§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what percentage of each category of service for children aged under eight years which are subject to statutory social services inspection are also subject to Ofsted inspection; and what was the number of Ofsted inspections undertaken of these services during the last available year. [33849]
§ Mr. Byers15,190 service providers registered under Section 71(1)b of the Children Act 1989 and 488 local authority day nurseries and family centres registered under Section 18 of that Act are in receipt of nursery grant and are subject to Ofsted inspection.
Between September 1996 and March 1997, Ofsted carried out 2,187 inspections of providers registered under the Children Act and in receipt of nursery grant. From April 1997 to 6 March 1998, Ofsted completed a further 10,589 inspections of these providers, and I expect around 2,000 more to have been completed by the end of this month.