The Child Minding and Day Care (Disclosure Functions) (England) Regulations 2004
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2004/3136 |
| Year | 2004 |
2004 No. 3136
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PERSONS, ENGLAND
The Child Minding and Day Care (Disclosure Functions) (England) Regulations 2004
Made 25th November 2004
Laid before Parliament 8th December 2004
Coming into force 30th December 2004
In exercise of the powers conferred upon the Secretary of State by sections 79N(5) of the Children Act 19891, and all other powers enabling him in that behalf, the Secretary of State for Education and Skills hereby make the following Regulations:
Citation, commencement and application
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Child Minding and Day Care (Disclosure Functions) (England) Regulations 2004 and shall come into force on 30th December 2004.
(2) These Regulations apply only in relation to England.
Interpretation
2. In these Regulations—
“the Act” means the Children Act 1989;
“associate” means any person, other than a childcare provider—
(a) looking after, or likely to be looking after, children on, or
(b) living or employed or otherwise working on,
any relevant premises;
“authorised person” means a person authorised for any of the purposes of section 79U of the Act;
“childcare provider” means a child minder or a day care provider and includes a person who was a childcare provider but who, at the time of any request for, or provision of, information pursuant to these Regulations, is not providing childcare; and “childcare” shall be construed accordingly;
“early years development and childcare partnership” means a partnership established under section 119 of the School Standards and Framework Act 19982;
“enforcement action” includes the serving of any notice, and the imposition of any requirement or condition, upon a childcare provider, any suspension of registration and any application pursuant to section 75 or section 79K to a justice of the peace (protection of children in an emergency);
“local government area” has the meaning given in section 270 of the Local Government Act 19703, save that the words “Greater London” shall be omitted for this purpose;
“relevant premises” means, in relation to a childcare provider, any premises on which he is, or is likely to be, or was at a material time, providing childcare;
“setting”, in relation to childcare, means the premises on which childcare takes place or, as the case may be, is intended to take place, or took place at a material time, together with any equipment and personnel associated with the provision of that childcare.
Function of disclosure of information
3. The Chief Inspector shall disclose information relating to child minding and day care in accordance with these Regulations.
General provisions in relation to the function of disclosure
4.—(1) Nothing in these Regulations shall be taken as requiring the Chief Inspector to disclose information, or as the case may be, further information—
(a)
(a) in circumstances where he is not satisfied that the interests of a child, or children generally, will be served by the disclosure; or
(b)
(b) subject to paragraph (2), on any occasion where the information, or further information, has already been disclosed by him to the person or organisation to whom it would fall to be disclosed; or
(c)
(c) where the information, or further information, is available to that person or organisation by other means reasonably at their disposal; or
(d)
(d) where to disclose the information would, in the opinion of the Chief Inspector, involve disproportionate effort or expense.
(2) Paragraph (1)(b) shall not apply in the case of disclosure of information or further information—
(a)
(a) under regulation 6 or 7 where the prior disclosure was made under regulation 8; or
(b)
(b) under regulation 8 where the prior disclosure was made under regulation 6 or 7.
(3) Nothing in these Regulations shall be taken as requiring the Chief Inspector—
(a)
(a) to disclose information or, as the case may be, further information where it appears to him that the information is or may be sought in contemplation or furtherance of civil proceedings against him or any other person or body; or
(b)
(b) to disclose information which he is required under any enactment other than the Data Protection Act 19984, by any rule of law or by the order of a court not to disclose.
Disclosure to parents
5.—(1) In this regulation, “parent” means a person who is, or has been a parent of, or has, or has had, parental responsibility for, a child.
(2) The Chief Inspector shall, in response to a written request by a parent of a child who is or, at any time prior to the request, was being—
(a)
(a) looked after by a registered child minder; or
(b)
(b) provided with care by a registered day care provider,
for information relating to that childcare provider, provide that parent with such information of a kind falling within paragraph (3) in his possession as he considers appropriate to meet that request.
(3) The information referred to in paragraph (2) shall be—
(a)
(a) information concerning the setting for the childcare provided by that childcare provider;
(b)
(b) the date of, purpose of, and any conditions attaching to, the registration of the childcare provider;
(c)
(c) information relating to the quality of the childcare obtained by an authorised person;
(d)
(d) information as to any enforcement action taken against the childcare provider by the Chief Inspector, by an authorised person, or by a local authority acting under Part X of the Act.
(4) Nothing in this regulation shall require the Chief Inspector to disclose to the parent the following information—
(a)
(a) information as to the identity of a child other than a child of the parent without the consent of a parent of the child identified;
(b)
(b) information as to the identity of a parent or relative of such a child, unless the parent or relative in question is the childcare provider, without the consent of the parent identified;
(c)
(c) information which the Chief Inspector does not consider reliable having regard to its age, provenance or the degree of substantiation available to him in relation to it.
Disclosure to childcare organisations
6.—(1) In this regulation, “childcare organisation” means one of the organisations listed in the Schedule to these Regulations.
(2) In this regulation,
“area”, except in the definition of “relevant qualification”, means geographical area;
“relevant childcare provider” means, in relation to a childcare organisation, a childcare provider who provides, or may, in the opinion of the Chief Inspector having regard to information at his disposal, be about to provide childcare within—
(a) the area within which the childcare organisation provides its services; or
(b) the areas of any childcare organisations that are adjacent to that area,
(and “relevant childcare” shall be construed accordingly);
“relevant qualification” means a qualification evidencing competence or level of competence in an area that is, or areas that are, or in the opinion of the Chief Inspector may be, relevant to the assessment of the childcare provider’s suitability; and
“relevant services” means services of the childcare organisation acting in that capacity provided to the public within an area within which the childcare provider provides or may, in the opinion of the Chief Inspector having regard to information at his disposal, be about to provide childcare.
(3) The Chief Inspector shall provide a childcare organisation—
(a)
(a) at reasonable intervals, and otherwise
(b)
(b) in response to a request in writing from that organisation,
with so much of the information listed in sub-paragraph (4) as is in his possession relating to relevant childcare providers.
(4) The information referred to in sub-paragraph (3) is—
(a)
(a) the names of the childcare providers; and
(b)
(b) in relation to each childcare provider—
(i) any unique reference number or other identifier used by the Chief Inspector;
(ii) the date and purpose of registration, in so far as it relates to the provision of...
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