Child Minding: Manpower

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many registered childminders there were in each quarter in each of the last 10 years. (276656)

The available information is shown in the tables.

*Number*^{1, 2}*of registered child minders for children under eight years of age, position at each quarter from 2003-04 to 2007-08*
	Financial year
As at end:	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07	2007-08
June	70,000	72,700	70,900	71,600	68,300
September	70,200	71,900	71,100	71,200	67,400
December	72,000	71,000	71,500	71,500	65,800
March	72,400	70,200	71,600	69,900	64,600
¹ Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. ² Data Source: Ofsted.

New Registers, the Early Years Register and the General Childcare Register (including its Voluntary Register), were introduced under the Childcare Act 2006 as part of the Government's reforms to simplify early years regulation and inspection. From 1 September 2008, Ofsted started to record providers in line with these new legal requirements. As a result of the new registers, data from September 2008 are not directly comparable with previous data and the reporting periods for 2008-09 are out of step with previous years.

*Number*^{1, 2}*of registered child minders for children under eight years of age, position at each quarter in 2008-09*
As at end:	Financial year 2008-09
June	64,300
August³	63,600
December⁴	61,900
March	60,900
¹ Figures have been rounded to the nearest 100. ² Data Source: Ofsted. ³ Latest position before new arrangements introduced in September 2008, therefore coverage is up to end August only. ⁴ First position since new arrangements introduced in September 2008.

Volume 493: debated on Tuesday 2 June 2009