One in five children aged under eight now have access to a registered childcare place, according to Ofsted - but increased provision has also led to falling occupancy levels in day nurseries and fears for their future sustainability.
The first figures produced by the inspection service show a marked improvement in levels of provision, compared with the one in seven chance of getting a childcare place that was shown in the 2001 Children's Day Care Facilities statistics published by the Department for Education and Skills.
Rosemary Murphy, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said the growth in day nurseries to 9,600 in England, providing 383,000 places, represented a 34 per cent increase on 2001, when there were 7,800 nurseries and 285,000 places.
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