£2bn childcare cash only good if it ‘funds hours parents can use’

NURSERIES: Campaign group says longer opening is essential

The £2 billion deal to fund childcare expansion will only work if nurseries offer hours that fit in with parents’ lives, say campaigners.

Childcare Minister Maree Todd told MSPs a funding agreement had been reached with councils to pay for the increase in free nursery hours.

In a ministerial statement to Holyrood, the SNP minister said she is “absolutely confident” it can deliver the 11,000 extra workers needed by 2020.

The Fair Funding for Our Kids campaign group welcomed the cash, but told the Scottish Government the system it funds must offer hours working parents can use.

Only 3% of council-run centres in Tayside and Fife provide hours that allow parents to work full-time, according to the group’s research.

A spokeswoman for the campaign said: “Expanding funding for childcare is great, but only if it funds hours that parents can actually use.

“Our research has found that twothirds of all nursery places in Scotland are for half-days only.

“For working parents, that’s not much help. We need childcare that recognises the real lives of working parents.”

Ministers have pledged to increase paid-for nursery places from 600 hours to 1,140 for three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds by August 2020, equivalent to about 30 hours a week in term time.

The Scottish Government has reached a “landmark agreement” with Cosla, the umbrella body for Scots councils.

Councils will get £1.5bn for day-to-day spending on childcare over the next five years, as well as £475 million for building work up until 2021.

Iain Gray, the Labour MSP, welcomed the announcement, but flagged up concerns from the Auditor General that the funding would not deliver the policy “unless we can find, recruit and train the required staffing numbers”.

Speaking in Holyrood on Tuesday, Ms Todd replied: “We have in place a very robust recruitment programme.

“We’ve provided extra places at college, we’ve provided extra apprenticeship places, we’ve provided extra university places and we are absolutely confident that we will deliver the extra workforce required.”

“Our research has found that two-thirds of all nursery places in Scotland are for half-days only.

FAIR FUNDING FOR OUR KIDS