Question reference: S4W-01351
- Asked by: Jenny Marra, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 28 June 2011
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Current status: Answered by Angela Constance on 20 July 2011
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made on expanding nursery education in each year since 2007.
Answer
Since August 2007, as part of the Concordat agreement between Scottish Government and COSLA, the minimum entitlement to pre-school education for all three and four year olds changed from 412.5 hours to 475 hours per annum.
Local authorities have the flexibility to go further in order to meet their local priorities. Several councils across Scotland therefore offer additional entitlement such as offering free pre-school education closer to a child’s third birthday or extending the entitlement to cover vulnerable two-year-olds.