Protest at grant to private nurseries

Voluntary childcare organisations are protesting about £500,000 of grants awarded last week to private nurseries by Glasgow City Council. Margaret Harkins, chief executive of the Scottish After-School Care Association, has written to Glasgow Education Committee members questioning how the funding, awarded to independent nurseries under Scotland's Childcare Strategy, will help meet the Government's social inclusion goals. She wrote, 'Private sector providers should be able to access childcare strategy funds (but) the level of funding per childcare place is far higher than in voluntary sector provisions.