Councils' extended hours cause alarm

Local authorities across Scotland are increasingly moving towards providing extended daycare - a move which has alarmed providers in the private sector.

Many local authorities do not offer extended hours at their own nurseries but have partnerships with private sector nurseries which provide wraparound and holiday care. However,  Edinburgh and Glasgow Councils both offer breakfast clubs, lunch cover and evening care for pre-school children.

Dundee Council approved a pilot scheme to allow working parents to purchase additional hours last spring, while North Ayrshire Council's first nursery to operate year-round with extended opening hours of 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday opened for business last month. Councillor Peter McNamara, chair of North Ayrshire's Educational Services Committee, said, 'This is a fairly radical new development in terms of the scope of nursery provision currently on offer and if successful we hope to see it extended to other areas.'

Patricia McGinty, vice-convenor for strategy of the Scottish Independent Nurseries Association, warned that moves by local authorities to provide extended daycare could have a damaging effect. She said, 'I'm concerned that despite the fact that partnership is working well in some areas, local authorities such as Edinburgh are determined to press ahead with extended daycare, while the partners are making it very clear that they are being left with vacant places. This isn't good for the growth of the industry - they are putting partnerships in jeopardy.'

Some councils say they cannot currently afford to expand provision, but would if funding was available. In Argyll and Bute, two local authority nurseries are open year-round. A spokeswoman said, 'For children with priority needs we buy provision from the private sector. Funding restrictions prevent further expansion but we will always extend provision where funding allows us.'

However, there could be resistance to extended opening from within local authorities as well as the private sector. A spokesman for East Renfrewshire, which offers parents an additional hour of wraparound care in the morning or afternoon and which has one family centre open year-round, said, 'There are massive problems around conditions of service when they seek to introduce extended opening. Local authority nursery teachers do not want to give up their conditions of service. That's always been a stumbling block across Scotland.'