Nursery World - Ofsted's takeover record defended

Ofsted's performance on taking over registration and inspections was defended at the National Day Nurseries Association's (NDNA) annual conference in Warwick last week. Maggie Smith, director of early years at Ofsted, fielded questions from delegates about long delays for criminal record checks on staff and inconsistencies in inspections. She said the transfer of duties from local authorities in England had been a 'huge logistical change' but that Ofsted was clearing the backlog and was on track to complete targets by next year.

Maggie Smith, director of early years at Ofsted, fielded questions from delegates about long delays for criminal record checks on staff and inconsistencies in inspections. She said the transfer of duties from local authorities in England had been a 'huge logistical change' but that Ofsted was clearing the backlog and was on track to complete targets by next year.

Ms Smith added, 'In the past six months we have had to hit the ground running and maintain processes. There have been a lot of new initiatives, and along with that there have been a lot of nurseries wanting to expand and applications from nurseries wanting to register. These have been a high priority as we try not to be a bar to the National Childcare Strategy's expansion aims.

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