TIME and again laudable ideas on the part of the Scottish Government seem to hit difficulties in implementation (“Audit Scotland slates SNP delivery of free childcare”, The Herald, February 15).
The problems appear to arise by making broad ranging and popular commitments, such as doubling free childcare hours, without properly thinking through the detail of costings and practical issues of delivery.
Too often it appears that political grandstanding leads the way, with careful planning and assessment of practical realities left as an afterthought.
In the case of childcare, local authorities are expected to make good on the SNP’s promises but the signs are that the Scottish Government will try to take the opportunity to further squeeze the budgets of councils with as much as a £160 million shortfall in annual funding against the amount local authorities assess it will cost.
The SNP leadership is big on grand gestures and less capable when it comes to ensuring it has the detail right. Only a genuine partnership with councils that recognizes and delivers the full costs of meeting the childcare pledge will avoid yet another shortfall of reality versus SNP rhetoric.
Keith Howell,
White Moss,
West Linton,
Peeblesshire.
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