Development worries in more than 20% toddlers

Youngsters from deprived backgrounds fare even worse

Health professionals have raised development concerns about one in five toddlers.

The official research also reveals that youngsters are far more likely to suffer stunted progress if they come from a deprived background.

In Tayside, 21% of children aged 27 to 30 months had a problem in at least one measure in a 2016/17 review that assesses areas like speech and behaviour, compared with 19% in Fife. The Scotland average is 18%.

Iain Gray, for Scottish Labour, said the figures, which were published by the Scottish Government yesterday, are “deeply worrying”.

“We already know that you are less likely to succeed in school if you come from a deprived area – and these figures suggest that deprivation impacts children during early years too,” the MSP said.

“The reality is the SNP has cut more than £1.5 billion from lifeline services since 2011, including from schools and early years.”

Toddlers in the most deprived areas of Scotland (24%) were much more likely than those in the least deprived to have a concern recorded.

Boys are almost twice as likely to have an issue than girls.

In Dundee, 22% of toddlers were falling short in at least one development measure.

Gregor Murray, the children and families convener at Dundee City Council, said: “The council and its partners from Angus and Perth and Kinross councils, along with NHS Tayside, are working together on The Tayside Plan for Children, Young People and Families, which looks at early years as one of its main priorities.

NHS Tayside’s existing family strategy says that achieving the milestones at 27 to 30 months is “crucial to ensuring readiness to learn on entry to school and provides a strong foundation for subsequent childhood development”.

The milestones most frequently not met in the area were in speech and language, emotional and social development, as well as attention.

In Holyrood, Labour MSP Anas Sarwar told under-fire Health Secretary Shona Robison she needed to “step up or step down” after he linked the “shameful” trebling of early retirements in NHS Tayside to her leadership.

Ms Robison said NHS staff numbers have “increased by 13,000 under this government, with more doctors, nursing and midwifery staff.

Scottish Labour’s Iain Gray