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Ofsted rebuffs FOI request for inspection data

The Pre-school Learning Alliance has had to re-submit a freedom OF information request after Ofsted said that it would be too costly to provide the information on earl years inspections for the time period requested.

The Pre-School Learning Alliance’s initial FOI asked for data going back over two years.

The Alliance says that Ofsted’s inability to respond highlights ‘extremely worrying’ failings in the inspectorate’s monitoring systems.

The early years organisation has been forced to re-submit a new FOI request relating only to complaint-initiated inspections dating back to September 2012.

Ofsted rejected the original request, because it said the data on quality assurance is ‘not easily accessible’ and costs more than the budget set for FOI requests.

The Alliance had asked for detailed information going back two years on early years inspections, including data on the number of providers who had been downgraded following a complaint-triggered inspection.

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