Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to ensure that proposed Ofsted local area inspections include a requirement that Local Offers should contain clear information about local play opportunities and entitlements.

The Children and Families Act 2014 requires local authorities to develop and publish a Local Offer setting out the support they expect to be available for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities in their local area. The Local Offer must include information about leisure activities which may include information about play opportunities.

The Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspections will consider how effectively the local area identifies, meets the needs of and improves the outcomes of the wide range of different groups^[1] of children and young people who have special educational needs or disabilities as defined in the Act and described in the Code of Practice.

Ofsted and CQC will draw on a range of sources, including the local offer, to identify key lines of enquiry and to support assessment of the effectiveness of the local area.

Ofsted and CQC will publish an inspection report that will outline the evidence that inspectors reviewed and provide a summary of key findings including the local area’s strengths and areas requiring further development.

The inspection framework and handbook are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-area-send-inspection-framework

[1] These groups of children and young people are detailed in Part 2 of the ‘Handbook for the inspection of local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities’.