Written questions by Morrison.

Whether her Department records and publishes statistics on the (a) number and (b) nature of serious safeguarding incidents and child deaths in early years settings.

Information on the number and nature of serious incident notification statistics is published annually in the Official Statistics release on serious incident notifications, which is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/serious-incident-notifications/2025.Information on the placement type at the time of the incident is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/1c759373-93c2-4d6a-1d6e-08ddc13e16b8.

Whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of the Universal Credit Bill on young people under 22 with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

The Universal Credit Bill makes no change to the eligibility of young people under 22 for the Universal Credit Health element. The proposal to restrict access to the element was the subject of a consultation which closed on 30 June. The responses to the consultation are now being reviewed, and the Government’s conclusion will be announced in a white paper in the autumn.

Whether she plans to introduce routine unannounced inspections in early years settings as part of Ofsted’s updated inspection schedule.

While Ofsted typically provides notice before an inspection, they can and do conduct inspections without prior notification, particularly when concerns have been raised about a setting or if a previous inspection resulted in a grade of ‘Inadequate’. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 1400 unannounced inspections (16%) in early years settings. We recognise the importance unannounced inspections and they will continue. However, routine announced inspections are also an important part of the system. We are committed to reforming and improving the current inspection system, including making inspection more supportive.We are increasing inspection frequency to ensure better oversight of the setting landscape, and more regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality.

What steps she is taking to review lessons learned from child deaths and serious incidents in early years settings.

The safety of children is our utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding requirements. The full statutory framework is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/670f8c0f366f494ab2e7b93d/EYFS_statutory__framework_for_childminders.pdf. This ongoing work includes continuous engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts. We also look closely at all serious incidents that have occurred in early years settings, taking into account advice from the aforementioned experts to assess if any changes need to be made to the EYFS safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.From September 2025, the department is strengthening the safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including:Amendments to promote safer recruitment.Creation of new requirements for providers to follow up if a child is absent for a prolonged period of time.A new safer eating section.A safeguarding training annex and a requirement for safeguarding training to be repeated every two years.New requirements to support whistleblowing.

What steps her Department is taking to improve (a) transparency and (b) accountability in early years provision.

As announced in the recent ‘Best Start in Life’ publication, the department wants to drive higher standards through a strengthened improvement and accountability system. From next April, Ofsted will inspect all new providers on the early years register (EYR) within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers on the EYR at least once every four years.The government is committed to improving the current inspection system. This includes a new approach to reporting and removing overall effectiveness grades from all early years provision, as well as launching an early years report card system.Ofsted has delivered important changes to the way it works in response to the ‘Big Listen’ consultation, improving its culture and being more open and transparent. This important work is ongoing.

If she will make it her policy to ensure that the majority of Ofsted inspections of early years settings are unannounced.

While Ofsted typically provides notice before an inspection, they can and do conduct inspections without prior notification, particularly when concerns have been raised about a setting or if a previous inspection resulted in a grade of ‘Inadequate’. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 1400 unannounced inspections (16%) in early years settings. We recognise the importance unannounced inspections and they will continue. However, routine announced inspections are also an important part of the system. We are committed to reforming and improving the current inspection system, including making inspection more supportive.We are increasing inspection frequency to ensure better oversight of the setting landscape, and more regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality.

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of introducing unannounced inspections in early years settings on levels of continuous safety compliance.

While Ofsted typically provides notice before an inspection, they can and do conduct inspections without prior notification, particularly when concerns have been raised about a setting or if a previous inspection resulted in a grade of ‘Inadequate’. Between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, there were 1400 unannounced inspections (16%) in early years settings. We recognise the importance unannounced inspections and they will continue. However, routine announced inspections are also an important part of the system. We are committed to reforming and improving the current inspection system, including making inspection more supportive.We are increasing inspection frequency to ensure better oversight of the setting landscape, and more regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality.

Whether Ofsted plans to update its guidance to inspectors on (a) identifying and (b) responding to (i) serious and (ii) repeated safeguarding breaches in early years settings.

The department works closely with Ofsted in our work monitoring and reviewing the safeguarding requirements within the early years foundation stage statutory framework to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.As announced in the recent Best Start in Life publication, Ofsted will receive additional investment from the department to inspect all new early years providers within 18 months of opening and move from a six to a four-year inspection cycle. It will also receive further investment for inspector training and quality assurance. All these measures will improve safeguarding across the sector.In November 2025, Ofsted will be implementing their new inspection reporting method, the Ofsted early years report card, and will publish details in a consultation response publication in September 2025. The response will include the updated education inspection frameworks, based on consultation feedback. Ofsted will also provide new operating guidance for inspectors, and inspection information documents. Within these, there will be a focus on safeguarding in the early years.

With reference to her Oral Statement on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life of 7 July 2025, Official Report, column 680-682, whether Ofsted will publish updated inspection (a) criteria and (b) frameworks for early years settings .

