MPs were watched in the public gallery by Zoe and Lewis Steeper who started the petition to challenge the Government’s plan for changing staff to child ratios in early years settings, which received more than 109,000 signatures.
The couple whose son Oliver was just nine months when he died days after he was believed to have choked while eating at nursery, started the petition after hearing about the Government’s plans to increase the number of children nursery staff can care for.
At the start of the debate chair Carolyn Harris made a short statement. ‘I have been advised that the petition being debated today indirectly relates to the death of Oliver Steeper last year,' she said.
‘An inquest relating to the death of Oliver Steeper remains open, and a police investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death is ongoing, so Members should refrain from making any reference to those circumstances.’
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