Chamber and committees

The Scottish 4G Infill (S4GI) Programme is working to deliver three sites in the Shetland Isles: Reawick, Foula and Bruray. A fundamental requirement for progressing any S4GI site to build is gaining commitment from at least one mobile network operator to use the mast. In addition, we also require agreements with landowners as well as securing planning permission.

At Raewick, agreement with a mobile network operator has been reached and we anticipate site build to commence in early 2020. However at this stage no firm timescale for the availability of 4G services can be provided.

Whilst the site at Foula yielded some initial interest from a mobile network operator, no definite commitment can be confirmed at this time. At present, no mobile network operator has shown interest in using the Bruray site.

Progress updates to the programme will be published on the Scottish Government’s website.

Since February 2018, the Scottish Government has been in frequent dialogue with stakeholders about the import provisions of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act, in order to ensure that Scotland can continue to export quality Scottish seafood to the US.

Details of specific meetings include:

• March 2018 – SFIA: Seafood Regulation Expert Group.
• July 2018 – Scottish Government internal conference call.
• May 2018 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation.
• October 2018 - Meeting with Officials from Canada, Chile, Norway and Scotland under the auspices of the International Memorandum of Understanding on aquaculture.
• May 2019 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Faroese Government.
• July 2019 – Conference with Scottish Government and the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs.
• August 2019 - Conference call with Scottish Government and the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Marine Management Organisation, Seafish and Joint Nature Conservation Committee.
• August 2019 – Meeting with Officials from Canada, Chile, Norway and Scotland under the auspices of the International Memorandum of Understanding on aquaculture.
• September 2019 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation.
• October 2019 – Meeting with Scottish Government and Genuswave.
• November 2019 – Conference call with Scottish Government and the British Trout Association.

Local authorities are responsible for recruiting additional staff to meet the local requirements of expanded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC). In fulfilling that responsibility, local authorities have provided forecasts of the anticipated additional staff needed in their area and report, to the Improvement Service, progress in recruiting those anticipated additional staff. The latest Improvement Service delivery progress report published on 2 October 2019 shows that 4,069 additional FTE staff are now in post, which is almost half of the total forecast requirement for expansion. Further breakdown of workforce data is not collected by the Improvement Service.

At a national level, the Scottish Government facilitates the recruitment and training of additional staff by funding additional places on ELC training courses in further and higher educational institutions, via Skills Development Scotland’s (SDS) apprenticeship funding, and by funding local authorities for those who are trained via vocational routes. For example, since 2017-18 we have created over 2,000 additional HNC places and over 800 graduate level places at colleges and universities across Scotland. We are creating just under 2,000 additional college and university places in the 2019-20 academic year and uptake of ELC Modern Apprenticeships increased by 24% in 2018-19 against the previous year. That is significantly above the 10% year on year increase SDS committed to each year up to 2020.

Local authorities’ latest forecasts, as set out in the September ELC Expansion Delivery Progress Report, show that at a national level there has been a reduction in the overall forecast additional staffing requirement of around 9 percent.

Local authorities’ original forecasts were prepared in March 2018 as part of their initial ELC expansion plans. Since then, local authorities have revised their expansion plans, learning from early experience of introducing additional funded hours across local communities.

In particular, local authorities have focused on developing their staffing models to increase overall efficiency while delivering high quality early learning and childcare. In addition they have also amended plans to make greater use of ELC provision in the private, third and childminding sectors.

At a year to go, almost half of the additional local authority workforce had already been recruited, reflecting a significant amount of work across Scotland to prepare for the introduction of 1140 hours from August 2020.

We know that high quality early learning and childcare can play an important role in reducing the poverty related attainment gap. We have dedicated funding for 435 equity and excellent leads to work in all 32 local authorities with a focus on improving outcomes for children in the most deprived areas of Scotland.

Local authorities have reported that 94% of the Equity and Excellence lead posts have now been filled (410 full time equivalent posts). The Scottish Government is continuing to work closely with local authorities with outstanding posts to fill. Progress is monitored on a regular basis. Local Authorities are aiming to fill these posts as swiftly as possible.

Some posts have taken longer to recruit for than anticipated. This is partly because these roles can be very specialised and many local authorities have included additional criteria to ensure the most suitable, highly qualified candidates are in place to support children experiencing disadvantage.

The Scottish Government has regular and extensive dialogues with DWP on data sharing for a range of purposes, one of which is to establish the eligible 2-year-old population at Scotland level. Regular updates are requested inside our ongoing working relationship. DWP are not currently able to provide an expected date for sharing this data. In the meantime, we are working with estimates of the eligible population derived from available sources.

The Scottish Government’s Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment considered the impacts of the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) expansion on private and third sector providers. In the current market, the majority of private and third sector providers’ income (around 77%) comes from fees charged to parents and carers for non-funded hours (i.e. additional childcare on top of the funded entitlement; or childcare for children not yet eligible for funded ELC).

Local authorities’ original expansion plans forecast that the share of providers’ income accounted for by funded hours would increase with the roll-out of 1140 hours, as settings allocate more capacity towards delivering funded hours. This is reflected in the latest delivery data. The increase will be, in part, due to previously paid-for (wraparound) hours now being funded, and in part due to children newly accessing funded hours at the setting.

Local authorities and private and third sector ELC providers are working in partnership to develop a local offer of funded ELC that responds to parental demand and may include different patterns of provision based on different business models. There is no requirement on private and third sector ELC providers to change their overall capacity and therefore staffing models as a result of the ELC expansion, although we recognise that providers may of course choose to do so.

We recognise also that private and third sector providers are being affected by large scale local authority ELC recruitment. We are working with sector representative bodies to support providers with recruitment, including through our campaign website: www.childcarecarecareersscotland.scot which hosts job adverts from across all ELC sectors.

The Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report published in October 2019, which uses data collected by the Improvement Service from local authorities in August 2019, providing a snapshot of progress “at one year to go”

The Scottish Government has no plans to place in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre information a breakdown of the figures or narrative provided by individual local authorities. These reports are based on information provided in confidence by local authorities to the Improvement Service, to enable reporting to the ELC Expansion Joint Delivery Board.

The Scottish Government publishes proactively Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Reports at a national level. These reports are based on information provided in confidence by local authorities to the Improvement Service, to enable reporting to the ELC Expansion Joint Delivery Board.

Local authorities reasonably assume and expect that the data they provide in confidence will be used to inform the nature of targeted support offered; programme assurance at a national level; and the routine publication of national level data; and not the publication of individual narrative text at local authority level. The free and frank exchange of views between local government, the Improvement Service and central government is an important enabling condition of a successful ELC expansion and therefore in the public interest.

The statutory duty for Scottish local authorities to make funded early learning and childcare available for all eligible 2 year olds in their area came in to force with the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The profile of children eligible for this offer was then extended through The Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Order 2014, as amended in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Discussions with the UK Government (Department for Education) began in 2016 with information being provided on the legal gateway in place in England for sharing data on eligible 2 year olds between central and local government. We understand the legislative framework for this gateway is under the Childcare Act 2006 (brought in by amendments made in the Education Act 2011). The extent of the 2006 Act is to England and Wales only and the specific powers on data sharing extend to English local authorities only, therefore it would not have been possible for the UK Government to offer this gateway to the Scottish Government under existing legislation.

The answer to S5W-23963 included an update on progress in establishing a data-sharing gateway under the Digital Economy Act 2017.