Excerpts:
Nurseries are failing families across the country due to an overwhelming lack of resources, the head of a leading children's organisation has warned.
Bronwen Cohen, chief executive of Children in Scotland, said the root cause of problems in the sector lay in the fact that parents had to scrape together the cash to pay for pre-school care themselves, with very little Government support.
The Herald yesterday revealed that, although hundreds of childcare facilities are repeatedly falling short of the basic standards the Care Commission demands, none had been shut down by regulators since the current regime came into effect in 2002.
The Scottish Government described as "disturbing" several cases The Herald uncovered.
Ms Cohen, who leads the national agency for voluntary and paid children's workers in Scotland, said improvements were needed -- not only to the Care Commission's remit but in the wider funding structure for Scotland's pre-school services.
"It is obviously important the Care Commission should have the necessary powers to enforce its recommendations but the bigger question is why services are struggling with quality standards," she said.
"The root causes lie in the lack of resources available for services, which in many cases are having to rely on what parents themselves can pay.
"While pre-school education services for children over the age of three are seen as a public benefit, services which provide care for [children of] parents in paid employment are seen as something parents in general have to pay for themselves."
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Most European countries offer more help with childcare costs, according to Ms Cohen, and her group is now pointing to Slovenia as a standard to which Scotland can aspire.
Ms Cohen said national and local governments should start offering more education and care for children under three, as well as those approaching school age.
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The Scottish Government said it too wanted the best services for the country's children.
A spokesman added: "The Scottish Government and the Care Commission want every child in Scotland to benefit from high-quality nursery and childminding services.
"The Herald report contains some disturbing examples and we are pleased that action has been taken in every case with service providers to remedy shortcomings. The commission already gives high priority to following up inspections where problems have been identified to ensure that remedial action has been taken."
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The Herald reported yesterday that 224 nurseries and 111 childminders in Scotland were ranked as weak or unsatisfactory in at least one category during recent inspections by the Care Commission. Two nurseries were given the lowest possible score, dismissed as "unsatisfactory" in each of four categories rated by inspectors.
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- reprinted from the Herald Scotland