A COUNCIL at the centre of a row over the delivery of an SNP pledge to give parents free childcare has blamed a lack of funding.
Glasgow City Council said money from the Scottish Government to deliver the flagship initiative was insufficient.
Stephen Curran, the council's education spokesman, made the claim as campaigners took a petition on the issue to the city council.
The Fair Funding for Our Kids group has asked the local authority to guarantee a funded place for all children attending private nurseries which work in partnership with the council - but Mr Curran said that would cost an extra £2 million.
"While we are sympathetic to their needs it is unrealistic to expect the council to find this money," he said.
"We use our available budget to meet our duty with regard to part-time places, but we recognise working parents need more full-time places. The funding we receive from the Scottish Government does not take account of this."
Sarah Metcalfe, who is one of the campaign organisers, said many working parents were forced to meet the full cost of their nursery care themselves.
She added: "You can get money for a maximum of two sessions per day which means a maximum of £52.20 per child per week which is the cost of about a single day at a private nursery."
Currently, every three and four-year-old in Scotland is supposed to get 600 free hours of nursery a year.
Glasgow delivers most of the free places as one off sessions lasting three hours and 10 minutes on either mornings or afternoons in its own nurseries, but campaigners say they are not suitable for those working full-time.
The council also commissions around 2000 places from the private sector and pays parents £1998 towards the cost, but families say not enough places are being funded to meet demand and that up to 2000 children are missing out.
Their petition states: "Glasgow City Council has a legal duty to make this available to every eligible child in Glasgow. Roughly five out of six council nursery places in Glasgow do not offer hours that cover the working day.
"With extensive waiting lists for the few council places that do offer extended hours, the only choice for many working parents are partnership nurseries because they simply cannot use a council nursery place that only offers three hours of childcare per day."
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