Highland Council puts expansion of early learning and childcare hours 'on hold temporarily'
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Highland Council has put plans to expand free childcare hours to 1140 per year "on hold temporarily".
Scottish Government has dropped the obligation for this to start next month due to the coronavirus.
The local authority told councillors last week that plans to expand the scheme to 1140 hours for all parents had been hit by pandemic-related setbacks impacting recruitment and capital investment.
Education committee chairman John Finlayson said: “Highland Council is committed to continuing to fund settings that were delivering 600 or 1140 hours of early learning and childcare (ELC) before lockdown and hopefully this continuity of service will support families in their planning.
"Highland Council recognises the importance of continuing to expand the provision of early learning and childcare and future decisions will be informed by further guidance received from the Scottish Government.”
Paul Senior, the council's executive chief officer for education and learning, said: “For those ELC settings which were due to move to 1140 hours in August, as part of the final phase of the council’s delivery plan, this transition will be put on hold temporarily.
"When the Scottish Government releases the revised date for the statutory requirement to deliver 1140 hours of ELC, a decision will be made as to whether the final phase will be incremental or planned to the required date.
"Prior to Covid-19 the council had made positive steps towards delivering 1140 in August and so an incremental final phase is possible.”
Council depute leader Alasdair Christie said: “We know fully just how important and beneficial this service is in supporting families and providing learning experiences for children.
"The education service is keen to continue with the final phase of ELC expansion at the earliest opportunity, as this will enable the whole Highlands region to move towards recovery both economically and from an education perspective.”
