NO STONE will be left unturned in the upcoming inspection of Swindon Council's education department.

That is the verdict of council leader Mike Bawden (Con, Old Town & Lawns) speaking ahead of Swindon's Local Education Authority's imminent Government inspection.

On June 9 Government inspectors from Ofsted will start a rigorous investigation to find out how much the council has improved since its disastrous failure in September 2001.

In June last year private firm Tribal was brought in to help put education back on track, with a new senior management team taking control of the department in January.

The inspection will be a stiff test for the council and could finally prove that improvements are being made after a series of disasters that saw the council labelled one of the worst in the country.

Education is now overseen by the Education Partnership Board and not, as is usual, a committee of elected councillors. The EPB is made up of heads, education officers and councillors, teaching unions and other interested parties.

Coun Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw & Nine Elms) said: "This inspection will be exceptionally difficult but we will see where we are after last year. If things had gone seriously wrong the Government could have stepped back in, and since there have been regular meetings with Department for Education and Skills officers, they know we are fulfilling most of the criteria."

After the June 2001 inspection some people claimed the council was not in as poor shape as Ofsted suggested.

Ian Hill, branch secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "The council was moving in the right direction when it failed the first inspection, but things have improved since then too."

Seven Fields Primary School head Andrew Nye, who sits on the Education Partnership Board, said: "A lot of things are not right yet but I believe they will continue to improve."