Why has this decision been made?
- The council has capacity for 6,814 nursery children but has over 2,000 more places available than is required to meet demand, which is nearly 30% more than is needed. The council will still have more than enough capacity to meet demand in each of the community areas affected given the availability in local alternative nurseries
- A key decline in council run nurseries is a direct result of changes to Scottish Government national policy made in 2019 - where the Government introduced 'funding follows the child'. This means that parental choices have changed with many parents now choosing to use their funded nursery provision at private nursery providers and childminders in West Lothian. This has significantly reduced the demand for council run nurseries
- When the national policy was introduced in 2019 there were 7 private partner providers in West Lothian for 4,290 eligible children (88.4% of those came to council settings). Following the introduction of the Scottish Government's Policy, there are now 32 private partner providers in West Lothian for 4,084 eligible children (78.0% of those come to council settings)
- Since 2019, there has been an increase of 25 private nurseries delivering services for less children, demonstrating that there is an over-provision in Early Learning & Childcare options in West Lothian
- Demand for nursery places overall is also likely to reduce in the years ahead - with a falling number of births in Scotland. Although a small number of areas have seen growth in the number of young people, population changes across the country is reducing overall demand for spaces in many council nursery and childcare facilities
- Scotland's councils face huge budget savings and have no choice but to reduce spending and reduce some important services. This is an area where the council has an over provision of service, where the council can continue to deliver important local services but also work more efficiently, and ensure that equivalent funding savings aren't necessary in other areas of Education
Other points
- The Education Executive voted to keep Glenvue Nursery School, Livingston open
- The nurseries could re-open in future if circumstances change and there was greater future demand for council nurseries in specific communities
- In all cases, statutory teacher-pupil ratios will be maintained in all nurseries
- Not all primary schools currently have nurseries attached to the school and they all have successful transition programmes in place. The council are confident this can be extended into the 7 nurseries affected by today's decision
- In each of the affected areas, there is multiple alternative options and significant capacity available. Therefore, every child in West Lothian will continue to be able to access 1140 hours of nursery provision at a local nursery establishment
- It was also confirmed that the council would aim to deliver as much continuity as possible for parents, staff and young people should plans be approved at a later stage, specifically in relation to ensuring nursery staff and young people remain together should they move to an alternative council nursery
- Eight nurseries will close in total, with two nurseries currently inactive (closed)
- Education Scotland completed a report addressing educational aspects of the proposals and they are available online in full. They have made a number of comments for each nursery. In all cases, Education Scotland agreed that some rationalisation of nursery provision may be reasonable as it is important that council ensure best use of their resources
- Council funding is used to place children into both council and private nurseries, but funding is limited. The council is restricted in its ability to expand council nurseries (staff, availability of spaces etc) and cannot prioritise placements to council nurseries. Due to the changes in national policy, we don't have the funding because of the requirement to fund placements within private provider nurseries. Many parents now choose to use their funded nursery provision at private nursery providers and childminders in West Lothian
West Lothian Council advised the Scottish Government as early as 2016 that their changes to their Early Learning and Childcare policy would result in an unsustainable and inconsistent service for nursery children
Mr Welsh added: "However, we all know that councils the length and breadth of the country are under significant pressure to balance their budgets, such is the growth in demand for services set against the funding available to us. This is a practical step to address the oversupply of council run nursery and early learning facilities in West Lothian, whilst ensuring that there is more than enough choice for parents in the communities affected."
Executive councillor for Education Andrew McGuire said: "We all want what is best for our young people, and we all appreciate that this isn't an easy decision. However, we cannot ignore the oversupply of nursery places across the private and council providers, nor can we ignore the requirement to protect Education overall, and ensure that the services we will continue to deliver remain of a high standard.
"The Government's policy may have benefits but it certainly has a detrimental impact on council nurseries. "As far back as 2016, Council officers have advised the Scottish Government on more than one occasion that a model founded on unfettered choice, would be likely to prove unsustainable, and to the detriment of all eligible children and their parents/carers.
"The Council recommended greater emphasis on the financial sustainability of the model, and the potential impact of unfettered choice on financial sustainability would help ensure the ability of authorities to ensure a high-quality service is offered to all children.
"Unfortunately, Scottish Ministers have chosen not to act on these representations, with the consequence that there has been a major diversion of funds to the private sector with the result that it is not possible to maintain the services offering maximum continuity and ease of transition into primary schools."
He added: "Councils are rightly expected to operate efficiently and manage local public finances and the reality is that there is far more flexibility than there was before, which many people will welcome. Parents and carers can now have publicly funded nursery places at a variety of options - both council run and privately run.
"However, we recognise that many of the parents who have contacted us would have liked their children to attend the nurseries that, locally, feed into the schools their children would later attend. Although nurseries are not bound by catchment, West Lothian Council understands that desire from parents, and officers have made this point consistently to the Scottish Government, and included it in our response to their consultation as far back as 2016. It is for this reason that the Council has continued to invest in high quality provision which is, of course, the only provision which can offer this smooth educational and social transition through the Early Stage of Curriculum for Excellence from Early Learning and Childcare to Primary 1 desired by so many parents."
The eight nurseries to close in August 2025 are listed below.
- Deans North Nursery School, Livingston
- Fauldhouse Nursery Class
- Ladywell Nursery School, Livingston
- Linlithgow Bridge Nursery Class
- St Anthony's Nursery Class, Armadale
- St Joseph's Nursery Class, Whitburn
- Bathgate West Nursery School (currently an inactive service)
- Our Lady's Nursery Class, Stoneyburn (currently an inactive service)
