Chamber and committees

As set out in “Scotland’s Future”, in its first budget after independence, the Scottish Government will commit £100 million to extend 600 hours a year of early learning and childcare to nearly half of Scotland’s two year olds.

By the end of the first Parliament, vulnerable two year olds and all three and four year olds will be entitled to 1,140 hours per year of early learning and childcare, with a further investment of £600 million per year.

In the longer term, the aim is to provide 1,140 hours per year of early learning and childcare for all children aged one to starting school.

As set in “Scotland’s Future”, the Scottish Government has identified £600 million of savings or increases in revenue that would be implemented with independence, including ending the married couples tax allowance, cancelling the Shares for Rights Scheme, streamlining overseas representation, and ending Trident.

The Scottish Government will also undertake a review of the childcare cost structure, based on international examples, to ensure that our future investment in early learning and childcare achieves the best possible outcomes.

Improving access to high quality early learning and childcare reduces barriers to parents’ participation in the labour market and is considered to be a crucial element of the wider equality and welfare policy package that would improve economic activity, particularly for females.

As an illustration, the Scottish Government has provided estimates of the potential long-run changes in key economic variables, including tax revenues that could result from increasing female labour market participation in Scotland to match some of the best performing countries in The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on this measure. This analysis showed that, for example, matching the female economic activity rate in Sweden could increase tax revenues by around £700 million per annum in the long-term. Further detail on the results of this analysis is available in the note on childcare and female labour market participation at the link below:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/0043/00439259.pdf

The proposals set out within “Scotland’s Future” to increase early learning and childcare provision are phased over time, to allow for the building of capacity in the sector, including the recruitment and training of additional staff.

The issue of workforce planning for the phased expansion of early learning and childcare set out within “Scotland’s Future” will be considered by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government has no plans to make changes to the current staff: child ratios for pre-school.

The Scottish Government regularly discusses childcare, including the issue of costs, with a range of relevant organisations.

The Scottish Government is continuing to invest in Scotland Rugby League through sportscotland to build on the success at the 2013 Rugby League World Cup and the good work of the sport’s governing body in developing the sport and increasing participation.

It is the responsibility of local authorities to ensure there is adequate provision of temporary accommodation to meet the demands of homelessness applications. The Scottish Government is providing over £10.3 billion to local government in 2013-14, which includes funding for homelessness services.

The Scottish Government and local authorities are also focused on preventing homelessness. As a result of this approach, the demand for temporary accommodation has been falling.

Local authorities in Scotland have a statutory duty to provide temporary accommodation for all homeless people. The Scottish Government is providing local government in Scotland with over £10.3 billion in 2013-14. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives.