Nurseries must implement new national guidelines to keep children safe, Labour MP says

Enhanced DBS checks and new sleeping rules should be implemented nationally by nurseries as part of a two-fold plan to help keep children safe, a Labor MP has said.

Last month MP Sonia Kumar raised in the House of Commons the tragic case of her constituent’s son, Noah Sibanda, a 14-month-old boy who died at Fairtytales Day Nursery in Dudley after a staff member put a blanket over his head and repeatedly forced him to sleep.

Nearly 20,000 serious childcare incidents were reported in British nurseries in the five years to March 2024, according to figures obtained by the BBC last year. This was a 40 percent increase over the previous five years.

“It was heartbreaking to hear this story when Noah’s mother, Masi Sibanda, first spoke to me about it,” Ms Kumar told The Independent.

“You never want your child to be in a situation where you leave him with the best of intentions so that he doesn’t come back.”

It is currently a legal requirement for anyone working directly with children to have an enhanced DBS check with prohibited lists.

The Department for Education is updating the Early Years Foundation Stage legal framework to explicitly incorporate strict, standardized “safer sleep” requirements into direct legislation and law for September 2026.

But Labor MP Dudley said despite improved DBS checks and improved sleeping rules “something has gone terribly wrong”.

He said: “It’s very important to get to the root and branch of why this is happening” and added that it was “management and leadership’s responsibility” to “eliminate anyone who shouldn’t be doing the job”.

“Whether that’s with the initial DBS check, the interview they do, the training they make sure they organize, the implementation of that and then the recognition of the behaviour,” he said.

Installing CCTV in nurseries is being discussed to help them be safer for children.

A survey by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) in April found that only a third of nurseries had CCTV installed. Of the 276 nursery groups and kindergartens that responded, 94 currently use CCTV, 98 have no plans to introduce it and 84 are considering it.

Mandatory CCTV in all nurseries has been a key part of the Gigi Campaign, named after nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan, who died in 2022 after being strapped face down to a bean bag and left for more than 90 minutes at a nursery in Stockport, Greater Manchester.

The Lullaby Trust, along with the parents of Genevieve, Katie and John Meehan, also called for CCTV to be used by Ofsted to monitor regular practice in nurseries.

Devastated parents believe without CCTV they would not have known how unsafely she was made to sleep and her killer would never have been held responsible.

A debate on the use of CCTV in nurseries and early years providers took place in Westminster Hall in February, where Early Years minister Olivia Bailey said an expert advisory panel would meet monthly to consider how CCTV and digital devices should be used and monitored in these areas.

Grieving parents of children who tragically died in nurseries will be invited to contribute to this panel to provide new guidance on safeguarding in early childhood settings.

When asked about her views on CCTV in the nursery, Ms Kumar noted that Noah’s nursery had CCTV, saying camera surveillance was “managing the symptom of the problem, not the root of it”.

However, similar to Genevieve’s case, although CCTV did not prevent these senseless deaths, it did help bring the perpetrators to justice.

Jenny Ward, chief executive of The Lullaby Trust, said they wanted to see CCTV used fully in nursery settings “as part of regular monitoring and training, and not just when a serious incident occurs”.

He added: “There are inconsistencies in the systems and measures that should be in place to keep children safe and better support early years professionals. “Until recently, there was a lack of clear, specific legal guidance on safer sleep, particularly in nurseries.

“There may also be inconsistent training and information available, meaning not all staff are trained on safer sleeping and do not feel safe identifying or challenging unsafe practices.

“The next priority is to ensure that knowledge is conveyed in training for early years staff and embedded into systems. When guidance is clear, training is consistent and measures are robust, early years professionals are better supported to keep children safe.”