NINE out of ten council nurseries are not meeting the needs of working parents, according to a new survey.

Research by campaign group Fair Funding For Our Kids shows just one in every ten open between 8am and 6pm or longer.

Nineteen councils had no nurseries open throughout the period of the extended working day.

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And although 23 councils said they offered at least some children full-day places, only three per cent of all children attending council nurseries have nursery places starting at 8am or earlier. Just two per cent have places ending at 5.15pm or later.

Last week, Scotland public spending watchdog questioned plans to fund increased nursery provision in Scotland.

Audit Scotland said in a report there was a “significant risk” councils would not be able to resource the planned expansion to almost double the annual hours in paid-for nursery places to 1,140.

Ministers plan to meet the new target for nursery provision by August 2020, but Audit Scotland warned it would be difficult to increase the infrastructure and workforce to the levels required in the limited time available.

Carolyn Lochhead, a parent volunteer from Fair Funding For Our Kids,

said: “Our research shows the system is just not set up for working parents - the very people the Scottish Government say they want to help.

“If you don’t have grandparents nearby who can help with drop-off and pick-up, then it’s almost impossible to make use of a council nursery place.”

The survey showed that, in Glasgow, fewer than two-fifths of the 110 council nurseries open between 8am and 6pm and only six per cent of children start at 8am or earlier with just four per cent finishing at 5.15pm or later.

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In East Renfrewshire, all of the 17 local authority nurseries are open between 8am-6pm or longer, but in neighbouring Renfrewshire, fewer than half of its 34 nurseries offer these hours.

In East Dunbartonshire a third of children are able to start at or before 8am and over ten per cent can finish after 5pm.

The issue is important because parents of children aged three or four are entitled to 600 hours of free childcare per year.

The funding is given to councils to administer, but because of the limited hours on offer parents who need to use private nurseries can miss out.

A spokeswoman for council umbrella body Cosla said local authorities were working hard to provide an appropriate service for all parents.

She said: “Councils have been providing increasingly flexible provision of early learning and childcare since 2014.

“We are clear quality of provision is our main priority and we will continue to extend flexibility.”

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A Scottish Government spokeswoman said ensuring children received a high quality learning experience was at the heart of expansion plans.

She added: “While most local authorities are increasing flexible options we know some places are not where and when parents need them. We are committed to an approach where funding will follow the child to give parents genuine choice.”