[holding answer 4 February 2008]: There is currently no duty on the Chief Inspector for Education, Children’s Services and Skills to publish any inspection reports on the internet. However, the reports of all social care inspections, with the exception of children’s homes, are available on the website of the Chief Inspector and Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted). Reports relating to children’s homes are excluded to ensure that inappropriate individuals cannot access the addresses of children’s homes and that individual children within those homes cannot be identified.
While the existing legislative framework does not prevent the publication of children’s homes reports, the National Care Standards Commission (Registration) Regulations 2001, as amended, currently prohibit the Chief Inspector from publishing that part of her register which includes the address of a children’s home. Therefore, when a children’s homes report is requested, a copy of a redacted report—which excludes the address of the home is made available. The Chief Inspector will shortly be launching a consultation to take account of the views of children, service providers and local authorities as to whether children’s homes reports should be published on the Ofsted website. We will consider what steps to take, if any, when the findings of that consultation become available.