Mr Salmond said that an annual 600 hours of free childcare provision would be offered to every two-year-old from a workless household (around 8,400 children, or 15 per cent of all two-year-olds) by August this year.
By August 2015 the provision will extend to 27 per cent of all two-year-olds, as entitlement is widened to families receiving certain welfare benefits, the Government said.
The First Minister said that the extension of childcare provision would ensure that, by August 2015, Scotland would deliver 80 million hours of childcare to pre-school children, the greatest amount in the UK.
However, Mr Salmond warned that his government’s long-term commitment to transform childcare by making 600 hours of free childcare available to approximately 50 per cent of two-year-olds could only be funded in an independent Scotland, as revenue from proposed cuts to services such as Trident would otherwise go to the UK Government.
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