Chamber and committees

The statutory guidance is being revised in light of the amendments to the Additional Support for Learning Act which were brought forward through the Education (Scotland) Act 2016. The statutory guidance will be published for consultation, alongside non-statutory guidance and draft regulations in 2017.

We are currently working closely with the Scottish Out of School Care Network to develop a new policy framework for out of school care. The framework will be developed under the auspices of the Early Learning and Childcare Strategic Forum, whose remit is to develop and drive a strategic vision for high quality, flexible early learning and childcare in Scotland - integrated with an out of school care system - that is affordable and accessible for all.

We are working with partners to explore the extent of on-site provision and will set out more information in the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation in Spring 2017.

Scottish government provided significant additional capital funding to local authorities to support implementation of the early learning and childcare elements of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: £71 million in 2014-15, £69 million in 2015-16 and £30 million in 2016-17.

Local authority capital expenditure on pre-primary education for financial years
2010-11 to 2014-15 (most recent data available) is shown in the following table.

Scottish Futures Trust have not provided any funding for capital investment during the last five years.

We are currently in the process of gathering detailed information on the available capacity within the early learning and childcare sector.

In line with National Records of Scotland 2014-based population projections, we do not expect any significant demographical changes in terms of eligible children by 2020.

In order to ensure that the expansion of funded entitlement will support the delivery of more flexible provision, the Scottish Government is committed to substantially increase the number of qualified early years practitioners and invest in early learning and childcare infrastructure.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting Scottish companies to access global markets and to ensuring that Scotland is open for business with Europe and the rest of the world.

Plans to appoint a number of trade envoys to champion export market opportunities are currently being developed and details will be made available in due course. There are no envoys currently employed by the Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government proposes an increase in the number of people working for Scottish Development International in Europe from 20 to 40 over the next two years.

SDI currently has four European offices in Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Paris and Stavanger. Detailed work, including location proposals, is being undertaken to ensure that additional resources deliver maximum benefit for Scotland.

Phase 2 of the Enterprise and Skills Review will conclude in Spring 2017. A programme of work for implementation of the recommendations from phase 1 will be set out during phase 2. This programme will be undertaken over the lifetime of the parliament.

Detailed operational planning for the new Scotland-wide statutory board, including how many staff will be delivering international activities, the chair of the new board and the appointment process, will take place as part of phase 2 of the review.

Detailed operational planning for the new Scotland-wide statutory board has yet to be taken forward. This work will take place as part of phase 2 of the review. We plan to consult with the current boards to take this forward.