Meeting of the Parliament 03 June 2015
That is not something that I am usually told, Presiding Officer. I am happy to speak louder.
There have been significant and profound advances in childcare provision right across Scotland, but I concede that we have to go further and provide more choice and flexibility. Nevertheless, it is churlish not to suggest that substantial, significant and sustained improvement has been made across Scotland. That point is certainly not reflected either in the motion or the Labour amendment.
As the fair funding for our kids campaign has made clear, more than 1,000 children in Glasgow have not accessed their entitlement. It has also identified limitations in Glasgow’s childcare structures as well as the need for working parents—not just mothers but fathers, I point out to our front-bench spokespersons—accessing five half-day placements over the course of a week to block those placements together for a solid two and a half days of childcare arrangements with the local authority or partnership nursery. That is not something that Glasgow City Council has been particularly good at. The council also has fewer than 2,000 extended places in the city, and there is a need for more. Things are improving, but there are problems and issues to address in Glasgow.
I should also point out that the old local authority model of using the local school nursery might not fit in with today’s working patterns. Sometimes mothers and fathers need to use the nursery that is close to where Gran stays, close to where their work is, close to where their former partner lives if they are operating a joint parenting strategy or, indeed, close to the primary school that a sibling attends, because they use the breakfast club there. At this point, I should put on record that I am rather worried about Glasgow City Council seeking to close breakfast clubs right across the city, which, as far as my constituents are concerned, will have a direct impact on childcare and the anti-poverty strategy.
There is, of course, guidance on the statutory duty to make a place available for each child, and that provision should be flexible. However, we have to tease out what a reasonable offer should look like. That offer is not always going to be of a nursery place around the corner from a person’s place of employment, Gran, a former partner or whoever, but what should be offered should be reasonable.