Daycare standards in England improved slightly over the past year, according to inspectors, but more than four in 10 children were still in childcare settings that were no better than satisfactory.

{mosimage}An Ofsted report published today reveals 57% of childcare providers inspected in 2006-7 were judged good or outstanding. It means that, of about half a million children being cared for in the places inspected, 285,000 received good or outstanding childcare, but for 215,000 care was only satisfactory or inadequate.

Inadequate providers are revisited by Ofsted inspectors, but satisfactory ones are also expected to improve. The proportion of providers overall found to be inadequate was 4%, the same as in 2005-6.

The education and care watchdog also identified a 6% rise in the proportion of providers offering good or outstanding early education, though the proportion of childminders judged to be good or better was lower by 6% than the previous year – a slide inspectors suggested could reflect the number of new, less experienced childminders visited in 2006-7.

Where establishments were providing government-funded early education for children aged three to four, 60% were judged good or outstanding.

The education offered in nurseries will be reviewed after a study by Durham University suggesting the government’s overhaul of early years education has made no difference to youngsters’ development and skills at the start of school.

More than half of nurses would not report the abuse of an elderly person in their care, according to a survey published today.

Thousands of prison officers in England and Wales have begun a strike in a protest over pay, the association representing them has said.

Mental health patients are to attend special sessions aimed at preventing them from committing crimes. Around 500 violent crimes are carried out by people with mental health problems in Lincolnshire each year.

Earlier this year the Government gave Cornwall County Council a £740,000 grant to allocate to care homes in the county to improve the quality of life and dignity of the residents.

A woman fighting to stop her unborn baby being taken from her at birth is considering having an abortion because she does not want her child to go into care.