Camden Nursery Sexual Abuse Case

Munira Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 4th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Caroline Nokes)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Munira Wilson (Twickenham) (LD)]

I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of her statement, and for the briefing that officials provided to me. The details of this case are harrowing and deeply disturbing, and my first thoughts are with the families affected. I sincerely hope that they are getting all the support and care they need.

Sadly, however, this latest heinous case is part of a distressing pattern that is emerging in early years settings across the country, in which safeguarding practices have not been followed or are proving insufficient to prevent babies and young children from coming to harm. Less than three months ago, Roksana Lecka was jailed for eight years on 21 counts of child cruelty relating to her time working at Riverside nursery, Twickenham Green, in my constituency. Just last year, another nursery worker was jailed for manslaughter following the tragic death of Gigi Meehan in Cheadle. The BBC’s “Panorama” has exposed a worrying level of abuse and neglect in nurseries across the country.

The Secretary of State rightly says that lessons will be learned from the Camden case, but it is clear that we already urgently need to strengthen safeguarding in early years settings. The safeguarding panel review in the Twickenham Green case and the parents of the children affected have clearly set out three broad areas for change. The first is transparency around who is working in our early years settings, what qualifications and what training they have, and their history and vetting. What consideration has the Secretary of State given to an early years practitioner register, of the kind that Australia has recently proposed?

The second area for change is monitoring. In the Twickenham Green and Gigi Meehan cases, CCTV was vital in securing convictions, and it might have led to Chan being caught sooner. I welcome the Secretary of State’s announcement today, but will she seriously consider mandating CCTV in nurseries, and making it a requirement for management to regularly review footage, and for Ofsted to routinely check footage at inspections? The third is accountability. The Vincent Chan and Twickenham Green cases involved nursery chains. Will the Secretary of State set out a timeline for when Ofsted will start corporate inspections of nursery chains, and will she ensure that when serious safeguarding issues are found in one setting, inspections are triggered across the chain?

No parent heading off to work should have to worry about whether their child is safe, but our most vulnerable are repeatedly being let down. The Secretary of State rightly said that keeping children safe is one of the most important duties in our society. Ministers urgently need to act to keep children safe, and we stand ready to work with them.

[Bridget Phillipson]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her engagement with officials on these matters. We will be most effective if we work across the House to address the serious concerns that have been raised in this case, as well as in the other cases to which she makes reference.

I will ask the expert advisory group, when it looks at guidance, to consider the use of CCTV and whether it ought to be mandatory in early years settings. There are differing views across the sector and among parents and carers; although the use of CCTV could clearly have benefits, some have raised concerns about the potential for the misuse of the recordings. We need to ensure that any guidance or changes that are brought forward are in line with the evidence, so that it leads to the appropriate use of CCTV and devices in settings.

From next April, Ofsted will inspect new early years providers within 18 months of opening and move towards inspecting all providers at least once every four years, compared with six years previously. Ofsted will receive additional funding to enhance the quality of inspection by strengthening quality assurance processes and providing targeted training for inspectors. We are working with Ofsted to introduce reporting on larger nursery chains, so that issues that span a group of providers can be addressed. Ofsted will continue to keep all settings under review to ensure that visits take place when risk assessments deem them necessary.

The local review will be led by a reviewer who is independent of the local authority and local safeguarding partners. We will of course consider any of its recommendations that have wider implications for the sector and children’s safeguarding, and I will keep hon. Members updated on progress.