High Level Summary of Statistics Trend Last update: Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Childcare
As at January 2008 there were 4,336 registered childcare centres, a slight decrease on the 4,457 of January 2007. Of these centres, 4,267 were operating, around 50 fewer than in 2007. There were 2,702 centres that provided local authority funded pre-school education.
The number of registered childminders increased from 6,020 in January 2007 to 6,055 in January 2008. If inactive childminders are excluded, this figure is 5,580.
During census week a total of 198,860 children attended childcare centres and 25,240 attended childminders. This figure may include some double counting as children are counted once for each centre and/or childminder they attend.
There were 26,600 paid staff working directly with children in childcare centres, of which 88 per cent were permanent and 45 per cent were part time.
The percentage of paid childcare staff with a qualification at SVQ level 2 equivalent or above increased by four percentage points on 2007, to 80 per cent. The percentage with a qualification at level 3 or above increased by five percentage points to 70 per cent.
The percentage of childminders with a qualification at SVQ level 2 equivalent or above increased by five percentage points, to 27 per cent. The percentage with SVQ level 3 or above increased by four percentage points to 22 per cent.
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