By Democrat reporter
Moves to relax Covid-19 restrictions for parent and baby groups have received a mixed reaction from childcare businesses. Up to 10 adults will now be able to attend sessions if their babies are under a year.
However, the five-parent limit remains in place where the children are over 12 months old.
The change has been welcomed but business owners say they want the rules to be relaxed even further.
Some parents and businesses had previously warned of the impact of the restrictions and called for them to be eased.
Dumbarton, Vale of Leven and Helensburgh MSP Jackie Baillie said: ” “I welcome this u-turn by the Scottish Government on parent and baby groups and I know many local parents will too.
“I had a number of new mothers contact me expressing their concern that the rules around the groups were too restrictive and would have a negative impact on their children.
“As this pandemic will be with us for the foreseeable future, it’s essential that the Scottish Government work with parents groups to ensure services like these are able to operate safely.
‘Very little return’
Louisa Fairley, who runs Moo Music activity classes in the Highlands, said the change did not go far enough.
“The fact we can now have 10 adults in our baby class is better, but not good enough when we usually run at double that,” she said.
“It does mean we might be able to run a few baby classes, although with very little return.
“The fact that it’s limited to under 12 months is baffling.”
Louise Fraser, from Physi-ball Inverness, said she could not resume her activities because the youngest children she caters for have to be 18 months old.
She said: “If I was allowed to have 10 adults that would be absolutely ideal because the smallest halls I hire are for groups of 10 anyway.”
Jennifer Neil is regional franchisee of children’s activities business Wow World Group, covering an area in and around Glasgow.
She said: “The news is fantastic for our baby sensory classes, changing them from unviable to manageable.
“We should be able to get lots of isolated babies into a class where both they and their mums can start socialising with others.
“As a business we will not make a great deal by the time costs are covered, but we will not need to make any of our baby sensory staff redundant.”
‘Strike a balance’
She added that the rules remained “inconsistent” and that she would love to see the restriction relaxed for those over 12 months old.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told her daily coronavirus briefing on Monday that clinical advice had been sought before revising the rules.
She said the government had considered the concerns that limits on numbers could have a “disproportionate” affect on the well-being of new mothers and their babies.
“What we hope is that this change, while I am sure not satisfying everybody, will strike a balance between supporting the well-being of new parents and in particular perinatal mental health, while also making sure we are taking appropriate steps to stop the virus spreading,” she said.