Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent correspondence his Department has had with Ofsted on its decision to remove the requirement on childcare providers to complete self-evaluation forms.

Ofsted provides a form on its website that childcare providers can complete to self-evaluate their performance prior to inspection. Ofsted’s online myth-buster makes clear that completion of this form is optional but inspectors will ask providers about the quality of care and activities they provide, and how well the setting is meeting the learning needs of all children.

Ofsted has discussed removing the self-evaluation form template with stakeholder organisations and Department for Education officials were involved in that discussion. This is an operational decision for Ofsted and they will communicate with the wider sector about this in due course.