board until a successor is found for Dame Christine Ryan, who announced in November 2024 that she would be stepping down this year.
Patel, who has been a member of the Ofsted board since 2019, will serve for a period of up to five months until a new substantive chair is appointed.
Alongside his role on the board, Patel is chief executive of Star Academies.
Having spent four and a half years as chair of Ofsted, Ryan has announced that she will be stepping down from the role at the end of March.
Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty’s chief inspector of education, said: “On behalf of Ofsted, I’d like to thank Dame Christine for her service during her time as chair. She has successfully led the board through a time of significant challenge and change, culminating in our current consultation on the future approach to education inspections.
“I am very pleased Sir Hamid will be supporting us as interim chair, while the government recruits Dame Christine’s successor. I look forward to working more closely with him and, in time, with a new chair.”