MORE full-time places are to be made available in council nurseries to allow parents to return to work.

The move is included in the city council's budget for the year ahead which will result in council tax bills being frozen for the 11th year running.

The Labour administration successfully drove through its spending plans and revealed cuts of £4.6m on top of the £14m announced last year.

As revealed in later editions of the Evening Times yesterday, that will result in the cost of school meals increasing by 20p a year for the next two years bringing the cost to £1.70 from August.

Glasgow has 38,496 primary pupils and 24,716 are eligible for free meals. Almost 6660 of the city's 25,374 secondary pupils are entitled to free lunches. They will not be affected by the price rise.

A number of youngsters will lose out on free travel to school with the distance allowing children to travel for free increased from 1.2miles to two miles for primary pupils and 2.2miles to three miles for secondary.

Education bosses say the £840,000 saving will be used to help maintain teacher numbers at current levels.

The decision to increase the number of full day places in city nurseries follows protests from city parents that most council nurseries only offer three hour sessions morning or afternoon. As a result, many are half empty.

City council leader Gordon Matheson told the Evening Times there are plans to review the way Scotland's largest council delivers childcare.

He said: "We have under capacity because we are not offering the service on the terms the parents need."

The council boss said offering more all day places would make better use of council nurseries and as a result would result in savings of £1.5m

Under the new budget, the Glasgow Living Wage, which has been adopted by 130 city employers, will be increased from £7.65 to £7.85 an hour.

The council will continue the £100 winter fuel payment to every Glasgow pensioner who is 80 or older, continue its apprenticeship programme, spend £40m this year on its primary schools, continue to fund 100 extra police officers and expand its credit union scheme in city schools.

City Treasurer Paul Rooney said the budget for the year from April invested in education, jobs and Glasgow's future.

He told a meeting of the full council: "Despite enduring year-on-year cuts greater than those visited upon any other local authority in Scotland, we share and will protect the priorities of the people of this great city.

"That means schools that match the ambition and potential of our young people, providing apprenticeships, affordable homes and world-class facilities for our residents."

The SNP group's budget involved creating a £5.4million which finance spokesman Norman MacLeod said to tackle any unexpected "threats" which hit the city in the coming year.

He suggested the cash could be used to protect some of the city's most vulnerable residents.

Labour councillors attacked the Nationalists for failing to provide more detailed spending plans but praised a detailed budget from the Green group.

It included setting up a study into the possibility of Glasgow establishing its own currency, spending £4m to resurface pavements and £4m for new cycle routes.

The Greens also suggested growing willow trees to use in council boilers, a 100% surcharge on long term empty properties charging for the uplift of bulk refuse collections and increasing charges in multi-storey car parks by 10%.