The majority of childcare is judged to be safe

The education watchdog, Ofsted, said there was "still some way to go" to make sure all young children were safe.

Almost half (47%) of the 25,000 childcare providers inspected over one year were advised on how to improve safety for children in their care.

But inspectors stressed that the vast majority of childcare providers did have adequate safety measures in place.

A total of 97% were considered satisfactory or better at keeping children safe from harm.

Yet inspectors made more than 14,000 recommendations to improve the way providers helped children to stay safe.

Knives

These included taking more care in supervising entrances and exits, more thorough checking of the identity of visitors, ensuring all staff and volunteers have been vetted for suitability to work with young children and removing children's access to sharp knives.

Inspectors conducted the inspections between April 2005 and March 2006.

There is still some way to go to ensure that every child in every setting is safe and sound, all day, every day Dorian Bradley, Ofsted

During the year, Ofsted received some 1,500 complaints about safety issues.

One in 25 settings (4%) were judged to be outstanding in keeping children safe, 55% were good, 38% satisfactory and 3% inadequate.

Inspectors said that while the number of settings judged to be inadequate had risen from 1% the previous inspection year to 4%, this was because they had "raised the bar".

The watchdog will now no longer give a satisfactory rating to any provider which fails to meet any of the national standards or regulations.

Dorian Bradley, Ofsted's director of Early Years, said: "Parents can be confident that the vast majority of childcare providers are meeting the national standards and providing good quality care and a safe and healthy environment for their children.

"However, there is still some way to go to ensure that every child in every setting is safe and sound, all day, every day.

"We will continue to monitor inadequate childcare providers closely and take enforcement action where necessary to ensure that all children are kept safe and well-cared for."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said the report showed the vast majority of parents could be "very confident" that their children were kept safe and healthy in their chosen childcare setting.