THERE are an awful lot of caring and genuine people who look after children in nurseries and many of them are very skilled at what they do.

But these days, that isn't necessarily enough.

Today, it is concerning to read new statistics revealing that 60 per cent of children in independent nurseries in Bradford do not have an early years teacher.

It's vitally important that parents can leave their children in places where they can be certain that staff are trained to ensure they get the best opportunity to start their learning while at nursery, however informal that might be.

If children at that age don't have the chance to even play in an educational way, it's missing a great chance to give them the best start in life.

For that reason, it's better that all children in nurseries have qualified staff to care for them.

The district has consistently struggled in education performance tables and can ill afford youngsters to be starting school struggling with basic skills like speaking full sentences and following basic instructions.

Indeed, there is a serious risk of children falling behind by the time they reach school and then staying behind throughout the duration of their education.

The Save the Children charity has issued a strong warning about what it calls a 'chronic' shortage of qualified early years teachers.

It seems clear that urgent action and investment is needed to overcome this problem.