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.

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.