Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with Ofsted on (a) recent closures of nurseries due to safety concerns and (b) the effectiveness of (i) pre-scheduled and unscheduled site inspections.

I recently met Ofsted’s Deputy Director for Early Years to discuss a range of issues on the regulation of childcare, including inspection arrangements and the quality standards of childcare providers. Departmental officials have regular business meetings with the Ofsted early years team and brief me on all developments as appropriate.

Departmental Ministers discussed and agreed the new system of inspections with Ofsted prior to Ofsted launching the Common Inspection Framework in September 2015. The framework covers the arrangements for both scheduled inspections and unscheduled inspections based on an assessment of risk. The framework and inspection guidance can be viewed on Ofsted’s website from the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/common-inspection-framework-education-skills-and-early-years-from-september-2015