Hughes complaint over low Unicef ranking for England

The Unicef Report Card ranks England as 11th on a league table of early childhood services in 25 developed countries, but Hughes said the study was "full of factual inaccuracies."

The report urges developed countries to adopt the standards, which include parental leave of one year at 50 per cent of salary, and one per cent of GDP to be spent on early childhood services.

It says that the increasing numbers of younger children placed in childcare represents "a revolution in how the majority of young children are being brought up" and "a high stakes gamble with today's children and tomorrow's world."

The study says that placing children under one-year-old in daycare in particular is "widely regarded as inappropriate" although it also says childcare can have benefits for older children.

David Bull, executive director of Unicef UK said: "The report is clear that expenditure in England on pre-school education has quadrupled in the last 10 years. However, despite the government's undoubted commitment, the UK still has three million children living in poverty and higher rates of infant death and low birth weight than many comparable countries. High quality childcare is not yet available to all, and parental leave provisions remain inadequate."

Children's charities reacted to the report by stressing the importance of investment in quality services. Anne Longfield, chief executive of 4Children said: "It is clear that the UK has lagged behind other countries for many years and young children should be made our priority.

"However, it is important to recognise the progress being made in transforming childcare through a new generation of children's centres."

Purnima Tanuku, chief executive of the National Day Nurseries Association, said: "Unicef raises concerns over long hours in childcare, however over recent years the increases in maternity leave and flexible working rights have resulted in more parents working part-time and evidence from day nurseries shows that most young children now attend part-time."