Member

But local authorities will ultimately remain accountable for those functions. That is why Ofsted already inspects local authority children’s services and these functions. As legal and practical responsibilities remain with the local authorities, we do not believe it is necessary for Ofsted to inspect regional care co-operatives separately. There is an issue here about how we make inspection as appropriate and focused as possible, without reverting to simply seeing inspection as a way to cover all the issues or all the organisations that might be delivering or assisting the delivery of functions. The Government believe that this is an appropriate and focused way to ensure that Ofsted has a view and an ability to inspect the extent to which these functions are being carried out, without duplicating that through another inspection of regional care co-operatives.