Chamber and committees

I want to press you for an example of that good practice. It is good to hear exactly what that looks like for a student. Obviously, I acknowledge that students’ needs are diverse, but will you share some examples of good practice with the committee?

Will you comment on how collaboration with schools can help to hang on to pupils and keep them in education? I am thinking about the combination of academic and vocational studies that can be made available.

Has regionalisation impacted on your reach into schools?

Will you say a bit about how the Scottish Government is working with the Scottish Childminding Association to try to ease that administrative burden, and about the business support that is needed, which you mentioned? Do local authorities provide additional support to childminders to become partner providers, given that childminding is a different set-up and, as you say, it often involves sole workers?

I, too, found the minister’s letter very helpful. The areas that I wanted to explore have been clarified by the minister, particularly in relation to exactly how additional support needs will be met. I do not have any further questions.

Thank you. That is helpful.

I see the difficulty for the sector but, if it was a deliberate part of the policy to ensure that providers were paying a living wage, one might presume that they had been occasionally paying less than that before. There is that side to consider, too.

Good morning, panel. We have already covered a fair bit of what I was going to ask about, but I am interested in childminding. In answer to Michael Marra, Graeme McAlister said that the number of childminders has declined because local authorities are not promoting childminding. You also mentioned recruitment into local authority early years settings.

Looking at the flipside, I wonder whether you can say a bit more about the unique contribution of childminders to provision of childcare. I am interested in hearing from childminders what childminding as a business or role offers people who wish to take it up, as well as what it offers parents and children.

Good morning, cabinet secretary. My questions are about variation and the role of local authorities. You covered quite a bit of that in your discussion with the convener about the role of local authorities in the revised approach. Obviously, all 32 local authorities are now getting multiyear funding. What duties are being placed on local authorities to ensure accountability?

I am a fairly new member of the committee, so could you be a bit more specific about that challenge? Who provides the challenge? What is the forum? Where does it happen? Does it happen within the regional improvement collaboratives? What does it look like?