Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve (a) transparency and (b) accountability in early years provision.

As announced in the recent ‘Best Start in Life’ publication, the department wants to drive higher standards through a strengthened improvement and accountability system. From next April, Ofsted will inspect all new providers on the early years register (EYR) within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers on the EYR at least once every four years.

The government is committed to improving the current inspection system. This includes a new approach to reporting and removing overall effectiveness grades from all early years provision, as well as launching an early years report card system.

Ofsted has delivered important changes to the way it works in response to the ‘Big Listen’ consultation, improving its culture and being more open and transparent. This important work is ongoing.