The Scottish Government has pledged to consider a Conservative proposal to give parents vouchers to pay private nurseries with public money.
The Conservatives are concerned that too many children are losing out on their entitlement to 600 hours of government-funded nursery provision because some councils restrict funding to public nurseries with inflexible opening hours.
The party has urged the SNP administration at Holyrood and Scottish Labour to follow the lead of the SNP-Labour coalition on Edinburgh Council and support a voucher which would allow parents to use the public money at private nurseries.
Acting children's minister Fiona McLeod pledged to consider whether the Tories' "market-led consumer approach" would fit in with the Government's quality and policy objectives.
Labour children's spokeswoman Cara Hilton said the idea was worthy of further discussion but fears it could be the start of a "slippery slope" of vouchers for other public services.
Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: "In East Dunbartonshire, East Lothian and Glasgow, they have all restricted the number of places that they can fund in partnership (private) nurseries.
"This means many parents are having to move their children from one nursery to another if it can no longer get a funded place in that nursery.
"That's why many parents believe that thousands of children are missing out on childcare provision, because local authority nurseries are unable to provide suitable hours for working parents."
Ms McLeod said: "The Conservatives have suggested that one way to increase flexibility is to let parents have vouchers."
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