Number of places rising, says Ofsted
Catherine Gaunt
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
The number of childcare places in England is continuing to rise, quarterly figures from Ofsted show. At the end of March there were 107,600 providers offering 1,537,800 places, an increase of 15,300 since December.
At the end of March there were 107,600 providers offering 1,537,800 places, an increase of 15,300 since December.
In the past three months, the number of full daycare places has grown by 200 to 322,200 and the number of childminders by 100 to 71,600. The most noticeable increase was in full daycare providers.
The figures for full daycare cover day nurseries, children's centres and family centres, but there is no breakdown available to show in which areas the increases are occurring.
However, according to the DfES the five local authorities planning the highest number of children's centres are Durham, Lancashire, Manchester, Birmingham and Tower Hamlets.
Comparing figures with the same quarter last year shows that increases have occurred across the board with the exception of sessional care, which shows a fall in the number of providers from 10,200 to 9,700.
