Think-tank calls for voucher to entitle all parents to government funded pre-school places for children

Figures show a postcode lottery of unrestricted access to Government-funded pre-school early learning places as councils, who hold the purse strings, feel the pinch of budgetary constraints.

But the centre-right leaning research group said parents should be handed the right to be able to choose which private nursery they want their child to be in, as long as it is properly regulated and it has spaces.

Reform Scotland's research director Alison Payne said: "This is not about the private sector versus the public sector, but acknowledging that most council nurseries do not provide the full-time care that working parents need, and therefore, for all children to be guaranteed to receive government-funded nursery provision, the money must follow the child.

"If an independent nursery meets the Education Scotland and Care Inspectorate standards, parents should by right be able to take their full government-funded entitlement there as a 'virtual voucher'.

"This is not radical and already happens in some areas in Scotland. However, Reform Scotland believes that this should extend to all working families in Scotland."

National Day Nurseries Association Scotland (NDNA) have been fighting without success to ensure that parental choice is enshrined in law in Scotland and that pre-school education funding follows the child directly, rather than going to councils.

The free nursery education programme is paid for through a Government allocation to local authorities and is offered at council-accredited day nurseries, private nursery schools, pre-schools, playgroups and primary school reception classes.

It emerged in 2011 that East Dunbartonshire was the first local authority to limit funding because the £1.3m it allocated in its budget for funding partners' nursery places had run out.

It decided to refuse new funding requests for parental choice of private-sector nursery care after a July deadline and provide a local authority nursery. But at the time local authority nurseries did not provide the wrap-around care most working parents required.

Other councils have since admitted introducing restrictions, either by capping the number of places available, setting deadlines, or only accepting or prioritising local children.

The NDNA last year said its members were reporting average losses of £1,032 per child, per year on funded three and four-year-old places as they struggle to cope with the financial gap between the amount received from the local authority and the actual cost of providing the place.

The lowest rate recorded in an NDNA survey in Scotland was £2.80 an hour which it described as a "pocket money price" rather than funding for high quality childcare.

The Reform Scotland proposal if adopted would bring to an end, the councils' control on which nurseries can be used and the number of places available.

Reform Scotland accused those councils who limit places of putting political ideology ahead of children's needs.

A study by the Family and Childcare Trust in February said 15 per cent of local authorities in Scotland had enough childcare for parents who worked full-time.

That was down from 23 per cent when the survey was carried out in 2013.

Campaigning parents from Glasgow last year showed that hundreds of children are unable to secure fully funded places at the private nurseries they currently attend.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: "The Children and Young People Act set out to significantly expand free childcare provision and increase flexibility, year on year.

"Local authorities are now required to consult with groups of parents at least once every two years on patterns of childcare provision that would best meet their needs, which will introduce a greater level of flexibility and choice to the system as we work with local government to further develop and expand provision."