Memorandum of understanding between Ofsted and DfE: secure children's homes
Working arrangements between Ofsted and the Department for Education (DfE) to ensure secure children's homes offer safe, good quality care.
Applies to England
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This memorandum of understanding outlines working arrangements between the Department for Education (DfE) and Ofsted to ensure that secure children’s homes offer safe, good quality care to children.
Updates to this page
Last updated 15 July 2022 + show all updates
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The memorandum of understanding has been updated. The changes include the following: 1) Inspectors now write a brief report after any memorandum of understanding visit. This is because every time they enter a secure children's home, they do so under Ofsted powers and therefore need to record the purpose of their visit. 2) Any such report will, for the most part, simply state that purpose. On occasions where inspectors note something of concern, they will report on this. Any subsequent action will then be linked to their regulatory powers.
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The memorandum of understanding has been updated. Changes include 1) the agreement that a provider will contact the Department for Education (DfE) about the requirements for the Secretary of State’s approval before applying to register a secure children’s home or to vary conditions of registration and 2) Ofsted will seek and take into account advice from specialist DfE commissioned architects when making registration decisions.
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Various details in this MoU have been reviewed and updated, including references to new legislation and inspection frameworks. Ofsted’s role in providing advice to the Secretary of State regarding placing a child under the age of 13 in a secure children’s home is no longer a part of the MoU. Details about notifications have also been reviewed and revised.
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This MOU has been reviewed and updated. It now contains 'Annex A: Secretary of State functions in relation to secure children’s homes'. It will be reviewed annually.
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First published.