Chamber and committees

Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult with parents and carers every two years to ensure that their models of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) meet local needs and demands. The Scottish Government has committed to working with its partners to developing an outcomes and measurement framework for funded ELC before 2025. As part of the development of this framework the Scottish Government will work with partners, including local authorities, to consider the feasibility of gathering national-level data on parental demand for funded ELC or paid-for childcare.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult with parents and carers every two years to ensure that their models of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) meet local needs and demands. The Scottish Government has committed to working with its partners to developing an outcomes and measurement framework for funded ELC ahead of 2025. As part of the development of this framework the Scottish Government will work with partners, including local authorities, to consider the feasibility of gathering national-level data on parental demand for funded ELC or paid-for childcare.

The Scottish Government is working with partners and practitioners from across the childcare sector to develop a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Early Learning and Childcare, School Age Childcare and Childminding Profession. The Framework will set out the priorities for the profession now, and in the coming years, as well as actions we will take with partners to support a sustainable, diverse and thriving profession. We expect to publish the Framework this summer.

The Scottish Government is proud that there are now an unprecedented 46,260 professionals supporting children and families across Scotland and that those professionals can pursue opportunities to progress and develop fulfilling careers in the sector. The Scottish Government does not have a role in determining the movement of staff between different types of provider.

I am, however, keen that there is a sustainable, diverse, highly skilled workforce to serve the whole childcare sector. That is why we are developing a Strategic Framework for the childcare profession which will set out actions to enhance the attractiveness of childcare roles and support retention of staff.

Working with our Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group, we have set out a multi-year strategy for evaluating the impact of the expansion of funded early learning and childcare to 1,140 hours on outcomes for children, parents and families. The bespoke Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) is the main vehicle for collecting evaluation evidence on child and parent outcomes. Baseline data for the SSELC was collected during 2018 and 2019 from children and their parents accessing 600 hours of funded early learning and childcare. During 2023 and 2024 data will be collectedfrom a sample of children and parents accessing 1,140 hours. The Final Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Evaluation Report is due to be published in late 2025. More information can be found in our Evaluation Strategy published in October 2022.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18980 on 21 June 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I am proud of what we have achieved with the expansion to 1140 hours, and I was pleased to see Audit Scotland recognising that the Scottish Government, local authorities and partners did well to deliver the expansion despite the challenges of a global pandemic. I was also pleased to see Audit Scotland conclude that most parents are happy with the flexibility available as part of the expanded Early Learning and Childcare offer. Providers in the private, third and childminding sector have an important role to play in continuing to offer this flexibility.

Recognising the need to support the sector the Scottish Government made more than £35 million of dedicated financial support available to private, third and childminding sector services during the pandemic; we have legislated to continue the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme, which provides 100 per cent relief on Non-Domestic Rates to eligible day nurseries beyond the previous end date of 30 June 2023; and we have funded pilot programmes of targeted Business Gateway support to enable childcare providers to access tailored, specialist advice on strengthening their businesses.

Childminders are a valued part of our ELC sector, providing a unique form of high quality childcare in a nurturing home-based environment. We continue to work closely with the Scottish Childminding Association to support a successful childminder recruitment pilot aiming to recruit and train 100 new childminders in remote and rural communities. We are also supporting a second phase which is trialling this recruitment model in urban communities within Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and East Renfrewshire.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a diverse, sustainable and thriving childcare sector. However, I recognise there are real challenges facing the sector as a result of delivering an expansion in the face of the pandemic, Brexit and now the costs crisis. The Scottish Government is committed to working closely with every part of the childcare sector to understand and address these issues together. I hosted a round table with sector representatives on Tuesday 18 April to hear about challenges and opportunities for the sector, and I will be undertaking a programme of engagement over the next few months.

Routine spending information that councils report does not distinguish between spending on 600 hours of funded ELC and spending on the additional hours provided by the expansion. The Scottish Government has therefore gathered separate financial information on spending on the expansion from councils three times. However, despite best efforts, the information gathered does not provide a comprehensive picture of how much councils have spent specifically on the expansion at a national level. Measures are being taken by the Scottish Government to change reporting through local financial returns to produce more detailed information on how much councils have spent specifically on the provision of funded ELC.

Throughout the 1140 expansion we have sought to improve conditions across the private, third and childminding workforce delivering funded ELC, including through our investment to support sustainable rates to be set at a level to enable payment of the real Living Wage to those workers delivering funded ELC . Evidence from the Financial Review of the ELC Sector highlights that when the ELC expansion began around 80% of practitioners and 50% of supervisors in private and third sector settings delivering the funded ELC were paid an hourly rate below the real Living Wage. In contrast, our 2021 Financial Sustainability Health Check indicated that 88% of funded ELC providers in the private and third sectors intended to pay the real Living Wage to all their staff from August 2021.

As set out in the supporting Funding Follows the Child and National Standard Contracting Guidance it is expected that within the contract terms and conditions for funded providers local authorities will set out expectations regarding payment of at least the real Living Wage to all childcare workers delivering the funded hours.

In partnership with the sector and local authorities, we have taken important steps to improve our understanding of real Living Wage progress, and to support providers to deliver higher pay and Fair Work. To support this we have established a real Living Wage and Fair Work Implementation Group to explore implementation challenges and potential solutions to help all childcare providers become real living wage employers. The first meeting of the Group took place on 15 December 2022. The group is due to reconvene shortly.

We are also collecting further information regarding the payment of the real Living Wage as part of our update of the Financial Sustainability Health Check; and through the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Review of Sustainable Rates. Both of these reports will be published this Summer.

According to the latest Scottish Government Early Learning and Childcare census data from September 2022, 99% of 3- and 4-year-olds, and 14% of 2-year-olds, are estimated to be registered for funded early learning and childcare (ELC), and 18% of these child registrations are of children with additional support needs. The 2022 Parents’ Survey found that 85% of parents with children with additional support needs were satisfied that funded ELC meets their child’s needs.

Although we do not have data on how many hours of funded ELC these children are accessing, given these overall figures we envisage that a significant proportion of eligible children with additional support needs are currently accessing their entitlement to 1,140 hours of funded childcare. We are currently developing the ELC census and are looking to collect more information on the characteristics of children accessing funded ELC, and the hours they are registered for.