Chamber and committees

The FOI information that the member referred to was a limited internal assessment based on the policy and financial landscape at the time. A full assessment of future childcare delivery options and costs will be undertaken as part of the parliamentary and budgetary process. If Ms Lennon would like to write to my office, I would be happy to look at my diary in order to engage with her.

I am encouraged that the Scottish household survey childcare report shows that, overall, 92 per cent of households receiving funded early learning and childcare were very or fairly satisfied with the quality of provision.

The latest report provides insights into both the positives that our current funded childcare offer is already delivering and the challenges that families face, in terms of affordability of childcare. That is why, next year, we will publish and consult on a blueprint for a transformed childcare offer that is focused on what matters most to families.

As was set out in the programme for government in early September, we will publish and consult on a blueprint for a transformed childcare offer in 2027. I encourage anyone with an interest, including families with twins or multiple births, to participate in that process so that proposals for the future of childcare in Scotland reflect the voices of children, families and childcare providers and of partners across Scotland’s childcare sector. It will be for Parliament to take decisions about future delivery.

From our discussions, lessons have been learned from the roll-out and implementation of the 1,140-hour entitlement. The cross-council borders issue is one that we all face at the moment. Going forward, into next year and into the consultation, I will be engaging with childminders and all stakeholders to ensure that we get this right.

I absolutely understand the impact that childcare costs have on families. That campaign has been very successful so far—I have had lots of inquiries about it.

Under current arrangements, all three-year-olds and four-year-olds as well as eligible two-year-olds—those whom we believe will benefit most—have a statutory entitlement of up to 1,140 hours of funded ELC. That entitlement is per child, not per household.

As I said, we will be consulting on the issue next year, and I encourage everyone to participate.

I understand that wraparound care is of critical importance as part of our childcare transformation. Breakfast clubs and after-school clubs can improve outcomes for children and support working parents, particularly those who are less able to afford to access those services.

Our blueprint for a future childcare system in Scotland will set out the plans for delivering our commitment to provide families with breakfast clubs across Scotland from August next year, and a new after-school and holiday childcare offer for primary school children from August 2029.

Where the Scottish Government has devolved responsibility, we are prioritising investment to support our private, third and independent childminding sector providers. Scotland remains the only part of the United Kingdom to support a real living wage for workers, delivered through funding childcare through direct investment. To support that in 2026-27, we are making available a further £13.4 million. That money will enable childcare staff delivering funded hours through private and third sector providers to continue to be paid at least the real living wage, on top of the additional £25.7 million of recurring funding that we have delivered to support previous increases.

The concerns raised by the member have also been raised with me by stakeholders and we will continue to work with the industry on that.

We recognise that we need stronger evidence on children's experiences and their outcomes over time, instead of relying solely on snapshots of individual services. Strengthening children’s services planning will improve the consistency of information across the whole of Scotland, and our wider work on measuring progress towards the Promise needs to bring together data and evidence of children’s experiences, relationships and outcomes to provide a richer picture of whether the change is making a difference.

I might bring in Gordon Paterson or Gavin Henderson here, but I know that a few studies are being carried out, and there is also the Promise story of progress. Gordon, would you like to touch on that work?

I totally appreciate where Mr Dunlop is coming from. As the cabinet secretary has said, this is a very sensitive issue, and I appreciate that the Oversight Board wants to see this work put in place. I think that it is something that we can continue to discuss. However, if we were going to move forward with it, we would have to consult those in the general public with care experience to see whether they would like it to happen, and that could take time. It is not something that can be done quickly, but I am happy to keep the conversations going.

We can definitely look into it.