Early learning and childcare and school age childcare services inspection consultation: SG response

Joint Inspectorate Statement

Joint statement from Jackie Irvine, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate, and Gayle Gorman, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Education Scotland in response to the findings from the Scottish Government consultation, on inspection of Early Learning and Childcare and School Age Childcare Services in Scotland.

Firstly, we would like to thank those in the early learning and school age childcare sector who took the time to give us their valued feedback as part of the public consultation.

Following recommendations in the Muir Report (2022), the Care Inspectorate and His Majesty’s Inspectors of Education (HMIE/Education Scotland) have been reviewing the way we work together to ensure there is clarity and consistency for services under the current inspection regime and to reduce any duplication. We have already reviewed our approach to our shared inspection process to extend the minimum time between inspections by both bodies and, wherever possible, to reduce the burden of inspection activity on services.

The Scottish Government’s consultation sought views on the creation of one shared quality framework for the inspection of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC), childminders and school age childcare services, in Scotland. We will pay careful consideration to the views of those who responded to the consultation as we recognise the importance of listening to and working with the sector.

In partnership, the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland will work collaboratively to take forward the findings of the consultation. We welcome the responses provided and see them as an opportunity to continue to enhance the approaches to inspection and support improvements in experiences and outcomes for children in ELC and school age childcare. Children are at the heart of everything we do. Through inspection we will actively provide assurance on the quality of provision and support services to continue to deliver high quality care and learning. In addition, through collaboration and the sharing of expertise, we will seek to provide a more streamlined and consistent process for services and to reduce duplication. The consultation demonstrates the need to provide clarity to the sector and use a common language that avoids unnecessary jargon. Importantly, as we take forward this work we will continue to listen to and work with the sector.

The Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland welcome the opportunity to collaboratively develop a shared inspection framework which can be used to support self-evaluation. We believe it is important to acknowledge that the new framework is intended to be used for inspection of all ELC and school age childcare services. It will reflect the needs of the sector and the commitment of both organisations to strengthen the working arrangements.

Furthermore, we wholeheartedly support parents and carers‘ expectations that their children have a right to experience high quality care and learning provision wherever they live in Scotland. We are committed to working together to actively support services as they continue to deliver high quality experiences for children in ELC and school age childcare settings. We will also support the sector to engage in self-evaluation and ongoing continuous quality improvement across their provision.

The development of a shared framework will strengthen an integrated approach to inspection, enabling the Care Inspectorate and the new education inspectorate to work in partnership. We will also seek to build on our approach to shared inspection activity - within the legislative framework and our organisations’ roles and responsibilities - to minimise any unnecessary bureaucracy or burden on settings, managers, and practitioners.

As we develop the shared quality framework, we are committed to ensuring collaboration and co-design with the sector, families, children, and representative bodies to ensure the development and content is meaningful.

Next stages

Work will be progressed in line with the following phases over the course of this year:

• Phase 2: Consultation/Engagement on content of shared framework, involving stakeholder engagement events.
• Phase 3: Draft framework developed and further consultation with stakeholders, followed by testing during inspection.
• Phase 4: Launch inspection framework for sector to become familiar with contents.
• Phase 5: By April 2024 implementation in Care Inspectorate inspections and by September 2024 implementation by HM Inspectors (in line with both Inspectorates’ inspection years).

Approach to consultation

We are committed to engaging with users and stakeholders as we develop the framework, building on the work of the consultation. We will use the principles of the Scottish Approach to Service Design ensuring that the people of Scotland are supported and empowered to actively participate in the definition, design, and delivery of their public services.

We appreciate the interest and importance of a shared framework for the sector, and we will provide regular updates as to our progress. We will provide an update on our progress before the end of July 2023.