Written Question · S6W-21058 · Session 6
What action it will take to increase the number of available early years and childcare places.
The question
To ask the Scottish Government what action it will take to increase the number of available early years and childcare places.
The answer
Scotland’s flagship 1140 policy is the most generous childcare offer in the UK, delivering high quality early learning and childcare to thousands of families.
There is nearly universal uptake for three and four year olds, and if families paid for this themselves it would cost them around £5,000 per child per year.
Independent research shows that 97% of parents were satisfied with the quality of the funded ELC they were receiving and 88% with a 3-5 year-old were satisfied that they could access it in a way that meets their needs.
Last week in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government announced plans to develop local infrastructure and services needed to provide childcare for children from the age of nine months to the end of primary school in early adopter communities in six local authority areas in Scotland.
We are already delivering innovative school age childcare services to around 1,000 priority families through our early adopter work in four local authorities – Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Inverclyde. We will expand that to two additional areas – Fife and Shetland – and we will start to test innovative models of delivery to provide childcare for families with children from the age of nine months to the end of primary school. This investment will enable us to begin to create and test for the first time what an all-age childcare system will look like in Scotland.
The Programme for Government also set out plans to begin work to phase in an expanded national offer for more families with two-year-olds, focusing on those who will benefit most. We already offer 1140 hours of high quality funded early learning and childcare to around a quarter of families with two year olds who experience the most disadvantage. Over the next year we will work with local authorities and our partners in the sector to develop plans to expand access to around 40% of families in Scotland over time.
The Programme for Government also contained important commitments we have made to recruit 1,000 more childminders and to provide the necessary funding to increase pay to £12 per hour for early learning and childcare professionals delivering funded provision in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector.
There is nearly universal uptake for three and four year olds, and if families paid for this themselves it would cost them around £5,000 per child per year.
Independent research shows that 97% of parents were satisfied with the quality of the funded ELC they were receiving and 88% with a 3-5 year-old were satisfied that they could access it in a way that meets their needs.
Last week in the Programme for Government, the Scottish Government announced plans to develop local infrastructure and services needed to provide childcare for children from the age of nine months to the end of primary school in early adopter communities in six local authority areas in Scotland.
We are already delivering innovative school age childcare services to around 1,000 priority families through our early adopter work in four local authorities – Glasgow, Clackmannanshire, Dundee and Inverclyde. We will expand that to two additional areas – Fife and Shetland – and we will start to test innovative models of delivery to provide childcare for families with children from the age of nine months to the end of primary school. This investment will enable us to begin to create and test for the first time what an all-age childcare system will look like in Scotland.
The Programme for Government also set out plans to begin work to phase in an expanded national offer for more families with two-year-olds, focusing on those who will benefit most. We already offer 1140 hours of high quality funded early learning and childcare to around a quarter of families with two year olds who experience the most disadvantage. Over the next year we will work with local authorities and our partners in the sector to develop plans to expand access to around 40% of families in Scotland over time.
The Programme for Government also contained important commitments we have made to recruit 1,000 more childminders and to provide the necessary funding to increase pay to £12 per hour for early learning and childcare professionals delivering funded provision in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector.
In the Official Report
No contribution in the Official Report cites S6W-21058 by reference.