Chamber and committees

Petitioner submission of 10 January 2021

PE1883/D - Open all toddler and baby activities within Tier 3 of COVID-19/future pandemic lockdown

Reading through the latest submission I have noticed that none of what was written gives clear answers to the questions posed. I felt the clearest answer the Scottish Government gave was regarding why soft plays were closed until Tier 0, and in response to that, there are inconsistencies again regarding when soft play was closed until Tier 0; baby and toddler groups were allowed to be open at Tier 3. In both types of activities the young children may be indoors, not wearing masks and playing with the same toys/things, therefore there was the same level of risk for both soft play and toddler/baby groups surely? Also observing what the soft play businesses were doing in order to comply with the cleanliness standards required, they mostly got rid of all ball pits, and at least one soft play I observed held 90 minute sessions in order to clean rigorously between sessions. This was the same standard that was held by baby and toddler groups at tier 3.

On reading the latest government submission one soft play owner wrote "this was written by people who have no idea of the risks and benefits of the soft play industry". 

The other point made in the submission was that the Scottish Government made funding available to charities so that activities were made more available for this age group. However the problem with only funding charities in this age group is that a lot of baby and toddler groups are ran by people in the community who hire out places such as church halls. Therefore there is a postcode lottery in Scotland as to whether you live near an organisation (charity) that will provide this service.

The final point I would like to make is that yes, health visitors and professionals during the pandemic continued to assess children of this age group for reaching their developmental milestones. However it was often over the phone and relying on the word of the parent as to how they felt their child was developing. Also the submission does not answer how the Scottish Government will support children in order to catch up with these milestones.

Following the submission from the Scottish Government, I have three questions –

1. Will soft plays be allowed to be open at tier 3 if future restrictions were to take place when it seems that they pose the same risk as baby and toddler groups?
2. Will you make future funding like this available to other baby and toddler activities that have a non charity status but have a proven track record of doing good work for their group and a vital support for parents and their young ones?
3. Will there be research conducted surrounding the effects developmentally of the pandemic on this age group of children and possible solutions/programmes to allow children to catch up with where they should be able to thrive?