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Child Minders

Answer

[holding answer 18 July 2005]: These are matters for the Office of Standards in Education (Ofsted). David Bell, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector for Schools will write to the hon. Gentleman and a copy of his reply will be placed in the Library.Letter from David Bell to Mr. Tim Loughton, dated 22 July 2005:"Your recent parliamentary questions concerning childminders have been passed to me, as Her Majesty's Chief Inspector, for reply.""You asked:""(i) how many complaints against childminders investigated by Ofsted have subsequently turned out to be vexatious in each of the last five years.""(ii) how many investigations against childminders have been undertaken by Ofsted in each of the last five years; and how many resulted in action.""In relation to the first question, Ofsted does not record the number of vexatious complaints made against childminders. Ofsted's role is to help to secure better education and care through effective inspection and regulation. Ofsted looks into complaints which suggest that childminders and day care providers are not meeting the government's National Standards.""Ofsted's first concern is with the welfare of the children in the provider's care. When Ofsted has investigated a complaint it records the outcome of the investigation. This could be the action the provider or Ofsted had to take to bring about compliance with the Standards or that Ofsted found the provider to be meeting the National Standards. Ofsted reports either outcome to parents and in its regular inspection reports. It does not record or report whether a complaint was vexatious. It may be, of course, that even if a complaint was vexatious it could still lead Ofsted to identify some areas for improvement in the childminder's practice and so have a positive impact on the children concerned.""However, Ofsted does recognise that providers will have concerns about having a number of complaints recorded against their names, even if Ofsted on inspection found that National Standards were being met. For that reason, where it appears that a number of complaints could have been made by the same source and they all resulted in a finding that the Standards were being met, they are not reported on in inspection reports individually.""Ofsted recognises the concern childminders may feel about this issue and is looking at its practice to see if it can handle complaints in a more transparent and effective way. The government has just consulted on a new duty to be placed on providers to investigate and report on complaints. It may be that Ofsted will be able to change its complaints procedures and recording in the light of this. It will work with provider organisations to make sure it does this as well as it can.""In relation to your second question, please find attached two tables with this information.""A copy of this reply has been sent to the Rt Hon Beverley Hughes MP and will be placed in the library of both Houses."

Investigations against child minders undertaken by Ofsted and the number of resulting actions(21)
Financial year	Number of investigations againstchild minders	Number of resulting actions againstchild minders
April 2004 to March 2005	2,448	456
April 2003 to March 2004	2,550	398

Transitional period	Number of complaints received by Ofsted about child care provision	Number of resulting enforcement actions against child minders and providers of day care
September 2001 toMarch 2003	10,500	410
Note: Data recorded during the transitional period does not always differentiate between day care and child minding. We have provided child minder data where this is available.
(21) The law gives Ofsted a number of actions that it can follow in the event of a provider failing to meet their statutory obligations, including compliance notices, prosecution for some offences and cancellation of a registration. Ofsted can also impose specific conditions on a registration or suspend a registration whilst steps are taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of harm to children.
(22) Ofsted's Early Years Directorate counts, records and publishes data by financial year, 1 April to 31 March, and not by calendar year.
(23) The duty to regulate and inspect under 8s child care transferred from the local authorities to Ofsted on 1 September 2001. The first 18 months of Ofsted's regulatory activity, between 1 September 2001 and March 2003, was considered a transitional period. During the transition period Ofsted's focused on ensuring existing child care providers were able to make the transition from local authority requirements to the governments new minimum criteria for all under 8s child care set out in ““National standards for under 8s day care and childminding””.
(24) No breakdown between day care and child minding for the period (see following note).

Breakdown of enforcement action
All figures are for child minding unless otherwise stated	September 2001 to March 2003	April 2003 to March 2004	April 2004 to March 2005
Notice of compliance instructing providers they must comply with the National Standards	40(Child minders 17)	130	130
Change to conditions of registration	68	17	14
Voluntary suspension of registration	106	77	95
Statutory suspension of registration	n/a	29	27
Cancellation of registration	45	36	81
Emergency order from a Justice of the Peace	27	2	4
Prosecution	Confirming data	3	1
Enforcement action against unregistered child minding	124	104	104
Total number of resulting actions against child minders	—	398	456
(25) The duty to regulate and inspect under 8s child care transferred from the local authorities to Ofsted on 1 September 2001. The first 18 months of Ofsted's regulatory activity, between 1 September 2001 and March 2003, was considered a transitional period. During the transition period Ofsted's focused on ensuring existing child care providers were able to make the transition from local authority requirements to the governments new minimum criteria for all under 8s child care set out in ““National standards for under 8s day care and childminding””.
(26) Ofsted's Early Years Directorate counts, records and publishes data by financial year, 1 April to 31 March, and not by calendar year.
(27) Total for child minding and day care (see note 1).
(28) Statutory powers to suspend providers came into force 1 April 2003.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

12830; 436 c2330-2W;436 c2331-4W

Session

2005-06

Related items

Deposited Paper HINF 2005/1378
Friday, 22 July 2005
Deposited papers
House of Commons

Subjects

Complaints Childminding