Question reference: S5W-23958
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 20 June 2019
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 July 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of Save the Children's briefing, Thriving at two and beyond, what steps it is taking to improve (a) the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for, (b) awareness and understanding of the funded childcare offer for families with, and (c) the quality of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds.
Answer
The Scottish Government welcomes the focus on 2 year olds from Save the Children and their briefing "Thriving at two and beyond" which rightly draws out the key themes of our own ongoing work with local authorities and stakeholders to increase uptake, awareness and quality of the 2 year old funded early learning and childcare (ELC) offer.
We are working with the Children and Young People Improvement Collaborative to support 9 multi-agency Local Authority teams to increase awareness and uptake of the 2 year old offer in their areas. We are also working with the UK Government and UK Parliament to secure a legal gateway and data sharing agreement so that Local Authorities in Scotland can also access accurate information about eligible populations.
We are improving the information available to parents and carers to help them make informed decisions about ELC, in particular through our new ELC Hub on Parent Club. We are continually looking for opportunities to promote the offer through other services such as Health Visiting Pathway and Financial Health Check, as well as making best use of new systems and capabilities, such as Best Start Grant, to join up our messaging about the services available to support families.
Quality is at the heart of our ELC offer. From August 2020, all ELC providers will have to meet our National Standard, to ensure that all children benefit from a high quality funded ELC experience. We are also refreshing the national practice guidance 'Building the Ambition' and increasing access to graduate-level practitioners in our most disadvantage communities through our funding for 435 Equality and Excellence leads.