Nursery Fees in Glasgow

That the Parliament expresses its concern that the SNP-minority administration on Glasgow City Council has increased childcare fees; understands that, in some cases, these have risen by over 50%, with families reported as paying up to £200 per month more; notes that the council’s director of education has stated that the increase will "contribute towards meeting the funding gap in the council’s budget for financial year 2018-19"; understands that this funding gap is £20 million; believes with dismay that the council failed to conduct any consultation exercise when it was considering this action and that the Scottish Government has not held any discussions with nursery providers in the city regarding childcare funding; considers that asking hard-pressed families to plug a funding gap that it believes has been caused by years of sustained cuts by the Scottish Government is unacceptable; believes that effective lobbying of ministers by the administration for fairer funding would be a better way to deal with this issue, rather than what it sees as the council "passing the buck" on to parents; understands that families have raised concerns regarding the impact that these increases are having on their budgets and, in some cases, parents' ability to return to the workplace; calls on the SNP-minority administration to recognise what it considers the distress and anguish that this policy is causing to thousands of families and for it to scrap this hike in fees with immediate effect, and, if it fails to do so, urges the First Minister and Scottish Government to support parents in Glasgow and intervene to reverse the council's action.