Ofsted has delivered important changes to the way it works in response to the Big Listen consultation. This important work is ongoing, and together we are committed to improving the inspection system. Ofsted will publish the response to its recent consultation on ‘Improving the way Ofsted inspects education’ in September 2025. The response will include the updated education inspection frameworks, which have been iterated based on consultation feedback. The updated frameworks will inform Ofsted’s new inspection reporting method, the Ofsted report card, which will be implemented from November 2025. Ofsted report cards will provide broader and richer information about the quality of provision and outcomes for children and babies at the time of an inspection.

With reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of Ofsted inspecting early years providers once every four years on the safety and wellbeing of children.

Moving to a four-year inspection cycle as opposed to a six-year inspection cycle is a return to the standard set pre-Covid. We believe by reducing the inspection cycle to align with schools, we should be able to better address safety concerns raised in recent safeguarding incidents in the sector and as noted in Ofsted’s Big Listen. As announced in the recent Best Start in Life Publication, Ofsted will also receive additional investment from the department to raise the quality and consistency of inspection through strengthening quality assurance and focused inspector training.We constantly monitor and review the early years foundation stage statutory framework requirements and how these requirements are inspected by Ofsted to ensure children are kept as safe as possible. Changes are informed by engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts and using lessons learned from previous incidents.

With reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, how much funding Ofsted allocated for early years inspections for (a) each of the last three financial years and (b) the current financial year and each of the next three financial years (i) prior to and (ii) after her Oral Statement on 7 July 2025.

In the 2022/23 financial year, Ofsted allocated £24 million to early years inspections. In 2023/24, they allocated £21.8 million, and in 2024/25 they allocated £21.3 million. In the current 2025/26 financial year, Ofsted allocated £20.9 million and has allocated £20.9 million for each of the next three financial years (2026/29). These costs include inspection, registration visits and associated quality assurance of these visits. These costs are for inspection of providers on the Early Years Register (EYR) only, and so the Childcare Register is excluded. Cost of regulation is also not included. The department’s budgets for next three financial years have not yet been finalised but funding will be provided by the department to Ofsted to increase the frequency of EYR inspections and to improve the quality of EYR inspections. This is to be agreed between the department and Ofsted.

What proportion of Ofsted inspections of early years settings have been unannounced in each of the last five years.

Ofsted paused routine inspections in mid-March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Full Early Years Register inspections restarted in May 2021, including a number of unannounced inspections detailed below.Between 1 April 2021 - 31 March 2022 there were 1,200 unannounced inspections (19%).Between 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023 there were 2,100 unannounced inspections (16%).Between 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024 there were 2,200 unannounced inspections (24%).Between 1 April 2024 - 31 March 2025 there were 1,400 unannounced inspections (16%).

With reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, what consultation her Department has conducted with (a) families affected by serious incidents and (b) sector stakeholders.

The safety of children is our utmost priority, and we continually monitor and review the early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.As part of this work, last year we held a public consultation on a number of changes to the safeguarding requirements of the EYFS. Anyone, including families affected by serious incidents could respond to the consultation.All of the safeguarding changes due to come into force in September 2025 were informed by extensive engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts and using lessons learned from previous incidents. We continue to engage with these stakeholders as part of our continuous monitoring and review of the EYFS safeguarding requirements.

With reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, whether she plans to publish updated statutory guidance on (a) child safety and (b) risk management in early years settings for inspectors.

The government is committed to reforming the current inspection system which includes Ofsted implementing the early years report card from November 2025 following the publication of their consultation response in September 2025. The response will include the updated education inspection frameworks, new operating guidance for inspectors, and inspection information documents where there will be a focus on safeguarding in the early years.Last year, we consulted on changes to the safeguarding requirements within the early years foundation stage statutory framework and will be implementing all proposed changes. These changes will formalise existing best practices and ensure that all early years educators have the knowledge and support they need to deliver safe, high-quality early education and childcare. These changes will be introduced in September 2025, subject to Parliamentary procedure, after which the new requirements will be included within the requirements Ofsted uses to inspect early years providers.

What recent assessment she has made of the level of awareness among early years staff of current safe sleep best practice.

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements all early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2. The safety of our children is the department’s utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the EYFS safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.Within the EYFS there is a requirement for babies to be placed down to sleep in line with the latest government safety guidance, accessible here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/. The department is currently exploring whether changes are needed to these requirements and are due to meet with various safe sleep experts.The department works closely with Ofsted to analyse data on safety within early years settings, including inspection data and serious incident reports. This informs our ongoing monitoring and review of the EYFS safeguarding requirements and whether any changes are required.The Level 2 Early Years Practitioner criteria, and the Level 3 Early Years Educator criteria, can be found at Annex C and Annex E of the Early Years Requirements and Standards document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a4fc4e0e720adbd4f6ae27/Early_years_qualification_requirements-and-standards.pdf. Both criteria contain references to suitable sleep provision, and staff must meet these criteria in order to work within staff:child ratios.

What steps she is taking to introduce statutory safe sleep guidance for registered early years settings.

