Nurseries lose free places deal

PARENTS could be forced to remove their children from their current nurseries and find them places elsewhere after council bosses failed to renew their contracts to provide government-funded pre-school education.

East Calder Playgroup, Park Road Playgroup in Broxburn and Little Flyers Too, also in Broxburn, have all lost their contracts with West Lothian Council to provide free places for three and four year olds.

Parents will now have to either move their children to another nursery or face losing their entitlement to free pre-school education.

Working mum Laura Brown, whose son Jack, three, is entitled to part-time free pre-school provision and attends Little Flyers Too, said: "It's going to turn everything upside down for me. Jack doesn't cope well with change so I'm very reluctant to move him from somewhere he is happy.

"It would be a terrible shame for Jack to have to miss out on pre-school education, which is what is probably going to have to happen."

Children aged three and four are entitled to 475 hours of funded pre-school education over the school year, which usually means a child is given five sessions per week of around two-and-a-half hours.

Michelle McLeary, manager of Little Flyers Too, said: "This has come as a bit of a blow and this is the first time we've been asked to re-tender.

"In the long term it might even mean staff redundancies.

"The way things are going, parents are going to have to find alternative childcare."

The parents and management at Little Flyers Too have submitted an appeal to West Lothian Council.

However, the council defended its decision, saying that all partner providers knew they had to re-apply and had sufficient notice to meet requirements.

A spokesman said: "To decide whether to offer the contract, the supplier had to be able to meet our minimum requirements such as insurance, staffing levels and health and safety, by the start of term in August.

"The suppliers who met those requirements were alsoscored on their ability to deliver the pre-school curriculum, and where more applications were received than places required in a particular area, priority was given to the highest-scoring providers.

"Unsuccessful applicants were given feedback on their application and were told their scores and those of the competitors in their area so they can see why they were unsuccessful."

He added: "Parents who have applied for any of these three establishments will receive letters within the next two weeks granting their second or third choices where available."