Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of safeguarding in nursery settings.

The safety of our youngest children is our utmost priority and the department continually monitors and reviews safeguarding requirements to make sure children are kept as safe as possible.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework sets the standards and requirements early years providers must meet to ensure that children are kept healthy and safe. It is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68c024cb8c6d992f23edd79c/Early_years_foundation_stage_statutory_framework_-_for_group_and_school-based_providers.pdf. In September 2025, changes were introduced to strengthen the safeguarding requirements in the EYFS, including clearer expectations on safer recruitment, child absences, safer eating, safeguarding training and whistleblowing.

A new safeguarding training annex now sets out what training must cover. To support providers, a free online safeguarding training package is being developed with the NSPCC, aligned to the new requirements.

We are also appointing an expert panel to inform whether CCTV should be mandated within early years settings, along with the development of guidance on the safe and effective use of digital devices and CCTV within safeguarding, setting out best practice, technical information and clear expectations.