Statistics for early years inspections carried out between September 2012 and August 2013 show that seven per cent of providers were judged inadequate, compared to three per cent of providers in 2011-12.
The proportion of nurseries and childminders awarded good and outstanding grades in the past year has also declined.
Sixty-seven per cent of childminders and early years settings were graded outstanding or good between September 2012 and August 2013.
This is a drop of seven percentage points on statistics for the previous year, when the proportion of early years providers rated good or outstanding was 74 per cent.
The gap between the quality of provision between childcare in group settings and childminders has narrowed, however.
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