Half of Scottish children born in 2011 and 2012 will miss out on so-called “guaranteed” nursery provision, a damning report has revealed. Reform Scotland said only 50 per cent of youngsters born last year and the year before would receive two years of nursery provision. This is despite pledges by the SNP that all children will receive that entitlement. As it stands, the amount of free nursery a youngster will receive completely depends on which month they are born. Reform Scotland estimates that could cost a family up to £1,000 and several hundreds of hours in provision. Under current proposals in the Children and Young People’s bill, that gap will widen to £1,300. The issue will be debated as part of the Children and Young People bill in the Scottish Parliament tomorrow. Scottish Conservative young people spokeswoman Liz Smith MSP said: “These figures raise serious questions about exactly what commitments the Scottish Government intends to deliver when it comes to nursery entitlement. “The SNP Government must use the opportunity of today’s (Thursday) debate to clarify that no children will lose out when it comes to nursery provision. “Reform Scotland has exposed the truth – that the so-called ‘guarantee’ doesn’t do what it says on the tin. “Parents up and down the country will rightly wonder how it can be that children born only days apart can receive such varying levels of nursery care. “There is a wealth of research which highlights just how crucial a role nursery education plays in development. “By allowing this birthday discrimination to continue the SNP is playing fast and loose with the future of half of Scotland’s children. “The Scottish Government must do the right thing and introduce a fixed starting point, as is done with primary school.” ENDS