Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2026 [Draft]
I have every sympathy with the issue, which gets to the nub of some of the dilemmas about the delivery of local authority services that the Government has to wrestle with. Statutory guidance is clear that families accessing cross-boundary placements should be treated on the same basis as families accessing local provision.
West Lothian Council—which is, I point out, a Labour-led council—is not following the statutory guidance that is in place. That is a salutary warning to us all about what Labour does when it gets into power.
I want to make sure that people understand the financial circumstances in West Lothian Council. West Lothian Council will receive an additional 7.8 per cent in its budget compared with its funding for 2025-26, and the Government is fully funding 1,140 hours of high-quality early learning and childcare.
The Government is limited in what it can do, because local authorities are self-governing organisations. I simply point out to members that it would be helpful if West Lothian Council could deliver on the commitment, which we are all signed up to, to provide affordable childcare to individuals in Scotland, so that it does not put the difficulties that Gillian Mackay raised in front of families in West Lothian and Falkirk.