Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Ofsted
AGREEMENTS BETWEEN CSCI AND OFSTED ENSURING
THE QUALITY OF INSPECTION OF CHILDREN'S SOCIAL CARE
At the Select Committee hearing on 10 December
2008, you asked what protocols were in place in order to ensure
the quality of inspection of child protection in residential child
care settings and other places, during and after the transfer
of these responsibilities from the Commission for Social Care
Inspection (CSCI) to Ofsted.
I can confirm the accuracy of my answer at the
time—there was no single, overarching protocol or agreement
to cover this issue. However, as I indicated, there were a number
of decisions and agreements made as part of the Creating the New
Ofsted (CNO) Programme and its attendant projects, which were
made for the purpose of ensuring that Ofsted could maintain—and
improve on— the quality of inspection of children's social
care.
Among the decisions or agreements:
— we preserved, as far as possible,
CSCI's recently developed "Inspecting for Better Lives"
methodology, as well as the length and frequency of inspections
that CSCI had in place at the time of transfer. This was communicated
to providers in The regulation and inspection of children's social
care from 1 April 2007;
— we developed a new safeguarding policy
to cover all the work of the new inspectorate, published in draft
form in June 2006. This was trialled by inspectors, reviewed and
a final safeguarding policy was published in April 2007;
— we trained all Ofsted inspection
staff in safeguarding, as per the safeguarding policy, to ensure
that child protection was a priority in all our work;
— we transferred from CSCI into Ofsted
all those inspection staff who were fully or predominantly involved
with children's inspections at the point of transition, delineating
the principles of the CNO programme;
— we transferred all available historical
paperwork and electronic information relating to the settings
and organisations for which we were taking over responsibility—that
relating to local authorities transferred to the relevant government
office;
— we settled on a process for the clear
division of responsibilities, including those relating to child
protection, between the new Ofsted and the then Department for
Education and Skills;
— we developed a process for serious
case review notifications, and began to evaluate those reviews;
— we agreed arrangements for the transfer
of legal files and of work in progress including priority inspections
(identified through risk assessment, complaints and allegations
against registered providers); and
— we developed a memorandum of understanding
between CSCI and Ofsted on joint working and information-sharing
issues after 1 April 2007.
Certain documents that relate to these decisions
and agreements are listed in Annex A.
Throughout the programme, we sought to ensure
that the new Ofsted had suitable staff, equipment and working
arrangements to take over the social care work effectively and
to ensure that the transition of this work would be safe.
Meanwhile, if you would like to shadow any type
of inspection I would be delighted to facilitate this. I know
from my own experience and feedback from our non-executive Board
members just how valuable this can be. And as ever, I would be
pleased to discuss any outstanding concerns on your part, or to
offer further clarification on the issues discussed in this letter.
If you feel a meeting would be helpful, please let me know.
January 2009
Annex A
DOCUMENTATION ENCLOSED
Documents that relate directly to the decisions
or agreements outlined above are attached. These include:
— The regulation and inspection
of children's social care from 1 April 2007.
This booklet details the changes in the arrangements
for inspecting social care provision for children and young people
from 1 April 2007. It was distributed to providers and other stakeholders,
and outlined the methodology that Ofsted would use for the inspection
of social care (noting the consistencies with the work of CSCI).
— Ofsted safeguarding policy and
procedures (including annexes)
This policy was developed to plan for a coherent
approach to safeguarding issues in the new Ofsted. It was originally
published in June 2006. These proposals were trialled by inspectors
and reviewed to form the final policy. This final policy was published
in April 2007. Its purpose is to outline Ofsted's policy on responding
to concerns regarding the safeguarding and protection of children
and young people aged under 18 years. This policy combined with
the associated procedures provides guidance to, and feeds into
training for, all staff who may come across concerns of this nature
within the context of their work for Ofsted.
— Future arrangements for the statutory
notifications previously sent to the Commission for Social Care
Inspection (LAC SD07_25)
This local authority circular, published by the
then Department for Education and Skills (DfES) on 19 April 2007,
updates on the arrangements for local authorities when providing
statutory notifications on serious childcare incidents and serious
case reviews. It outlines the division of responsibilities between
the new Ofsted and the DfES (including Government Offices).
— Memorandum of Understanding between
the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) and the Office
for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted)
on joint working and information-sharing issues after 1 April
2007
This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) sets out
the key responsibilities, actions and contacts relating to joint
working and information sharing issues between CSCI and the new
Ofsted, from 1 April 2007. It built upon agreements prior to 1
April, seeking to ensure appropriate cooperation and the satisfactory
delivery of both work in progress and newly arising cases.
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