A NURSERY has been ordered to introduce "consistent and robust" systems to manage admissions requests after a complaint brought by Health Secretary Humza Yousaf was upheld.
Yousaf and his wife accused Little Scholars nursery in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, of racially discriminating against his daughter when it refused her a place.
In its report on the complaint, the Care Inspectorate found that the nursery "did not promote fairness, equality and respect when offering placements".
But the nursery has disputed the watchdog's findings and said it was contacting lawyers about a statement it said was inaccurate that was released to the press.
The watchdog has given the provider until December 12 to ensure that "consistent and robust systems are introduced to manage admission requests so that these are processed in a transparent and equitable manner".
It added: "Communication with prospective families is improved to demonstrate that applicants are treated in a courteous and respectful manner. People must receive the right information."
Yousaf and his wife Nadia El-Nakla submitted a formal complaint in August after they were told there was no availability for their two-year-old daughter, but said applicants with "white Scottish-sounding names" were accepted.
Speaking at the time, Yousaf said: "I'm really upset that at the age of two, my daughter, though she's oblivious to it all, has suffered discrimination.
"Tell us why three Muslim-sounding families were rejected and in some cases, less than 24 hours later, white Scottish families were accepted.
"There can be no reasonable explanation for that, and if there is one, then tell it to us.
"But so far, the nursery has failed to do so."
A spokesman for the Care Inspectorate said: "We have upheld a complaint in relation to this matter.
"We found that the service did not promote fairness, equality and respect when offering placements.
"Every child in Scotland has the right to good quality care that meets their needs and respects their rights."
"We have identified areas for improvement and we will follow up on these to check on progress.
"We continue to monitor this service. If we are not satisfied that the improvements required have been met, we will not hesitate to take further action."
A spokesperson for Little Scholars Day Nursery, Broughty Ferry said: “This is an extremely suspicious and highly misleading statement, issued to the media without any notice being given to us and with a particularly inaccurate and partisan spin.
“Contrary to the media statement issued by the Care Inspectorate, there were no findings of discrimination or any issues with a lack of equality upheld by the investigation or contained within its official report.
“We have therefore instructed our lawyers to demand answers from the Care Inspectorate as to how this inaccurate statement was issued.
“As a small family business, we’re always looking at ways we can improve things. Whilst the Care Inspectorate found our admission procedure could be improved, this had nothing to do with discrimination or equality and within a few days of becoming aware of Mr Yousaf and Ms El-Nakla’s complaint, we reviewed and updated our system for dealing with admissions.
“We never had the slightest doubt that the complaint against our manager’s character and integrity would be rejected. She is a long-standing and highly valued member of our team, and it’s been hugely upsetting to see her face such unfair and untrue allegations.
“I’m sure we could have quickly resolved this issue if we had been approached directly rather than using the national media, which has caused enormous and unnecessary stress to our team and our families.
“We are grateful for the overwhelming support of our parents and the local community. Although not mentioned in the final report, over 40 letters of support were sent to the Care Inspectorate by parents and families who know and value how we care for their children, as well as countless emails and phone calls. It’s been very humbling to see how much they wanted to show their support and we simply can’t thank them enough.
“We had hoped to draw a line under this whole episode and get back to doing what we love - looking after children.”
Asked about the statement from Little Scholars Nursery today, the Care Inspectorate had no further comment.
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