PRESS ASSOCIATION -- More than a fifth of nurseries and childminders are not good enough at keeping children safe, official figures suggest.
New Ofsted statistics show that 905 (19 per cent) were rated only "satisfactory" for safeguarding - the extent to which children feel, and are kept, safe - between April and June this year.
And a further 129, or three per cent, were rated "inadequate".
Ofsted's figures show how well nurseries and childminders - officially "early years providers" - are doing at meeting the needs of youngsters in their care.
The findings show that nearly one in four (23 per cent) nurseries and childminders inspected between April 1 and June 30 were given a overall judgment of no better than "satisfactory".
Of these, three per cent were judged to be "inadequate", the figures show.
Nearly two thirds (63 per cent) were considered "good" and 14 per cent were found to be "outstanding".