Clause 48 - Inspections
Childcare Bill
2:15 pm
Nick Gibb (Shadow Minister, Education; Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, Conservative)
Amendment No. 27 relates to subsection (2)(a), which says that the chief inspector of schools
“must at such intervals as may be prescribed inspect early years provision”.
The amendment suggests that there should be not less than three years between inspections.
It is important that the inspections are frequent, perhaps even more often than every three years, but certainly not less often. There tends to be quite a high turnover of staff in early years provision. As a consequence, the quality of the care provided could change quite a lot and rapidly in those three years.
I shall be interested to hear what the Minister says about that. If she cannot accept the amendment, perhaps she will assure the Committee that the regulations that ultimately emerge will prescribe a period and that it will be of that order.
Amendment No. 205 applies to clause 98, which introduces the affirmative resolution procedures to certain specified order-making clauses. The amendment would apply the affirmative resolution procedure to clause 48, which seems to have four different order-making powers—quite a lot for one clause. Subsection (2)(a) gives the power to prescribe intervals at which inspections should be made, which we have just discussed; subsection (3) relates to regulations to prescribe circumstances in which the chief inspector is not required to inspect early years provision; and subsection (4) deals with regulations that can prescribe the regulatory regime of early years provision at independent schools.
As all those regulation-making powers relate to important issues, Opposition Members believe that they should be made subject to the affirmative resolution procedure. I wait to hear what the Minister has to say.