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements all early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2. The safety of our children is the department’s utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the EYFS safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.Within the EYFS there is a requirement for babies to be placed down to sleep in line with the latest government safety guidance, accessible here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/. The department is currently exploring whether changes are needed to these requirements and are due to meet with various safe sleep experts.The department works closely with Ofsted to analyse data on safety within early years settings, including inspection data and serious incident reports. This informs our ongoing monitoring and review of the EYFS safeguarding requirements and whether any changes are required.The Level 2 Early Years Practitioner criteria, and the Level 3 Early Years Educator criteria, can be found at Annex C and Annex E of the Early Years Requirements and Standards document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a4fc4e0e720adbd4f6ae27/Early_years_qualification_requirements-and-standards.pdf. Both criteria contain references to suitable sleep provision, and staff must meet these criteria in order to work within staff:child ratios.

If she will work with (a) health authorities and (b) expert charities to co-produce national safe sleep standards for use in early years settings.

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements all early years providers must meet to ensure that children have the best start in life and are kept healthy and safe: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2. The safety of our children is the department’s utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the EYFS safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.Within the EYFS there is a requirement for babies to be placed down to sleep in line with the latest government safety guidance, accessible here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/sudden-infant-death-syndrome-sids/. The department is currently exploring whether changes are needed to these requirements and are due to meet with various safe sleep experts.The department works closely with Ofsted to analyse data on safety within early years settings, including inspection data and serious incident reports. This informs our ongoing monitoring and review of the EYFS safeguarding requirements and whether any changes are required.The Level 2 Early Years Practitioner criteria, and the Level 3 Early Years Educator criteria, can be found at Annex C and Annex E of the Early Years Requirements and Standards document here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67a4fc4e0e720adbd4f6ae27/Early_years_qualification_requirements-and-standards.pdf. Both criteria contain references to suitable sleep provision, and staff must meet these criteria in order to work within staff:child ratios.

Whether she has had recent discussions with Ofsted on the potential merits of the use of CCTV as a safeguarding tool in early years settings.

The safety of our children is the department’s utmost priority and we continually monitor and review the early years foundation stage (EYFS) safeguarding requirements to ensure children are kept as safe as possible.Currently, the decision to install and use camera surveillance equipment in a nursery is a matter for individual providers to determine based on their own risk assessment and policies.The department works closely with Ofsted in our work monitoring and reviewing the safeguarding requirements within the EYFS. This includes ongoing discussions regarding the merits and concerns regarding the use of CCTV in early years settings.Any proposed changes to EYFS requirements will be informed by engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts.From September 2025, we are strengthening the safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including:Amendments to promote safer recruitment.Creation of new requirements for providers to follow up if a child is absent for a prolonged period.A new safer eating section.A safeguarding training annex and a requirement for safeguarding training to be repeated every two years.New requirements to support whistleblowing.

How much additional funding announced for early years settings will be allocated to (a) quality assurance and (b) inspector training in (i) cash and (ii) percentage terms.

The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority, and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements for early years settings. Ofsted has delivered important changes to the way it works in response to the Big Listen consultation. This work is important and ongoing. Parents of young children and babies rightly expect all inspections to be high-quality, consistent and conducted with the highest levels of professionalism.As announced in the recent Best Start in Life publication, Ofsted will receive additional investment from the department to raise the quality and consistency of inspections. While there is no additional funding allocated to directly early years settings at this time in relation to this, we will be working with Ofsted to strengthen quality assurance and to deliver focused inspector training.Ofsted are also increasing inspection frequency to ensure better oversight of early years settings. More regular inspections will be most effective when accompanied by improvements to inspection quality. We know that this sentiment is echoed in the early years sector and are determined to help all children get the best start in life.We constantly monitor and review the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework requirements and how these requirements are inspected by Ofsted to ensure children are kept as safe as possible. Changes are informed by extensive engagement with providers, health professionals, sector stakeholders and safeguarding experts and using lessons learned from previous incidents. Ofsted inspectors are early years professionals with relevant knowledge of safer sleep practice and can assess a provider’s adherence to the relevant safer sleeping requirements in the EYFS.

With reference to his oral contribution in response to the hon. Member for Twickenham during the Oral Statement of 7 July 2025 on Giving Every Child the Best Start in Life, Official Report, column 687, what factors informed her Department’s decision to (a) update inspection standards and (b) increase funding for early years settings.

Children’s early years are crucial to their development, health and life chances. That is why the Plan for Change set out our ambition for a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn.Ofsted is in the process of delivering changes to the way it works. The decision to update inspection standards is an important element of this work, to ensure that all children receive the best start in life.​​We want to ensure the sector is financially sustainable and confident as it continues to deliver the early years entitlements. The hourly funding rates for the entitlements are published each year in the autumn ahead of the following financial year. The rate covers the core costs of providing 15 or 30 hours of childcare to parents. We take account of cost pressures facing the sector, including forecasts of average earnings and inflation, and the National Living Wage.