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Commenting, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said:

"The changes announced today provide welcome clarity on and consistency to early years inspections, and importantly, help avoid previous situations where a provider could be inspected at the start of one four-year cycle and the end of another, potentially resulting in an eight-year gap between inspection visits. 

"That said, six years is still a long time, and it’s important to note that this would mean that nearly two whole cohorts of children could pass through a setting between inspections. It is vital, therefore, that аÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½± ensures that there are clear processes in place to respond quickly and effectively if concerns are raised that the quality of provision at an early years setting previously rated as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ has declined. 

"Of course, by the same principle, the quality of care and education at a setting could also improve significantly over a six-year period, and so those providers rated as ‘good’ who are keen to demonstrate that they are now ‘outstanding’ are likely to be disappointed by this change. As such, we would urge аÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¹ÙÍø¿ª½± to consider how such providers might have the opportunity to demonstrate how their practice has improved sooner rather than later within this new framework."