Nursery World - 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.

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.

'What mechanism exists for ensuring children accessing these places are Glasgow residents, and, given that prices in these private sector nurseries range from 108 to 135 per week... what likelihood is there of clients on low pay who require childcare accessing these places?' Ms Harkins also said, 'Recommendations from local forums... have been ignored, with a number of projects receiving approval in direct conflict to them.'

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