Clause 11 - Duty to assess childcare provision
Childcare Bill
4:15 pm
Beverley Hughes (Minister of State (Children, Young People and Families), Department for Education and Skills; Stretford and Urmston, Labour)
My hon. Friend graphically starts to take us into the tortuous processes, decision making and confusion that would arise if there were two standards of quality—one operated by Ofsted and one by the local authority. The hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton said that he was perfectly happy with that possibility, but I do not know how parents would begin to make sense of it, let alone how local authorities and the providers would understand such a convoluted and two-tier system.
We established Ofsted because we wanted to ensure that there was a nationally endorsed standard that made sense to parents and which parents knew about. Indeed, the Ofsted brand has been successful in being recognised by parents, who have a great deal of confidence in its process and the results of its decision making. That is the validated way that we have established to assure quality standards, and it is one that parents understand. We should not confuse the situation by bringing in something else that is undefined and not thought through, which would totally complicate the situation for parents and providers.