A petition launched by grieving parents against the proposed relaxation of rules on the ratio of staff to children in care settings will be considered for debate in Parliament.

Little Oliver Steeper was being looked after at Jelly Beans Day Nursery in Kingsnorth, Ashford, when he choked while eating and was taken to hospital.

He died six days later at Evelina London Children's Hospital.

Yesterday, on the first anniversary of the nine-month-old's death, his parents' petition against changes on the number of children each member of nursery staff can care for at one time passed 100,000 signatures.

Reaching that milestone means the petition will now potentially be subject to debate at Westminster.

Oliver's father Lewis Steeper said: "We have, very poignantly on the first anniversary of his death, reached the 100,000 signatures required for it to be considered for debate in Parliament.

"We have huge backing from various early-years entities and we are going to fight this every step of the way."

At the opening in August of an inquest into Oliver's death it was heard he died as the result of a brain injury and cardio-respiratory arrest following "aspiration of foodstuffs during a choking episode".

Following the tragic incident, Ofsted closed the nursery in Field View on a temporary basis pending a full investigation into 'serious safeguarding concerns' in the lead up to Oliver's death.

However, parents and carers were later informed that the owner of the nursery had voluntarily shut the facility down.

The Early Years Alliance (EYA), a membership organisation representing the childcare sector, has backed the Steepers' petition.

Neil Leitch, CEO of the EYA, said: "The fact that this petition has now reached 100,000 signatures clearly shows how worried both providers and parents are about the likely impact of proposed ratios changes on the early years sector in England.

"Let's be clear: changing ratios is a mindless policy that will do more harm than good to a sector already on its knees.

"We would like to thank Zoe and Lewis Steeper who, during a time of unimaginable personal tragedy, have campaigned tirelessly and selflessly to highlight this issue.

"We are very proud to join them in calling for the government to scrap this ridiculous policy before it has a disastrous and irreversible impact on our vital sector."