COUNCILLORS have agreed to look at the idea of amending criteria for nursery admissions to consider if youngsters with siblings at an attached school should be given priority.

Members of Fife Council's education and children's services committee agreed the move despite being asked by council officers not to forward a proposal to amend the current policy.

At their meeting on Tuesday, Dunfermline North councillor Helen Law demanded change to the current ballot system, describing it as "inhumane".

"With regards to siblings, at least nine other local authorities seem to be capable of doing this (without a ballot). I am a bit surprised at why it is difficult in Fife," she said.

"We continually have papers saying we are supporting working families but there is not much supporting working families if a child is at a school in a village and the nursery place given is five or 10 minutes away. It also doesn't support the green agenda because they have to drive there.

"I think the ballot is absolutely and totally inhumane. I think we should trust our staff and parents to get together and agree how we can resolve that."

Education chief Shelagh McLean told councillors that a review into the admissions process for funded early learning and childcare places had been carried out looking into the current policies and to identify if any changes should be made.

She said efforts were made to accommodate families when possible.

"The numbers getting their first choice is still in the high 80 per cents," she said. "The vast majority of people are being allocated a model of their choice but we are still required to offer that range of models and types of settings.

"We are working with individual families and we will work to try and find a solution that best fits their circumstances."

Concerns were raised by Dunfermline South councillor Fay Sinclair about any potential change to the current process.

"If you have 60 places and they all have the same priority level, how do you allocate these places if it isn't the ballot system?" she said.

"This is such a difficult balance to strike. I understand families wanting their children to be in the same building but I have got a school in my ward, Masterton Primary, which hasn't a nursery attached.

"The next nursery is Duloch. It is hugely oversubscribed. My fear is making priority for children who have siblings at the school already. Masterton are having to walk to a different nursery. Being put down the list purely because their catchment school doesn't have an attached nursery would be really unfair to these families.

"I can see both sides of it but I don't know if there's a mechanism for this."

As well as agreeing to ask officers to progress with formal consultation regarding amending the criteria to consider if siblings should get priority, councillors also agreed that an annual review should take place to determine if any policy changes were required.