Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of Ofsted’s reviews of local authority children’s services departments.

Ofsted has a crucial role to play in upholding standards in children’s social care and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services through inspection. In 2024 Ofsted conducted the Big Listen, the biggest consultation in Ofsted’s history. The consultation identified the need to revise how Ofsted inspects, grades and reflects the realities of children’s lives through inspection.

The department is working closely with Ofsted to update its children’s social care inspection frameworks in line with the wider reform agenda, including embedding a focus on family help and the continuum of need, so that children and families are getting the right help at the right time. Ofsted introduced initial revisions in April 2026 and will consult in summer 2026 on further reforms for 2027.

We are also working with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission as they revise the Area SEND inspection framework to reflect clarified statutory roles for local authorities and integrated care boards, and wider SEND reform.