Early years: the first national picture presents the outcome of Ofsted's inspections of all childminders and daycare providers over the 19-month transitional period after it took over responsibility for regulation from local authorities and for implementing new national standards from September 2001.
Although only 41 per cent of providers met the standards on their first inspection, Ofsted says that the vast majority have now attained these standards and only needed a few changes to get there.
Her Majesty's chief inspector of schools, David Bell, said, 'Ofsted's philosophy of improvement has been to the fore throughout the transition period. Ofsted has taken a strong, consistent approach to implementing and enforcing the national standards. But at the same time, we have developed workable processes for registration and regulation that do not hinder growth in the childcare sector. A new benchmark has now been set for the quality and safety of childcare throughout England, against which future improvements can be set.
'To reach this point is a significant achievement. Ofsted completed more than 100,000 regulatory visits against a tight deadline. It is a testament to the hard work and commitment of everyone involved that we delivered.'
The report, published last week, records that on 31 March 2003 there were 99,300 registered childcare providers in England, consisting of 68,200 childminders and 31,100 daycare providers. The south-east had the most registered childcarers, with 18,400, followed by London with 14,300.
Where Ofsted's childcare inspectors found that a provider was not yet complying with the national standards for daycare, apart from the tiny minority of cases where there were strong concerns about children's immediate welfare, the provider was given guidance on how to improve. This guidance took the form of conditions, which must be complied with at all times, and actions, which set out what providers should do to bring provision up to scratch within an allocated timescale.
As a result of transitional inspections, 47,300 providers, or 59 per cent, received an action or condition. The standard that accounted for most conditions, at 46 per cent, was standard four, physical environment, and the majority of these applied to childminding. The second largest proportion of conditions was set against standard two, organisation, accounting for 28 per cent, and related to issues such as record-keeping and qualifications and training.
Standard six, safety, accounted for the greatest number of actions at 28 per cent, and again most of these applied to childminding. The most common issue was fire safety.
Ofsted also investigated 10,500 complaints, of which the highest proportion - 23 per cent - related to standard one, suitable person, which ensures that the person in charge has been through appropriate checks and is appropriately qualified. In the case of more serious complaints, Ofsted took steps to stop 175 providers from operating.
During the transitional period Ofsted received 36,700 new applications for registration, of which 72 per cent have received a registration visit and 50 per cent received a certificate. It refused 220 applications to register.
* See p16 for David Bell's commentary on the report, which is available on www.ofsted.gov.uk.
