Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing unannounced Ofsted inspections in early years settings.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
While Ofsted does typically provide notice before an inspection in early years, inspections without prior notification do happen, particularly when concerns have been raised about a setting or if a previous inspection resulted in a grade of ‘Inadequate’.
Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 there were 1,400 unannounced inspections in early years, which was 16% of all inspections. The department recognises the importance of unannounced inspections and they will continue.
Routine announced inspections are also an important part of the system. We are increasing inspection frequency in early years to ensure better oversight of the setting landscape, and more regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to mandate the use of CCTV in nurseries.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements for early years settings to make sure children are kept as safe as possible.
The decision to install and use camera surveillance equipment in a nursery is a matter for individual providers to determine based on their own risk assessment and policies.
The department is currently reviewing with Ofsted how CCTV is used in early years settings and how we can support settings to use it effectively as part of their safeguarding provision.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing mandatory safe sleep training for all early years staff working in nurseries.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework, which all early years providers are required to follow, includes a requirement for babies to be placed down to sleep in line with the latest government safety guidance, which can be found here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/.
Departmental officials recently met with The Lullaby Trust to discuss the lessons that can be learned from previous serious incidents and to ensure that children are kept as safe as possible.
The 'Early years qualification requirements and standards' document sets out the minimum qualification requirements that staff must meet to be recognised as level 2, level 3 or level 6 members of staff for the purpose of working within the EYFS staff:child ratios. Both the level 2 and level 3 criteria include knowledge of rest and sleep provision, with level 3 also including the safe use of equipment, furniture and materials with regard for sleep safety.
Asked by: Fred Thomas (Labour - Plymouth Moor View)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of a levels of Educational Psychologists on EHCP (a) assessment and (b) review waiting times.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
This government’s ambition is that all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life.
Educational psychologists play a critical role in the support available to children and young people, providing statutory input into education, health and care assessments and advising the school workforce on how to support children and young people with SEND. However, the department knows that current workforce shortages are a barrier to this.
As the employers of educational psychology services, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that their services are adequately staffed. However, we are taking measures to support local authorities by investing in building the pipeline. The department is investing over £21 million to train 400 more educational psychologists from September 2024. This is in addition to the £10 million currently being invested in the training of over 200 educational psychologists who began their training in September 2023. As these trainees complete their studies, they will join the workforce to support local authority educational psychology services, including contributing to statutory assessments.
To support retention, following graduation, trainees who have had their training funded by the department are required to remain in local authority employment for a minimum period. For trainees beginning their course in September 2024, this requirement has increased to three years.