Ofsted privatises childcare inspections

While the inspectorate for education and children's services has so far refused to name any of the companies involved in negotiations over the outsourcing, one educational consultancy has published a statement confirming that it is to take over up to 45 per cent of childcare inspections in England.

The Tribal Group, which offers consultancy services to a wide range of public sector organisations, including local authority children's services departments, the Department of Health and the DCSF, has announced that it has signed a £64m, five-year contract with Ofsted, scheduled to begin on 1 September, which will see it inspect nurseries and childminders based in the south of the country.

A statement from Ofsted said, 'While the final stages of the outsourcing plans are being agreed we cannot go into details about the contracts. 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.'

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 looking forward to welcoming the Ofsted staff transferring to Tribal, who bring with them great depth of expertise and experience into this sector.'

But Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, warned, 'It is vital that there is consistency of inspection and quality between all inspections, whether carried out by Ofsted or a private company. Nurseries will be particularly keen that outsourced inspectors have expertise in the early years sector. This is particularly important in ensuring that the inspection process is positive, with the provider given useful information about where they might enhance practice further.'

Jon Richards, Unison national officer for Ofsted, said, '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.'