Member

On unregistered children’s homes, Clause 13 feels to me like a curious workaround, for two reasons. First, it introduces civil penalties where an organisation breaks the criminal law. The reason given, which the Minister mentioned earlier today, is that it is too resource intensive and slow for Ofsted to pursue a prosecution. I am aware that in other legislation, such as that covering speeding when driving, you do get different options—you can get points on your licence or you can do a speed awareness course—but that is at a very low level of offence. But in this case, in Clause 13, new Section 30ZC(2) states that Ofsted