Question reference: S5W-23962
- 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), what data it will use to evidence the near doubling of the uptake of funded early learning and childcare for eligible two-year-olds; what its response is to reported concerns regarding how such data is collected, and by what date this data will be published.
Answer
The Scottish Government collects data on the number of two year olds registered for funded early learning and childcare (ELC) through the annual ELC census and publishes this each December. These statistics have been designated as National Statistics by the UK Statistics Authority, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007, signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The most recent publication is available at https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-schools-scotland-9-2018/ .
We recognise that the current ELC census is not sufficient to provide the information necessary to support this growing sector and so we are carrying out a development project to improve the ELC census and move to an individual level child census, which should produce initial results in 2021. This will allow us to overcome some of the recognised issues with the current census such as the double counting of children who are registered at more than one ELC setting.
We are working with HMRC and DWP to improve our estimation of the eligible two year old population based on the eligibility criteria and in light of changes to the qualifying benefits parents receive. The legal data-sharing gateway that we are pursuing with the UK Government will further improve the data available.
In addition, as part of the ELC expansion programme, the Improvement Service is collecting data from local authorities on our behalf. The next ELC delivery progress update will be published this summer and will provide information on the number of eligible two year olds receiving more than 600 hours of funded ELC.