Scotland’s aim of almost doubling the number of free nursery hours appears increasingly in doubt, after fresh evidence has shown that the country’s childcare services are shrinking.
The Scottish government has promised to increase the amount of paid-for nursery places, from the current 600 hours to 1,140 hours for three- and four-year-olds, and some two-year-olds, by August 2020.
But critics said that the latest report on childcare provision, by the Care Inspectorate, shows that the government risked missing its target to deliver the increase in free childcare, which is equivalent to approximately 30 hours per week during term time.
While an increasing number of children enrolled in childcare last year, the latest figures show that the overall capacity in childcare services has fallen 0.2 per cent since 2016.
The number of early learning and childcare providers fell 2.9 per cent, down from 9,402 in 2016 to 9,127 in 2017, and there has also been a drop of 4.3 per cent in the number of childminders, with 243 fewer registered in 2017.
Ministers made a £2 billion funding deal with councils to deliver the free-nursery-hours pledge, including an extra £476 million in capital funding between 2017-18 and 2020-21 for building work.
Alison Harris, the Scottish Conservatives’ spokesperson on children and young people, said: “The SNP’s expansion of childcare is going exactly the wrong way.”
She added that the government “must include independent childcare providers in its childcare expansion plans, or the policy is likely to fail and devastate parents counting on this support”.
Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said: “From the start, the SNP has been warned repeatedly that issues exist with regards to providers, funding and staffing. This is the latest in a line of evidence that the implementation of expanding funded early learning and childcare is being poorly managed.”
Children and young people minister Maree Todd said the report showed that “the overall quality of childcare services remains high, and [it] also highlights a further increase in flexibility and choice for parents over the past year”.
She said that the move to almost double funded early learning and childcare for all three- and four-year-olds would “ensure that all children, regardless of their background, get the same start in life”.
Gordon Weir, interim chief executive of the Care Inspectorate, said: “We see examples of excellent early learning and childcare services across the local authority, voluntary and private sectors in all parts of Scotland, with many services operating at the very highest levels of quality.
“We are pleased to note the quality of services remained high overall with 92.1 per cent of childminders and 88.3 per cent of daycare-of-children services found to be operating at a level of good or better for all quality themes.
“This represents a slight increase compared with 2016, when 91.8 per cent of childminders and 87.6 per cent of daycare services were achieving this standard.”
