Interview - Yvette Stanley, Ofsted’s national director for regulation and social care

WHY DID YOU CARRY OUT RESEARCH INTO MULTIPLE PROVIDERS?

As a regulator it is important that we continue to keep pace with changes in the sector and that we hold the right people to account for the right things.

While we have some insight from our inspection work on multiple providers, we did this research to gain a deeper understanding about the level of oversight they have of individual settings, and the level of autonomy and flexibility individual settings may have. As a result, we were able to reflect on our own policy and practice, to make sure we capture the ‘right’ information during inspection and hold the relevant people to account.

We conducted similar research focused on social care groups, which has enabled us to look at best practice across both remits.

WHAT WERE THE FINDINGS?

This research has helped us understand the extent to which multiple providers influence the curriculum delivered in their settings. The majority of multiple providers set the curriculum’s intent, influence its implementation and monitor its impact.

It was interesting that half of the multiple providers we spoke to have their own apprenticeship schemes. They see this as a way to train staff members, from the start of their career, in their ways of working. Clearly this also reflects the shortage of suitably qualified staff. We were also interested in finding out about the considerations made by multiple providers in contributing to sufficient childcare places across England. We looked at the decision-making process when multiple providers acquired or opened new settings, as well as their involvement in setting the ratio of funded places for two-year-olds to unfunded places across their nurseries. We were interested in the types of funding models that multiple providers used to help maintain profit margins for all settings, when some had higher proportions of funded places than others.

YOU SAID THAT CURRENT LEGISLATION ‘DOESN’T REFLECT THE SECTOR AS IT OPERATES TODAY’. IS THIS A BIG CONCERN?

Current legislation allows us to inspect and grade individual settings and does not reflect the large number of multiple providers and their control and influence over their settings. If decisions on the curriculum, staffing and wider policy rest elsewhere, how do we take that on board in a system that just looks at individual settings? We need to hold the right people to account at setting and group level.

HOW WOULD GREATER OVERSIGHT LOOK IN PRACTICE?

We currently inspect providers individually, which allows us to look closely at the provision available for children, and leadership of middle leaders in large organisations. However, if we had the opportunity to look in depth at a group of providers, we could consider governance as a whole and how this impacts on day-to-day provision across a number of settings.

HOW WOULD YOU MANAGE ANY CHANGES?

Any change to the current inspection arrangements for early years providers would require careful consideration. We would always want to strike the right balance, be proportionate and focus on where we can make the most difference for children.

WOULD YOU CONSULT THE SECTOR?

The DfE outlines the early years inspection arrangements for Ofsted in the Childcare Act 2006 and the inspection remit letters issued from the Secretary of State to Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector. Any changes to legislation would be subject to the usual parliamentary processes, which would include consultation. As with our inspection frameworks, we would also engage with the sector about how any changes would work in practice.

Ofsted’s report on multiple providers

Ofsted has called for greater oversight of multiple providers through stronger regulatory powers to ensure they are having a ‘positive impact’ on children. Its report, How early years multiple providers work, highlights how multiple providers influence the education and care given at their nurseries, including: setting the curriculum intent and influencing its implementation and impact, developing, reviewing and controlling policies, and monitoring and oversight of ongoing incidents in individual settings.

It says that while these providers ‘exert a great deal of influence over their settings’, Ofsted is only able to inspect individual nurseries and pre-schools.

The report goes on to find that current legislation does not reflect the level of influence that nursery groups have on individual settings and recommends the inspectorate view early years multiple providers in a similar way to school Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs).

In particular, it suggests inspection report summary evaluations look at the extent to which a multiple provider is delivering high-quality education and improving children’s outcomes.

It also reflects on Ofsted’s role as a regulator of early years childcare and how it can ensure that those with the greatest influence over the quality of education and care are held to account.