Spielman 'not concerned' by lack of children's centre inspections

A suspension of Ofsted inspections of children's centres "on a short-term basis" was announced in 2015 by then childcare minister Sam Gyimah while a consultation on their future took place. However, the consultation is yet to happen and the suspension has not been lifted.

Under the current inspection framework, the effectiveness of a children's centre's policies and procedures, including those for safeguarding and staff recruitment, is among areas that children's centres are rated on. Concerns have previously been raised that issues may go unnoticed due to a lack of oversight.

In January, charity Action for Children warned that the continued suspension of inspections is "undermining" children's centres.

But, appearing before the education select committee, Spielman said she is satisfied that current arrangements are sufficient.

Responding to questioning from Labour MP Lucy Powell about whether she is concerned that Ofsted is still not able to inspect children's centres, Spielman said: "The short answer is I'm not concerned.

"The reason why is because broadly there are three things that happen in children's centres. One big chunk is about provision of information and guidance, and a lot of children's centres it turns out don't have any children in them at all.

"Then there is a set of activities about things that parents come to with their children but where the child is always with the parent, jointly taking part in some kind of activity.

"The third kind of activity is more traditional early years activity where parents leave children at the centre in the charge of centre staff. The third type of activity, wherever it exists, is still always inspected under our early years inspection model.

"So there are no children's centres where children are coming and being left with staff where there is no inspection assurance."

However, Powell said there are likely to be instances where children are accompanied to children's centres by parents and are left in the company of staff while they undertake other activities.

She also pointed to Ofsted statistics that at the time of the inspection suspension, one in three children's centres was judged to be "inadequate" or "requires improvement".

"There's clearly an issue of quality in the sector, yet we have now had three years with no-one looking into this at all - no quality assurance in this space whatsoever."

Spielman said it is "a matter for government" to consider what the most appropriate mechanism for overseeing children's centres is.

"I'm not convinced from what I have seen inspection is the right tool to look at whether children's centres are as effective as they should be.

"I think it is fundamentally a question for the Secretary of State [for Education] about the future of children's centres and the oversight of them."

More than 1,000 children's centres across the country have closed or been downgraded since 2010.