The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Council chiefs no longer need to deliver on increase in free childcare after government lifts deadline.
Deadline for councils has been lifted in face of ongoing pandemic
Council bosses will no longer have to deliver on the Scottish Government’s flagship promise on free childcare.
The Scottish Government had tasked councils with delivering 1,140 funded hours of childcare from August this year.
Ministers said they are lifting the deadline to allow councils to focus on the coronavirus pandemic response.
Audit Scotland published a report in early March that warned around half of the building work required for the expansion was still to be completed over the summer. It said half of the additional staff needed still had to be recruited.
Scottish Government children’s minister Maree Todd and Cosla spokesperson for children and young people Councillor Stephen McCabe issued a joint statement.
In it, they said the delivery of the flagship policy was now “not realistic or reasonable”. “The Covid-19 pandemic has made it impossible to continue with the planned recruitment and infrastructure projects required to support expansion.
“As we focus on saving lives and looking after people most vulnerable to the virus, the immediate priority is to ensure that we have the emergency childcare in place to support families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“To support local government with this critical response work, the Scottish Government has now moved to suspend the statutory duty.”
The statement went on to claim Audit Scotland had said councils and the Scottish Government were on schedule to meet the deadline.
“Audit Scotland confirmed we were on track to deliver 1,140 hours of early learning and childcare from August 2020,” it said.
“Indeed, councils had already built or refurbished hundreds of buildings and recruited thousands of additional staff, and in excess of 50,000 children were already receiving more than the current entitlement of 600 hours.”
Caroline Gardner, auditor general for Scotland, said in March: “The Scottish Government and councils have worked well together to increase early learning and childcare hours, and we’ve also seen improvements in how the project will be evaluated. But the timeline remains tight and there are big risks around infrastructure and workforce.”
“The immediate priority is to ensure that we have the emergency childcare in place to support families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
MAREE TODD AND COUNCILLOR STEPHEN MCCABE