Primary pupils from the poorest backgrounds will benefit from free childcare in the school holidays, Nicola Sturgeon has said.

The First Minister said the new policy would provide full days of high quality care for those most in need, freeing parents to work.

She made the announcement as she addressed the SNP conference in Aberdeen, where she also outlined new powers allowing the police and courts to ban suspected domestic abusers from the homes of victims.

The childcare expansion, which would hinge on the SNP being returned to power at the next Holyrood election, is set to benefit the 30 per cent most deprived children, or up to 130,000 pupils each year.

It will cost an estimated £60 to £70 million, subject to demand, and is expected to come into force by 2025.

The move follows a previous pledge to almost double free childcare provision to 30 hours a week for three and four-year-olds by August 2020.

Addressing SNP delegates, Ms Sturgeon said: “There is no policy more transformational and with more potential to raise attainment in years to come than the expansion of early learning and Childcare.

“By August next year we will have all but doubled the hours children receive. It will give them 30 hours a week of high quality, free care and education.

“And it will save families £4,500 per year for each child. That is worth more than any tax cut any Tory government is ever going to deliver to hard-pressed families in Scotland.

“But we will not stop there. We are consulting already on the next phase of our expansion.

"We will have more to say on this in the months to come. But I am making one important commitment today.

“If the SNP is returned to government after the next Holyrood election, we will expand childcare into the school holidays for primary pupils from the poorest backgrounds.

“Full days of high quality childcare, freeing parents to work, to help them lift their families out of poverty.”

The pledge will form part of a wave of new policies ahead of the next Holyrood election.

Elsewhere, Ms Sturgeon said the police and courts will be given new powers to remove suspected domestic abusers from the homes of victims or others at risk.

Ministers will introduce legislation to Holyrood before the 2021 election to create the new banning orders.

In contrast to existing measures, they would not require those at risk to make the application to the court themselves.

Police would be able to impose a short-term order directly and apply to a court to put in place a longer-term order.

Ms Sturgeon said: “We need to change the reality that for many women and their children the only way to escape an abuser is to flee their home.

"It should not be the victims of abuse who lose their homes, it should be the perpetrators."

Dr Marsha Scott, chief executive of Scottish Women’s Aid, said domestic abuse is the leading cause of women’s homelessness in Scotland.

She added: "This Bill, if passed, would be an immediate and significant improvement, offering children and women a breathing space as they seek safety.

"Without this legislation, women experiencing domestic abuse in Scotland will continue to have to choose between staying in the home with an abuser or making themselves and their children homeless to get away from the abuse."

The First Minister also announced £27 million of funding for active travel, paving the way for projects including a new walking and cycling route in the north of Glasgow and the regeneration of Ayr town centre.

Meanwhile, she made a £250 million pledge to scrap a raft of care fees for the elderly by ending council charges for home services such as day care, lunch clubs, meals on wheels and monitoring alarms.