Hansard

Lack of affordable high-quality childcare is one of the biggest issues facing families in Dunfermline, Scotland and across the UK. Across the political divide, we all agree that action needs to be taken, and childcare is rightly rising to the top of the political agenda. That is welcome news to women across all political parties who have been making the case for childcare for many decades—a case that has often fallen on deaf ears in Parliaments and council chambers that have been full of men.

I am pleased that childcare is now at the heart of the mainstream political agenda, where it belongs, but for mums and dads the pace of change is too slow. We are still waiting for a childcare revolution, and parents deserve better than childcare promises that are simply uncosted and unworkable, or are taking too long to deliver.

Whatever the result in September, we have the powers at Holyrood to transform childcare in Scotland now, and we need to use them—not just talk about them. Our priority must be to ensure that childcare is free or affordable for every parent and, as childcare challenges do not end when children start school, that must include childcare for schoolchildren, too.

In Scotland, we have waited seven long years for the SNP’s 2007 childcare pledge to be met. Finally in August, Scottish parents will catch up with their friends and family in England and Wales. That is an overdue, but welcome, step forward.

Pre-school provision will also be extended to workless families of two-year-olds. That policy is welcome, but comes with challenges because local authorities tell us that the new childcare pledge is not fully funded. Given how important childcare is in addressing the cycle of disadvantage, that is surely a big concern. Fife Council, for example, has identified a funding gap of about £500,000; that does not even factor in adaptations that need to be made to pre-school facilities to cater for two-year-olds.

I also know from speaking to early years workers in my constituency that there are real concerns about a reduction in the quality of early education for our two, three and four-year-olds as a result of the 600 hours provision, because there will be less time for planning and setting up the nursery area and less opportunity to discuss the needs and development of individual children.

It is crucial that the Scottish Government and local authorities provide the right funding and support to ensure that all our pre-school children continue to receive high-quality childcare, especially given that curriculum for excellence starts at age three. The OECD’s evidence shows that low-quality childcare can damage outcomes for children, so we need to monitor that carefully, especially in our more deprived communities, where high-quality childcare can make a huge difference to children’s lives.

Delivering 600 hours of free nursery education is not exactly the childcare revolution that mums and dads are waiting for; it is not enough to transform lives. Parents in the rest of the UK have had that level of free childcare since 2010. With parents across Scotland spending a huge proportion of their hard-earned incomes on childcare, urgent action is needed now to ensure that every family can overcome the childcare challenges that they face.

Childcare costs continue to rise much faster than inflation, and certainly much faster than wages. Many families spend more on childcare than on their rent, mortgage and fuel bills combined, and the costs continue to spiral. As a couple of colleagues have already pointed out, a nursery place costs 30 per cent more now than it did in 2010. Working full time is simply not an option for most mums of young children; only 24 per cent of mums of three-year-olds and four-year-olds work full time.

The cost of a full-time childcare place for one child is almost £8,000 a year. Is it any wonder that so many parents find that they simply have to turn down jobs or reduce their hours, or that they are forced to abandon their career plans because of sky-high childcare costs? A Save the Children report found that 80 per cent of the poorest families say that cost is the main barrier to accessing childcare and getting back into work. Some families are locked out of the labour market entirely, and many families manage only by constant juggling, by working different hours to cover childcare, or by relying on friends, grandparents, and even next-door neighbours.

Elsewhere in Europe, men are more likely to reduce their hours in order to share childcare responsibilities, but in Scotland in 2014, many employers still view childcare as a mum’s responsibility and fail to consider the growing needs of working dads who also want to balance work and family life. In that context, the Scottish Government’s pledge to transform childcare after a yes vote does seem to be attractive; if only there was any evidence at all that it could be delivered.

The reality is that the SNP’s sums simply do not add up. The pledge is based on Scotland having 40,000 more pre-school mums who are able to return to work than even exist. SPICe has estimated that the pledge will cost an additional £1.2 billion at least to finance, and it still has not been backed up by any financial modelling, despite the policy’s being one of the key highlights of the white paper.

Parents have waited long enough. They deserve better than a childcare policy that has been questioned by the Scottish Parliament’s own team of impartial experts. It is time for the Scottish Government to publish the full costings of its childcare plans, and for us all to put aside our political differences and work together to transform childcare for mums, dads, carers, and grandparents across Scotland. Our proposal for a childcare commission would give us that opportunity.

Parents want real action on childcare. They are fed up with being treated as political pawns. Whatever the result of the referendum, we already have the powers at Holyrood to deliver on childcare. Let us use those powers now, and let us work together to develop a comprehensive strategy for childcare that does not end when a child starts school. Let us bring about a childcare revolution that will transform the lives of working parents. Let us end the childcare headache that has simply been endured by working parents across Scotland for too long. Now is the time to deliver a childcare system for Scotland that supports all our parents and gives all our children the very best start in life.