A GLASGOW charity which offers childcare across the city is not operating to its full capacity according to a fresh report.

Jobs and Business Glasgow (JBG), which is partly funded by Glasgow City Council and is one of the largest childcare service providers in the city, has only filled 70 per cent of its spaces despite a “childcare shortage”.

There are just 309 places out of 467 places occupied in the service which operates nine childcare facilities in the south and east of the city.

A report was brought before Glasgow City Council’s scrutiny committee on Wednesday where councillors raised concerns about the lack of uptake in places.

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Councillor Aileen McKenzie asked: “Is there a reason for this as there is a large demand for childcare in the city?”

A council officer agreed there was a huge need for services across Glasgow.

He said: “We have over 500 individual children but some of them are babies and part time hours.

“That’s the capacity in terms of fulltime hours in terms of what we have occupied from that.

“We are sitting on average at about 70 per cent occupancy for all our childcare services in the city and that is not unusual.

“Although we say there is a huge demand for childcare, 70 per cent uptake is not unusual because it has to meet the needs of the parents in that particular area.

“JBG is primarily based in the south and east of the city.

“We are competing with other childcare providers out there and we can’t subsidise that.

“In terms of the capacity, it could always be better.

“We need to ask ourselves if we are in the right places. We are in some of the most deprived areas of the city. We could consolidate our facilities into one or two attractive centres.”

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Councillor McKenzie then pointed out that there was a waiting list for some nurseries. She wanted to know if parents could send their child to a JBG centre.

The officer said they could look into what steps could be taken to support childcare providers across the city. A report will be brought before a future committee.