Chamber and committees

I understand the importance of school age childcare and the benefits it brings for the whole family. That is why the Scottish Government is committed to design an all-year-round system of school age childcare, which will be funded for those families on the lowest incomes by the end of the Parliamentary Term.

We will soon publish a School Age Childcare Delivery Framework which will set out the approach and principles we will apply to designing and building a school age childcare system.

We have supported and listened to private providers and other key stakeholders throughout our policy development. We will continue to do this, using a place based and people centred approach to design, recognising that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to providing school age childcare within communities.

Across 2020-22 we invested £3 million in 15 Access to Childcare Fund projects, some delivered by private providers. The projects explored new models of school age childcare including holiday provision, flexible delivery and specialist services for children with additional support needs. This year, we also provided £10 million to the Summer 2022 programme. This helped Local Authorities and a range of delivery partners, including private providers, to offer free summer holiday and food provision to families from the six priority groups outlined in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan 2022-26 .

Building on our learning from these projects, in this year’s Programme for Government we will continue to invest and involve a range of providers and communities to help us design an all-year round school age childcare system.

We are also progressing the actions set out in the Financial Sustainability Health Check , published in August 2021, including funding pilot programmes for targeted Business Gateway support for childcare services. In early spring we will conduct a second Financial Sustainability Health Check to gather further evidence on the sustainability of the sector, helping us to tailor future policy.

I would also refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13101 on 9 January 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

The Scottish Government has not allocated funding to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to undertake fire safety checks, as part of the short-term let licence application process.

Licensing schemes are administered by licensing authorities on a cost recovery basis through the collection of application fees. Schedule 1, Paragraph 2 of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 requires licensing authorities to send copies of licence applications to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

During this year the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has developed a fire safety checklist for licensing authorities and applicants to complete, which helps the Service to effectively target their resources using a risk based approach.

The Scottish Government recognises the value and importance of providers in the private, third and childminding sectors in delivering 1140 hours of high quality funded Early Learning and Childcare.

That is why we have made the payment of sustainable rates - that reflect the cost of delivery and enable the payment of the Real Living Wage to those workers delivering funded ELC - by local authorities to services in the private, third and childminding sectors a central to our policy on Funding Follows the Child.

We also provide resources to support recruitment and retention to all parts of the sector. For example, we have invested over £11 million in creating over 1400 additional places on degree-level qualifications since 2017-18, offering opportunities for practitioners to train to fill manager-level positions.

However, it is important to recognise that the childcare market is a mixed economy and employers in the private and third sectors are responsible for making their own decisions about pay and conditions.

The Scottish Government recognises the critical importance of school age childcare and the benefits it brings for the whole family. That is why we are committed to designing an all-year-round system of school age childcare, which will be funded for those families on the lowest incomes.

In early 2023, we will publish a School Age Childcare Framework setting out the approach and principles that will apply to design and build a robust system of school age childcare. In developing our future system, we are taking a place-based, person-centred approach to designing services and will work collaboratively with families, childcare providers, communities, and the wider public sector to build a system that meets their needs.

We are also developing and testing the role that organised children’s activities will play in a school age childcare system, alongside the regulated childcare sector, to support families, provide choice and improve access to these activities for children.

I recognise that, as with many areas of the economy, there are workforce challenges in the childcare sector which may be contributing to waiting lists for afterschool childcare. We are committed to working with the sector to address these.

I would also refer the member to the answer to questions S6W-13097 and S6W-13098 on 9 January 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at Questions and answers | Scottish Parliament Website.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-13098 on 9 January 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 .

The Scottish Government is developing a Strategic Framework for Scotland’s Childcare Profession that will explore a range of issues under key themes with partners, including recruitment and retention of professionals across all parts of the sector. The Framework will be published in the New Year.

We have taken a number of actions to support recruitment and retention in the childcare workforce, including:

• Providing funding to local authorities to enable them to set local sustainable rates that reflects the payment of the real Living Wage to all childcare workers delivering the funded entitlement;
• Providing resources to support recruitment to all parts of the sector; and
• Working with partners on childminder specific recruitment programmes.

We recognise and value the unique role that childminders play in delivering 1140 hours of high quality funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) to children and families. We are pleased to see an increasing proportion of childminding services being approved to deliver funded ELC, with the most recent data from December 2021 showing that 1,319 childminders had been approved. At the time, this was 33% of all childminders operating, though clearly challenges remain in terms of recruitment and retention.

We continue to work with our partners, including the Scottish Childminding Association (SCMA), to increase the number of childminders - and therefore childminding places - in Scotland through the implementation of Our Commitment to Childminding , which was developed with partners and published in January 2021. The report sets out how Scottish Government, Local Authorities, partners and childminders will work together meaningfully and in genuine partnership to deliver improved outcomes for childminders, while continuing to ensure that a high quality experience for children is maintained.

Our work with partners includes supporting the delivery of targeted recruitment models, such as the Scottish Rural Childminding Partnership which aims to recruit and train 100 new childminders in remote and rural areas.

The latest available figure, as at 27 October 2022, there are 31,793 Power of Attorney (PoA) deeds awaiting registration.

For week commencing 6 September 2021 the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) were processing the following Power of Attorney applications:

• Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 12 March 2021
• Postal submissions received around 22 February 2021

For week commencing 19 December 2022, the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) were processing the following Power of Attorney applications:

• Electronic (EPOAR) submissions received on 19 May 2022
• Postal submissions received around 10 May 2022

There is an expedited system for more urgent applications.

Within the 2023-24 Budget, the Scottish Government has provided COVID recovery funding to the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) totalling £26.8m which includes £0.3m for OPG recovery.

The Scottish Government has also provided additional capital funding to SCTS for 2023-24 including for the Office of the Public Guardian IT system

The Scottish Government has not given consideration to a registration service in Scotland as this is an operational matter for Scottish Courts and Tribunal Service (SCTS). The question relates to functions that are the responsibility of the SCTS of which the Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) is a part. The SCTS is an independent body corporate and as such it is not directly answerable to the Scottish Government. Instead, it is directly answerable to its board, chaired by the Lord President.

Mr. Burnett has asked a separate question (S6W-13059) relating to the backlog of power of attorney applications at the OPG since September last year and what support is being offered to the OPG by Scottish Government. SCTS has put a dedicated taskforce in place to reduce the time taken to process Power of Attorney applications and work has begun to introduce a new case management system. This question is being answered by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Veterans.

There is no application process for an area seeking recognition as a National Scenic Area (NSA).

NSAs were first designated by Scottish Ministers in 1980, the areas having been identified by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (Scotland’s Scenic Heritage, 1978). In December 2010 under the Planning etc. (Scotland) Act 2006, NSAs were given a statutory basis. Section 50 of the act sets out the criteria for designation:

(a) whether the area is of outstanding natural beauty,

(b) the amenity of the area, including (i) whether it is of historical, cultural or environmental importance; and (ii) the nature of any buildings or other structures within it, and

(c) any flora, fauna or physiographical features of the area, whether or not to any extent the product of human intervention in the landscape.