Clause 17 - Framework
Children Bill [Lords]
4:45 pm
Mrs Margaret Hodge (Minister of State (Children), Department for Education and Skills; Barking, Labour)
I reassure the hon. Lady that the framework will ensure that inspections evaluate and report consistently on the extent to which all children's services improve the well-being of children and young people. The framework applies to the inspection of front-line provision, including nurseries, and to joint area reviews. It governs the coverage of inspection and guides its methods, but it does not replace specialist inspection frameworks.
Ofsted will finish its current inspection of nursery provision next March. The last thing that we want is for parents to worry about the safety of nurseries, so it is worth putting it on the record that Ofsted carried out 23,900 Children's Act inspections of child care provision. Overall, the quality of care was adjudged unsatisfactory in 120 settings—that is 0.5 per cent. In unsatisfactory cases, Ofsted decides on a case-by-case
basis what should happen to bring about improvement: as the hon. Lady knows, that can range from enforcement action to the setting of conditions and actions, with a further inspection.
Most of those settings, therefore, are absolutely safe and are inspected regularly. However, to address some of the concerns raised by hon. Members, I am having discussions with Ofsted. We are revisiting the framework to see whether it is appropriate and rigorous enough to ensure that children are safe, happy and well cared for in every nursery. If that is not the case, quick action will be taken to ensure that children's safety is protected.