Highland Council is on track to deliver most of its commitment to 1140h funded nursery provision for 3 and 4 year olds across the region by next summer, councillors heard yesterday.
More than half of Highland’s 241 nurseries are ready to offer 1140h provision.
The roll out of the remainder was impacted by lockdown, and in August, the council decided to pause it for this financial year.
Councillors welcomed the ‘U-turn’ decision to progress with the project, announced in a report to this month’s education committee meeting.
Brian Porter, the council’s head of resources said the Covid pandemic had resulted in delays in delivery of the service, particularly where building is taking place to enable provision.
More than 60 nurseries will be ready between now and next April, he said.
By January, 50 nurseries will be able to offer 1140 hours, and eight more in April, taking account of staffing requirements and recruitment, and minor building work or adjustments that need to be put in place.
That leaves 30 nurseries with a longer time scale as they involve capital works, and some will be ready next summer, with some of the larger projects expected to complete in 2022.
Mr Porter said contingency planning was being looked at to offer provision if building works take longer than hoped, suggesting that vacant premises may be coming up as a result of the pandemic for the council to consider letting.
He said: “We have the requirement to make sure we are operating safely and effectively and we are working with our partners on that.
“Clearly Covid-19 may well have some implications within individual settings, depending on contagion cases and perhaps further lockdowns.”
Councillor Graham Mackenzie welcomed what he called the council’s ‘U-turn’ on 1140h funding.
In June, the Scottish Government removed the obligation of local authorities to ring fence 1140h funding and instead to use it to offset their budget gaps caused by the impact of Covid-19.
But the council is anticipating that the government will return to its original position of obliging local authorities to have 1140h in place no later than next summer.
Former Dingwall High head teacher Mr Mackenzie said: “The report is exactly what we’ve been asking for for some considerable time and is in the best interests of families and creating additional employment.
“I particularly welcome the change in tone when it was suggested that the finances for this were to be used to plug the budget gap and therefore there had been considerable delays in the implementation of this plan.
“I recognise that Covid-19 may well impact on the arrangements, particularly infrastructure and capital spend, but this is a promising and exciting way forward.”
Tory opposition group leader councillor Andrew Jarvie said he found the delays ‘extraordinary’.
He said: “There’s only so much we can apportion to Covid when we were already so far behind.
“I don’t see why we are stuck with this binary choice of 1140 or 600 hours. If some places can offer 800 or 900 hours, rather than moving children between nurseries, why can’t this move forward?”
Deputy leader Alasdair Christie said he too would like to explore the suggestion of variation in hours to see what might work.
He said: “This is important to the recovery of the Highland economy.
“As soon as we can provide these early years settings, we can get more people back into the economy and people can start getting back to the normality of life, whatever that might be.
“We still have a bumpy road ahead of us, but early years will play a huge part in the recovery process of the Highlands.”
