Meeting of the Parliament 03 June 2015
Yes, but we are talking about a pledge that was made back in 2007, so the Government has had plenty of time to get things right. The reality is that parents are missing out.
The answer to the questions that I asked is that we can only speculate, because no one knows how many parents are missing out on the 600 hours of provision that are a universal right for every child in Scotland, because there is no national oversight or scrutiny of this flagship policy to ensure that it is being delivered and that the spirit of the 2014 act is being fulfilled. That is why Scottish Labour is calling for effective national oversight of the policy. We want to ensure that it works for every child, and we want a full audit to be carried out of how it is being delivered in each local authority area.
Too many parents feel that they are being robbed of their rights. They want action to be taken to ensure that their children receive the free childcare that they have been promised; they do not want a promise of change in the future, when their children will probably be at school.
Although we support much of Liz Smith’s motion, like Fiona McLeod we do not accept that the introduction of a virtual voucher scheme is necessarily the best way forward. We agree with the fair funding for our kids campaign and Reform Scotland that all—