Speaking at a Children in Scotland Hustings last month, Adam Ingram, SNP minister for children and early years, pledged to ensure the continued expansion of early years services and to introduce 'new legislative requirements on councils to deliver on early years'.
Mr Ingram also promised to publish 'costed plans to increase childcare support over the next decade to match the best levels in other European countries.'
The SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon, (pictured), who joined SNP candidates and mothers in Glasgow for a campaigning event last weekend, said, 'The SNP has been good for Scotland's families and a re-elected SNP will continue to make Scotland fairer for families.'
Scottish Labour has promised to consult on an early years bill that would include a package of support measures for children from pre-birth to the age of three. It is also promising to consult on targeted, evidence-based early intervention programmes, to help identify the barriers to a child's development at an earlier stage, and to improve monitoring, which it claims will enable specialist services, such as language and communication therapy, to step in at a younger age.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats, whose education spokesperson is Margaret Smith, (right), have pledged in their election manifesto to start a £250m 'Early Intervention Revolution fund', which aims to help young children gain social skills prior to starting school through structured and unstructured play. The party promises to invest in early years provision and to support initiatives such as family nurse partnerships, family intervention projects, health visitors, breastfeeding and the development of parenting skills.
The Conservatives, led by Annabel Goldie, (right), have pledged a guaranteed level of health-visitor support to all parents until their child reaches the age of five and to maintain the 12.5 hours of free entitlement, with greater flexibility over the times of day that parents can use the entitlement.
They have also pledged to extend the entitlement to disadvantaged two-year-olds, starting with the most vulnerable.
