Crèche closure decision to be reviewed

The fate of council-run crèches in Fife remains in the balance after councillors voted to defer the decision for more detail on the impact of the closures.

The council’s education and children’s services subcommittee last November opted to close all crèches, as well as some after-school clubs, run by the local authority in a bid to save £488,000.

Breakfast clubs for children in deprived areas were also to be left to schools to provide.

However, concerns were raised the decision was taken without full consideration of the impact.

This resulted in the education and children’s services, health and social care scrutiny committee recommending deferral of the implementation of the new approach at a meeting earlier this month.

Now, a final decision on the proposals has been referred back to the education subcommittee following a vote at a full meeting of Fife Council.

Labour councillor David Ross argued that not enough consideration had been given to the impact of the decision on disadvantaged communities.

He said: “Whilst I recognise a lot of work has gone into this, we feel that there are fundamental things that have not been addressed properly.

“On top of that, things have changed due to Covid and also due to the implementation of the 1,140 hours’ nursery expansion.

“We feel there is the need to refer this back and look at it again. Not enough attention has been made to the impact on families, particularly those from some of our more disadvantaged communities.”