Chamber and committees

Convener, I am conscious of the time. I am happy to leave it there so that we can move on to the next area.

I will develop that theme slightly further. I am interested in how the approach to that client group is different from the support given to those who are unemployed or economically inactive. Do we need different approaches? I would be happy for anyone to jump in and answer that.

I have one further question. Flexible Childcare Services Scotland’s submission notes that

“targeted access to flexible childcare”

will cost more to deliver, but that

“this higher funding need may only be for a temporary period.”

Susan McGhee, will you expand on why those high costs would be temporary?

Thank you. That is a really helpful point.

I will go back quickly to what we were discussing previously in relation to partner provider rates for funded early learning and childcare keeping up with rising costs. It was stated that that is not the case, so has that been the situation post-Covid or was it happening before Covid?

My apologies. I will put that question on hold for later.

Good morning, and thank you for coming along. Presumably, staffing costs are the major pressure on providers of preschool and school-age childcare. What other costs do you face? Are those changing, and how are you coping with them? Who wants to jump in?

As no one else appears to want to comment on that, I will move on. Are partner provider rates for funded early learning and childcare keeping up with the rising costs? Have they been getting worse for the past couple of years, or has the differential been going on for a number of years?

I appreciate that the bill was drafted by the Scottish Law Commission, however it is now a Government bill, so the Government’s view must be that that is the right thing to do.

Are you not concerned that people will be put off becoming trustees, if they do not understand how the role works, if they always have to consult lawyers and if there is no kind of style document? A lot of trusts are already struggling to find people. Are you not concerned that that will put more people off? What analysis have you done of that situation?

We will move on, if that is okay, minister.

Some stakeholders have queried how the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator’s powers under the charities legislation in relation to charitable trusts interact with the bill’s provisions that affect charitable trusts. For example, how does OSCR’s power to appoint interim trustees interact with the court’s power to appoint trustees under section 1 of the bill? If a protector is appointed to a charitable trust under chapter 7 of the bill, how will their powers and duties interact with OSCR’s powers to regulate charitable trusts? Will you offer some explanation on those two specific points?