Ofsted have released their latest quarterly figures for inspection outcomes, showing a significant improvement in inspection outcomes for childcare professionals.

Here you can find the full report from Ofsted with the official statistics for early years and childcare registered providers on inspections and outcomes.

Below we list the key findings from Ofsted quarterly figures April-June 2014.

• Between 1 September 2008 and 30 June 2014, Ofsted has inspected 65,704 early years providers which were active on the Early Years Register as at 30 June 2014. Seventy nine per cent of these providers were judged good or outstanding for overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection. This is an increase of one percentage point since 31 March 2014 and five percentage points since the end of the last inspection cycle in August 2012.
• At the most recent inspection of all active providers, childcare on non-domestic premises continue to have a higher grade profile than childminders. Eighty three per cent of providers of childcare on non-domestic premises were judged to be good or outstanding for overall effectiveness at their most recent inspection compared to 77% of childminders. This is an increase of one percentage point for both childminders and childcare on non-domestic premises since our last publication as at 31 March 2014.
• Between 1 April 2014 and 30 June 2014 Ofsted carried out 4,952 inspections of childcare provision, 4,177 of these inspections were full inspections of providers on the Early Years Register. Seventy four per cent of these inspections resulted in judgements of good or outstanding for overall effectiveness.
• On 4 November 2013 Ofsted introduced a revised early years framework which saw the judgement of satisfactory replaced with requires improvement. Of the 4,177 full inspections carried out during this reporting period, 18% resulted in a judgement of requires improvement.

PACEY Head of Communications Victoria Flint comments:

“PACEY welcomes Ofsted’s highly encouraging statistics showing a significant improvement in inspection outcomes for childcare professionals, with seventy four per cent of early years providers rated good or outstanding and less than one fifth classed as ‘requires improvement’. This is a testament to the dedication and hard work of childcare professionals during a time when the sector faces significant challenges in the form of reduced funding and local authority support.

“The ability to access flexible, high quality childcare across a range of settings is vital for families. We would urge government and policy makers to ensure that parents receive robust information on the benefits that each setting offers, especially private, voluntary and independent (PVI) providers, and ensure that this is accessible.”

The release of this data comes with the start of a consultation from Ofsted on how it presents official figures on early years providers registered with Ofsted and their inspection outcomes.

Due to the introduction of childminding agencies, Ofsted is proposing removing data on the number of childminders and considering changing the frequency of the two reports.

The consultation closes on 28 November and PACEY will be responding to this.

PACEY Head of Communications Victoria Flint says:

“We are concerned that Ofsted’s proposal to remove dedicated information on childminder trends in future inspection reports will make it more difficult to assess quality improvement in the profession. A consistent approach to recognising high quality is key and Ofsted’s proposal again raises the question as to whether the introduction of childminder agencies will drive standards and quality of care in childminder settings.”