An Ofsted spokeswoman said, 'Once the Tribunal is established Ofsted will have the new power of "suspension" of providers. We cannot have suspension power earlier because providers must have a right of appeal, and they can't have that right of appeal until the Tribunal exists.
'The very slight delay of a few weeks in establishing the Tribunal will also slightly delay our power of suspension.'
The spokeswoman said that in the interim, where a serious problem about a provider was reported to Ofsted, it was asking the provider to stop caring for children until its investigation was completed. She said, 'In all the serious cases we've dealt with since September the providers have co-operated with us and agreed to stop care.'
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