Policy for publishing inspection reports

When we inspect a regulated service, we have a duty to prepare a written report of our findings and make this report available. This policy sets out the arrangements by which we make inspection reports available. The relevant legislation is listed at the end of this policy. 

We publish inspection reports in order to make our inspection findings available to people who wish to know about a given service, including the provider(s) of that service.  Where our findings include a rating of quality of the service, we publish the rating as part of the report.  

For most of the service types we regulate, we publish inspection reports to our website in the form of a summary of our findings (including ratings, where applicable), with a full version of the report attached in the form of a printable PDF document. The two most recent reports on a given service or provider are displayed on the website, and earlier reports are sometimes available on request.  

Reports on child minders, care homes for children residential special schools, secure accommodation services and residential family centres do not include addresses.

When reporting on care homes for children, secure accommodation services and residential family centres we issue the report directly to the responsible individual and/or registered provider rather than publishing to the website. Should you require a copy of a non-published inspection reports you can submit a request to CIW for consideration. 

For most types of service that we regulate, we: 

• email electronic copies of the final unpublished version of the report directly to designated individuals connected with the service
• publish the final version of the report to our website  
• supply hard-copy versions to those for whom electronic access is not an option.

All our reports are available in English however from 30 March 2016, in line with Standard 40 of the Welsh Language Standards (No.1) Regulations 2015, Care Inspectorate Wales are exempt from having to publish all regulatory inspection reports in Welsh. We will publish these reports bilingually in the following circumstances:

• For services who operate in Welsh or bilingually.
• Where we have ascertained that this would reflect the language preference of the service. We will confirm the language of choice of a service at the point of registration and check via the annual data collection exercise.
• When the report pertains to a particular care setting where the majority of its customers are Welsh speakers and Inspectors feel that service users or families may want a Welsh language report.
• The public can make a reasonable and proportionate request for any of Care Inspectorate Wales inspection reports in Welsh.  For such requests Care Inspectorate Wales will consider whether the subject matter or anticipated audience suggests that the report should be made available in Welsh, in accordance with Standard 47 of the Welsh Language Standards (No.1) Regulations 2015.  

Requests from the public should be sent to the Care Inspectorate Wales mailbox.

In general, we undertake to draft a report within five weeks (25 working days) of carrying out an inspection. Providers then have two weeks (10 working days) in which to review the final unpublished report and let us know if it contains any inaccuracies. Under normal circumstances the report is then published, though publication may be postponed if issues of accuracy need to be resolved.

Our Policy on responding to inspection reports gives more detail on how providers can respond to us about the content of an inspection report, and how we handle such responses.  

Our Privacy notice sets out the kinds of personal information we may collect, what we do with it, who we may share it with, how long we will hold it for and what people’s rights are in relation to it.

We do not publish personal information unless legally required to.

The following statutory provisions apply in relation to publishing reports about regulated services in Wales:

• Children Act 1989: paragraphs (9A), (9B) and (9C) of section 87.
• Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010: section 40 
• Child Minding and Day Care (Inspection and Information for Local Authorities) (Wales) Regulations 2010: paragraphs (2), (3) and (4) of regulation 2.
• Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016: paragraph (3) of section 36.