60 cases of maltreatment at childcare centres were reported to the authorities over the past year, Education Minister Evarist Bartolo said this evening.

None of the reports were related to maltreatment by the children’s own parents.

Mr Bartolo, replying to a parliamentary question by Stephen Spiteri, said that cases of maltreatment by parents were handled by government agency Appoġġ.

He said that back in July of 2016 the Education Ministry had become responsible for the operation of the free centres and the reports were now being processed by the ministry’s officials.

Giving a breakdown of the cases of maltreatment, Mr Bartolo said about one in four cases was related to the ratio of carers to children, or the maximum number of students in class.

A fifth of the reports were related to negligence by carers themselves

A further fifth of the reports were related to negligence by carers themselves while a number ranged from matters such as cleanliness of centres to health and safety.

Some 20%, he said, were also related to altercations and issues between the children themselves.

Mr Bartolo assured Mr Spiteri that every report had been adequately investigated and the necessary steps had been taken to resolve the issues.

The education authorities had inspected every single centre since the ministry took over responsibility for them and had also met with the legally responsible person for each one to improve the quality of service.

The government, he added, was currently gearing up to inspect the roughly 107 centres operating across the island once again by the end of November.