Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has called for CCTV to be made mandatory in nurseries and for a new system to record safeguarding concerns, after revelations that warnings about paedophile nursery worker Vincent Chan were raised years before his arrest.
Chan worked at the Bright Horizons nursery on Finchley Road in north-west London, in the MP's Hampstead and Highgate constituency. It has emerged that serious concerns about him were raised in 2021, yet he was allowed to return to his job, where he went on to commit sexual abuse. He was not arrested until 2024.
Tulip Siddiq: 'A system that listens'
She said she was "deeply alarmed" by the revelations, adding: "I will be raising this in Parliament and seeking urgent answers from Camden Council and Bright Horizons.
"We cannot afford gaps in safeguarding when it comes to our children."
She added: "Children too young to speak for themselves deserve a system that listens."
Four reforms
In a joint letter with a parent of children who attended the nursery and were victims of Chan, she set out four steps for government:
- Mandatory CCTV in nurseries, with appropriate safeguards, as both a deterrent and a source of evidence.
- A "flare" system going beyond DBS checks, allowing parents, carers and nurseries to report concerns and connecting allegations and employment information across settings and over time.
- A review of the law on exploitative images, after one family discovered that photographs of their child found on Chan's devices did not meet the legal threshold for an indecent image.
- Enforceable standards on electronic devices in early years settings, backed by Ofsted inspection.
The letter said that had device rules been in place, "Chan could have been caught sooner."
The pair urged the Prime Minister and the government to give the matters their urgent attention.
