EAST Lothian is running out of childcare places for pre-school children, amid claims by its council leader that two-year-olds will soon be forced to spend more time in an “education setting” than secondary students each week.

Some parts of the county already have no more space to accommodate the current 600 hours of early learning and childcare provision which the Scottish Government has introduced.

And with plans to increase the amount of free provision to 1,140 hours for each child over the next four years, nurseries are being told to look into ways to use any spare space, including considering turning outdoor spaces into permanent outdoor classrooms.

Councillor Willie Innes, East Lothian Council’s leader, questioned whether the new hours would do more damage than good for youngsters.

He said: “What we are saying is that we are putting children as young as two in an educational setting for a longer time than secondary school pupils.

“There is a growing body of evidence that if you educate too young you damage.”

Speaking at a meeting of the council’s education committee this week, Mr Innes said Scottish educators prided themselves on taking the lead from ‘enlightened’ early learning techniques from Scandinavia.

But he said piling on more hours for children, when there was no evidence the current hours had made an impact, was wrong.

He said: “We have been introducing initiatives for some time now, yet attainment remains static.

“The Scandinavian authorities would tell us we are doing it wrong, we are compounding mistakes with mistakes.

“We have a real problem here in East Lothian where our schools do not have the spaces to expand. It seems to me this policy has not been thought through.”

Pauline Homer, the council’s lead officer for early years and childcare, told the education committee negotiations were also under way to turn the Red School, in Prestonpans, which had been earmarked for a £300,000 refurbishment as a youth facility, into a new pre-school centre to ease the demand.

She told the committee: “We are now running out of places for children in the county. We are looking into the Red School as an early learning and childcare centre, and the new Wallyford Primary School will have an early learning unit.”

But she said nurseries were being asked to look at new ways to utilise space.

She said: “To meet demand, creative measures, such as the use of spare capacity in nursery classes, for priority twos, particularly in rural areas, and full utilisation of outdoor space at nursery by the addition of an outdoor room, will now be considered.”

The move by the Scottish Government to increase free childcare hours by the year 2020 was hailed by Councillor Paul McLennan as a major opportunity. He said: “This is a massive opportunity to change people’s lives.”

And he condemned Mr Innes’ criticism of the policy, saying the availability of free early learning and childcare would double to 30 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds and vulnerable two-year-olds by 2021 – a policy that would save families in East Lothian more than £3,000 per child per year.

He said: “I find Cllr Innes' comments staggering – his party and his MSP support the policy in the Scottish Parliament.

“Study after study has shown that investment in early years is vital to closing the attainment gap, a policy recently supported by Save the Children.”

Fellow committee member Councillor Peter MacKenzie said the longer childcare hours freed up mothers struggling to escape poverty.

He said: “It allows mothers to be economically active in a way they cannot at the moment.”