Oliver Steeper inquest: Not all practitioners' paediatric first aid certificates were up to date

On the third day of the inquest, it has emerged that nursery practitioner, Nazia Begum, who gave evidence, and some other staff members' paediatric first aid training was out-of-date and was a ‘source of concern’ among colleagues at the setting.

Begum’s paediatric first aid certificate was a year out of date and she had not received any updated training in the two years she had worked there.

She said other staff were aware their training was due to be updated, but it had not been brought up by management.

Ms Begum, who had not had to carry out first aid or CPR on a child at the nursery before, said, ‘The staff were fully aware if it was running out or out of date, I hadn’t had any more additional first aid training while I was there.

‘I didn’t really take any notice as to whether [the paediatric first aid qualification] had run out or not. It was up to the managers to make sure of that stuff.

‘But the manager would say we’d rather get the students and the newer staff trained first and then get the other staff trained afterwards.’

Giving evidence, Begum also said she didn’t have a ‘clear understanding’ of what food Oliver could have.

She said she did not recall having a detailed conversation with his mother about Oliver’s food.

Begum stated, ‘I just remember having a general chat with Mrs Steeper but I don’t remember any specific information about what he could have.

‘I usually had a general chat with all the parents, but if I wasn't the key person I wouldn’t go into too much detail.’

Giving her evidence on Monday, Oliver’s mother Zoe Steeper said she had understood that her nine-month-old would only be given puréed food after having a conversation with staff about what foods her son ate at home – finger foods and purees – because he couldn’t properly chew yet.

• On 20 May the headline of this article was changed to state that not all practitioners' first aid certificates were up to date.