Jamie Greene, Conservative Candidate for Cunninghame North, has posed a public question to the SNP on the issue of free child care commitments made by them before its election to Holyrood in 2011 and again at their party conference this year. He has asked them to confirm in detail their plans for roll out of additional free child care in Scotland.
The Scottish Government promised to double free childcare last year but parents are angry that their questions have not been answered on the issue according to the local Tory candidate.
Mr Greene said "Parent lobby group -Fair Funding for Our Kids- last week published a letter they wrote to the First Minister on the matter. They said – in a meeting they had with Glasgow City Council – those in charge of delivering the pledge described it as "impossible". This is deeply worrying.
The group was also critical of education secretary Angela Constance after she failed to answer a range of questions in a meeting. Those questions included how many extra nursery places would be needed, how many additional staff would be required, how many more nurseries would have to be built, and where the money for all this would come from."
The SNP made a promise at their recent party conference that by the end of the next parliament, they would double childcare provision to 30 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds. In England the current allowance of 15 hours of free early education or childcare per week has already been doubled to 30 hours by the Conservative government.
Mr Greene added "The SNP's childcare promises are falling apart before our eyes. It's clear they don't even know what they need to do to meet their pledge never mind how they are going to get there. They have no idea over child numbers, no idea over nursery school buildings and no idea how to pay for any of it. After years of stalling and weasel words it's now clear that parents have had enough. They asked Angela Constance some reasonable questions about how this plan will be delivered but she refused to answer. That is a disgrace."
He concluded "A year on from Nicola Sturgeon's appointment as First Minister, this is yet more evidence that this is a government long on spin and selfies and woefully short on substance. Once again, Scotland’s parents and kids are being let down by the SNP and it’s time they put some meat on the bone on their promises."