Scottish Health Secretary claims nursery discriminated against daughter
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yusaf has called for an investigation into a nursery's admissions procedure over claims it discriminated against his two-year-old daughter.
Yusaf claims that Little Scholars Nursery, in Broughty Ferry near Dundee, rejected three applications for children with Muslim names but those with "white Scottish-sounding names" were accepted.
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The politician and his wife have called on the Care Inspectorate to carry out an investigation over the claims which the nursery “strenuously denies”.
Owners of the setting say they would “welcome” such an investigation.
The allegations were first reported by the Scottish Daily Record which was contacted by Yusaf after his daughter Amal had been rejected twice by the nursery.
Writing on Twitter, the Scottish Health Secretary said: “After our nursery application for our daughter was refused a second time, my wife asked her white Scottish friend to put in an application for a child the same age.
“Within 24 hours of refusing our application my wife's friend's was accepted.”
He claims that further applications made by relatives and a journalist at the Daily Record under “white Scottish-sounding” names were accepted, however, applications made under the names Sara Ahmed and Aqsa Akhtar were rejected.
“I cannot tell you how angry I am. As a father all I want to do is protect my girls, yet aged two I believe my daughter has faced discrimination. If this had not happened to me I'm not sure I would have believed it could happen in 2021.
“We are fooling ourselves if we believe discrimination doesn't exist in Scotland.
“I believe evidence we have proves our case beyond doubt. As well as reporting the nursery to Care Inspectorate we are also seeking legal advice,” he said.
Tomorrow's Daily Record leads on Humza Yousaf reporting nursery over claims his daughter was denied a place due to ethnic-sounding name #scotpapers #TomorrowsPapersToday @AllieHBNews pic.twitter.com/69azd7xQi0
— The Daily Record (@Daily_Record) August 1, 2021
A statement by the nursery said: "Our nursery is extremely proud of being open and inclusive to all and any claim to the contrary is demonstrably false and an accusation that we would refute in the strongest possible terms. We also stand by the member of our staff, named by the media today, who has been with us since the nursery opened 14 years ago. She is professional, compassionate, incredibly hard working and a valued member of our team.
“In addition to our owners being of Asian heritage, across more than a decade we have regularly welcomed both children and staff from a range of different religious, cultural, ethnic and racial backgrounds including two Muslim families currently. We have also regularly made arrangements to accommodate different lifestyles by, for example, providing a halal menu for those children who come from Muslim families.
“We note Mr Yousaf's call for a Care Inspectorate investigation and this is something we would absolutely welcome.
"We have nothing to hide and look forward to the opportunity to demonstrate the policies and procedures we have in place to ensure we are a nursery that is open and welcoming to all."