Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question 67189Pre-school Education: Accidents and Death, what steps she is taking to ensure that early years foundation stage safeguarding requirements are (a) implemented within early years settings, (b) read by staff on a mandatory basis and (c) communicated (i) consistently and (ii) coherently when changed.

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements all early years providers must legally follow to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe. The framework is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2.

Ofsted is responsible for the registration, regulation and inspection of childcare provision in England. Ofsted, as a regulator, has a responsibility to check that providers meet the EYFS requirements.

The EYFS framework states that early years providers must ensure that practitioners are supported and confident to implement the setting’s safeguarding policy and procedures on an ongoing basis.

The safeguarding changes to the EYFS framework in September 2025 were supported by a programme of communications and engagement, including webinars and vodcasts via the Foundation Years website. We worked with the sector and local authorities to ensure they understood the changes being made and how to implement them. The Foundation Years website is available here: https://www.foundationyears.org.uk/2025/07/early-years-foundation-stage-eyfs-safeguarding-reforms-2025/.