Leader: Parents' lives will be transformed by nursery plan

The Scottish Government seeks transformational change through its childcare policy, and today the Minister for Childcare and Early Years outlines his commitment to achieving this goal.

Early learning is thought to encourage a later development

The intention is laudable, but there have been problems. Parents have found that even with free sessions, they could only book children into local authority facilities for mornings or afternoons, but not both, and private nurseries were too expensive.

It is encouraging to hear the minister refer repeatedly to the need for flexibility, particularly at local authority level. If the government can get this right, it will deliver a policy destined to make a real difference.