Question reference: S5W-23961
- Asked by: Tavish Scott, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 20 June 2019
-
Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 18 July 2019
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Children and Early Years on 1 May 2018 (Official Report, c. 13), how it will meet the aim of a near doubling of the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds, and by what date this will be achieved.
Answer
My statement of 1 May 2018 confirmed that the Scottish Government and local government had reached a landmark multi-year funding package to enable the near doubling of the statutory entitlement to funded ELC from 600 to 1140 hours each for all 3 and 4 year olds and eligible 2 year olds from August 2020. Supported by that agreement, an enormous amount of work is underway in local authorities across Scotland to phase in the new offer ahead of full implementation from August 2020.
Our funding agreement with local government, whilst runs until 2021-22, includes resources sufficient to deliver a near doubling of the uptake of funded ELC among eligible 2 year olds. We and local government are working in partnership with the ELC sector and through other services to raise awareness of the offer for 2 year olds. In addition to increasing the information available nationally, including through a new ELC Hub on Parent Club, we are working with partners to ensure that trusted professionals, such as Health Visitors, Housing Officers and Family Nurses, are aware of the ELC offer for 2 year olds and able to signpost eligible families to more information about what is available locally.
We are also working with the UK Government to secure a legal data-sharing gateway to enable Scottish local authorities to receive information from the Department for Work and Pensions about potentially eligible families. The UK Department for Education has attributed a significant increase in uptake of their 2 year old offer to a similar data-sharing gateway already in place for English local authorities.