Ofsted data management frustrates early years sector

The alliance submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to Ofsted last month asking for detailed information on how early years settings are inspected and rated after becoming concerned that providers are being unfairly downgraded as a result of complaint-driven inspections.

The organisation wanted to know more about the number of providers that had been downgraded during the quality assurance process over the past two years. It became concerned after Ofsted revealed that only 19 of the 39 children's centres inspected between April and June this year were judged to be outstanding or good.

But Ofsted was unable to fully respond to the request because much of the data was “not easily accessible” and the regulatory body claimed a manual search for the records would exceed the £600 limit set for FOI requests.

As a result, the alliance has submitted a new FoI request, which instead asks for data from the past 12 months.

Neil Leitch, chief executive of the alliance, said: “Given the serious concerns about the fairness of Ofsted’s inspections, Ofsted’s admission that it would need to manually collate the data on quality assurance downgrades is extremely worrying.

“We believe it should be a priority for Ofsted to collate crucial data in an accessible way. The rejection of this aspect of our FoI request will be interpreted by the sector as proof that Ofsted has little understanding of the important role that accessible, accurate data plays in inspiring confidence, openness and transparency.

“Without comprehensive, accurate and up-to-date data, the inspectorate cannot continue to dismiss the serious concerns that the sector is raising about the inspection process.”