Buchanan Nursery welcomes Jo Swinson

1.05.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 23rd Jul 2007

Affordable childcare provision is an essential part of tackilng gender inequality in the workplace

Local nursery care provision was the topic for discussion today, as Jo Swinson visited Buchanan Nursery in Bearsden.

Jo spoke with Nursery Assistant Manager Mary Canavan about her experiences of working in childcare and met some of the 104 children that regularly attend Buchanan Nursery.

Commenting on the visit, Jo said:

"Infants attending nursery are at a crucial age for learning to play, communicate and socialise. Buchanan Nursery gives young children a great place to develop these skills, but too many children are missing out on this early years development due to a lack of affordable nursery places.

"For parents pursuing careers, a combination of greater childcare provision and access to flexible working is needed to tackle the inequalities that still exist in the workplace. Last week, the UK Government promised to make increasing affordable childcare a priority. When challenged, however, the Minister for Women declined to state what extra resources were being announced to fund this.

"With more and more parents seeking to combine careers and childcare, empty rhetoric must not take the place of proper resourcing by Government."