GOVERNMENT inspectors have failed to update the national register of childminders since they took over six weeks ago, raising fears that children could be at risk of abuse.

The Office for Standards in Education assumed responsibility for the registration, regulation and inspection of childcare providers at the beginning of September.

The database of 78,500 registered childminders, used by parents and social services, was previously handled by education authorities and, in many cases, was updated daily if a childminder’s suitability was being investigated. OFSTED is supposed to update the list when it receives new information but has not yet done so. This means that childminders investigated in the past six weeks could still be appearing on it.

A spokeswoman for OFSTED said there was a problem with technology. “The IT systems are still being refined so there is a backlog of entries to be made,” she said.

“We still have administration tasks but hope to clear the backlog in the next couple of weeks.”

Sue Haile, manager of Gloucestershire’s Families’ and Children’s Information Service, said: “We are warning parents that the information is not up to date. OFSTED has said it will tell us if it knows of anyone under investigation but I don’t know if we can rely on it - the flow of information hasn’t been very good so far.”

Kevin Priest, of Wolverhampton Children’s Information Service, said: “I would hope OFSTED would phone us if there was a childminder under investigation so we could warn parents.”

The National Childminding Association was reluctant to blame OFSTED. “It inherited this database and a lot of the sections weren’t run to a national standard. There are 150 councils and the service was patchy.”

The disclosure comes as the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children called on ministers to make it law for every school to have teachers trained in child protection in light of the Lauren Wright case.

Government guidance requires schools to have trained teachers but, as it is not a statutory duty, not all follow it.

Research by the society shows many teachers believe they miss important signs because they lack training. It claims that trainee teachers receive an average of just two hours’ child protection training before they start work in schools.

Mary Marsh, NSPCC chief executive, said: “Teachers are in the best position to spot early signs of abuse and children see schools as neutral places where they can talk about what is happening to them.”