Ofsted to privatise nursery inspections

By Angela Harrison
BBC News education and family reporter

Private and state-funded nurseries are inspected

The inspection of nurseries and childcare in England is to be privatised, Ofsted has confirmed.

The inspectorate for education and children's services is in the final stages of selecting private companies to run the checks.

Tribal Group has been made the "preferred bidder" for one area of England, it is understood, but further announcements are expected.

Ofsted already outsources some elements of its schools inspections.

It has nominated its preferred bidders, but says that legal processes prevent it from confirming details at this point.

Education consultants Tribal Group has said it has won a five-year contract worth £64m which is due to start in September 2010.

It says the deal would mean it would manage "inspection services for 45% of early years providers, including nurseries and childminders, in England".

Peter Martin, Tribal's chief executive, said: "We are delighted with this opportunity to extend our relationship with Ofsted into this important area of work.

"We are also looking forward to welcoming the Ofsted staff transferring to Tribal, who bring with them great depth of expertise and experience in this sector."

Ofsted is not releasing full details of the contracts until they are finalised, but it is understood the changes will involve the outsourcing of most of the inspection services for early years and nurseries.

Overall responsibility would rest with Ofsted.

An Ofsted spokeswoman said: "We are confident that outsourcing some of the day-to-day inspection and registration visits will enable us to use our resources more effectively and to strengthen our role as regulator of the sector.

"We expect that many of the early years' inspectors who currently work for Ofsted will continue to carry out inspections after the work has been outsourced."

Job cuts

Inspectors check a range of childcare providers from child minders to nurseries run by both schools and the private sector.

The Unison trade union, which represents many people who work in nurseries and childcare, is against the change.

Jon Richards, the union's national officer for Ofsted, said: "Many Ofsted early years inspectors have worked in childcare, meaning they are experts in assessing what makes a good standard of care for babies and toddlers.

"Switching to freelance inspectors, and making job cuts, means this vital experience will be lost from the front line.

"The fear is that when a private company takes over, profit will become more important than rigorous inspections. Unison is calling on Ofsted to put high quality inspections first, and re-think their privatisation plans."

Earlier this year, MPs on the Commons schools select committee said Ofsted had grown enormously and risked becoming unwieldy.

The body now oversees early years settings, colleges, children's services and social care, as well as schools.