Childcare funding review reveals '£140 million underspend' by councils

But over the same period, local authorities spent or plan to spend an extra £189 million, according to the Government's financial review of early learning and childcare.

While the local government body Cosla claimed parts of the report "paint a very misleading picture", Childcare and Early Years Minister Mark McDonald insisted the figures show the Scottish Government had fully funded its flagship childcare policy.

Read more: Flexible childcare should be legal requirement of councils, says Labour

All three and four-year-olds in Scotland, as well as vulnerable two-year-olds, are entitled to 600 hours of free childcare every year, up from 412.5 hours when the SNP came to power.

Mr McDonald insisted: "This SNP Government has done more than any previous devolved administration and indeed any other government in the UK to expand free entitlement to early learning and childcare."

Regarding the funding, he said "where the money allocated does not all appear to have been spent as intended, it would be for local authorities to account for their own spending".

But he stated: "It is clear this Government has met its commitments to fully fund this policy."

As MSPs debated the issue of childcare at Holyrood, he revealed he had had talks with Cosla, which represents the majority of Scottish councils, "because we want to ensure that where we put a policy in place and funding to follow that policy, that that funding benefits those children we want it to benefit".

Mr McDonald said: "The Scottish Government continues to be in discussions with Cosla about this."

About 125,000 youngsters each year benefit from free childcare, with the SNP having already pledged to up the number of hours to 1,140 a year by 2020 - a promise the minister described as "our most transformative infrastructure project".

Read more: Flexible childcare should be legal requirement of councils, says Labour

Mr McDonald said: "No other policy has such potential to change children's lives, the fortunes of their families and the prospects of the economy in the short and long-term.

"This is absolutely a policy with a purpose and it is essential we get the expansion right."

He told MSPs: "High-quality early learning and childcare can play a vital role in our overall approach to narrowing the attainment gap. It is my ambition to prevent children starting school with any substantial gap in attainment at all."

A Cosla spokesman said the review "highlights the complexities in delivering the expansion of childcare", and added: "We are very concerned that there are parts of this report that paint a very misleading picture and do not reflect the reality of what is happening on the ground.

"This is a crude assessment and it would be extremely unhelpful if this becomes the focus and detracts from the overriding success story that councils have delivered 600 hours."

Tory education spokeswoman Liz Smith said it is clear there had been an underspend, although it might be disputed "whose fault some of the underspend might be".

She spoke about the "policy challenges" in providing early years care, saying: "The Scottish Government has a laudable aim to deliver 600 hours of free childcare, but the reality is that the provision in places remains a problem."

The Conservative claimed the current system is not flexible enough for many working parents, with some families only offered care in three-hour slots.

She urged ministers to adopt "radical" action and "properly free up our nurseries and childcare facilities".

Ms Smith said: "Like parents, the Scottish Conservatives firmly believe we need to completely free up the system so there is a genuine choice and no ability for local authorities to restrict places."

Read more: Flexible childcare should be legal requirement of councils, says Labour

Labour MSP Daniel Johnson welcomed the Scottish Government's commitment to childcare, but he said more honesty is needed about what is being delivered as well as realism about whether it is meeting parents' needs.

He called for more detail on how a massive expansion in capacity is to be delivered, saying: "The First Minister has called childcare the biggest capital project of this Parliament, and she's right. It will cost more than the Queensferry Crossing, more than the M8, M73, M74, more than any school or hospital, and its impact will be far greater.

"However, we don't know how much or where the investment is going, when it will be delivered, or even who will be delivering it. Almost doubling the hours available will almost double the cost, so is the Government committed to spending in revenue terms an extra £300 million or maybe £400 million a year? The analysis this week just frankly doesn't spell this out.

"On staff, the Government again this week have said that they don't know how much it is going to cost to advertise, train and employ the promised extra 20,000 staff."

Tavish Scott, Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland, highlighted the difficulties of expanding childcare in rural and island areas.

He said: "We currently struggle, the council currently struggles, to recruit appropriately-qualified staff to our remoter pre-school settings.

"The challenge of greater hours of entitlement will become even more so and therefore what are the Government's plans to support workforce development in those most remote and rural areas?"