Ofsted report highlights practice by childcare providers on keeping children safe and healthy

Ofsted received 1,500 complaints about the safety of children in childcare settings over one year, figures published today show.

The watchdog considers levels of concern to be “small” (equivalent to 1.4 per cent of all providers) but “significant”.

Ofsted’s director of early years  Dorian Bradley, said: “There is still some way to go” to make sure that every child is safe.

The report emphasises that 97 per cent of the 25,000 childcare providers in England inspected – including nurseries, children’s centres and childminders – inspected were satisfactory or better at keeping children safe and protecting them from harm.

However in 47 per cent of inspections Ofsted identified ways for providers to further improve children’s safety, making over 14,000 recommendations.

Safety was inadequate at three per cent of settings.

Four per cent are praised for outstanding work keeping children safe.

The report looks at how registered childcare providers help children stay safe and be healthy.

It is based on inspections of 25,000 providers from April 2005 to March 2006.