Chamber and committees

Mr Marra makes a very valid point. We need to ensure that the children who absolutely need to be in nurseries or early learning centres are in them. That is something that we are working very hard to do. If we look at the percentages, we see that a really high proportion of three and four-year-olds do attend. I am in no way denying that there is still work to do on eligible two-year-olds, but we are working and making progress on that. I take Mr Marra’s well-made point, however.

Will the member take an intervention?

I will touch on that in my closing remarks. I am sure that Mr Rennie will welcome the statistics that show that the number of eligible two-year-olds accessing their entitlement has increased by 27 per cent, from 4,711 in August 2020 to 5,954 in August 2021. However, there is still work that we can do.

All councils now offer 1,140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children. Figures that were published in October by the Improvement Service show that, at the end of August, nearly 91,000 children in Scotland were accessing funded early learning and childcare. Of those 91,000 children, 97 per cent are accessing expanded provision and 87 per cent—nearly 80,000 children—are choosing to take up the full 1,140 hours.

It has been an enormous undertaking to get to this point, particularly in the middle of a global pandemic. That is testament to what can be achieved through joint working between national and local government and other valued partners across the sector. It is worth reflecting on how we have made it work.

In April 2018, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities reached a landmark multiyear funding agreement to fully fund the expansion. By 2021-22, annual revenue investment has increased by £567 million from 2016-17 levels, bringing total Scottish Government funding for early learning and childcare in 2021-22 to about £1 billion.

I disagree with Mr Mundell, because the policy is working well, as evidenced by the increase, as I mentioned, in the past year of the number of eligible two-year-olds who have accessed their entitlement.

The increase in funded provision was intended for August 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown meant that that could not be achieved. Building work and staff recruitment had to be paused to give local authorities much-needed time to focus on the immediate pandemic response.

I know how incredibly difficult that time was for families and for the countless businesses, organisations and individuals that make up the ELC sector. I am hugely grateful to staff for their resilience and hard work in keeping services open for vulnerable families and key workers and for all their work since to keep services open and people safe.

We prioritised a return to ELC for all children as soon as it was safe to do so, because childcare is fundamental to our children’s development and family wellbeing, as well as to parents’ ability to work, train and study. Even in the face of the pandemic, local authorities, private and third sector providers and childminders made incredible progress to ensure that 1,140 hours, which is almost double the previous entitlement of 600 hours per year, could be offered to all eligible children from the start of the new term in August 2021.

Our local authorities have also made huge strides in developing the infrastructure required for the expansion. The Scottish Government has provided £476 million of capital funding over the past four years to refurbish, repurpose and extend existing nursery settings, as well as providing 160 new-build facilities across Scotland.

The impact of that capital funding cannot be overstated. The £476 million is enabling the creation of 22,000 additional physical spaces through more than 900 capital projects across Scotland that will support the delivery of good-quality flexible accessible and affordable early learning and childcare provision.

More than 82 per cent of the infrastructure is being delivered through refurbishments, extensions and outdoor facilities, in keeping with the programme aspirations of making best use of existing facilities and aligning with the net zero agenda.

The infrastructure programme has also supported local economies and the construction industry, with more than 50 per cent of the construction projects being delivered by small and medium-sized contractors.

At the heart of this are, of course, the children and the experiences that they will gain from attending high-quality ELC. Through the national standard and our world-leading curriculum, local authorities and settings have put quality at the heart of the 1,140 hours programme by thinking about what children will need to make their ELC experience comfortable, suitable and lots of fun.

The expansion would not have happened without the joint efforts of the public sector, providers in the private and third sectors and childminders. I know that childminders and providers in the third and private sectors continue to report challenges in relation to recruitment, retention and sustainability, and I am committed to continuing to work with the sector to identify and implement solutions.

Data shows that, in August, about 32 per cent of funded places were provided by the private and third sectors and by childminders. That is much greater than the 26 per cent that was projected at the start of the expansion, and it demonstrates our commitment to provider neutrality.

The expansion has been supported by a transformational expansion of the workforce.

I will come on to some of those points as I finish my closing speech. Nonetheless, I note that they are certainly a profession—they are early learning and childcare workers and they are part of our education professionals right across the country. It is a responsibility of us all to recognise the professionalism of the career choice that those people make. I have no doubt that their efforts have had a hugely positive impact on the lives of many children and families during this period. By providing childcare for other key worker families and vulnerable children during lockdown, they enabled other critical services to respond to the pressures of the pandemic. Without them, Scotland’s ability to respond to the pandemic would have been much reduced, and the Scottish Government is truly grateful to them.

When public health guidance has permitted, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of early learning and childcare settings. Everywhere I have been, I have consistently been struck by the enthusiasm and professionalism of the staff I have met and the happiness of the children in their care.

Since my appointment as Minister for Children and Young People in May, I have heard many stories of how families are benefiting from our ambitious expansion programme, through, for example, parents having greater freedom to work or study without the worry of the added cost of childcare. I have also heard about children who, with their friends, have tried new and exciting foods through the provision of free, nutritious meals as part of the expansion programme, which will lead to them having a more balanced and healthy diet. Children have also been able to take part in new fun activities and experiences that broaden their opportunities to learn and to play.

During the pandemic, the outdoors has offered children the chance to play with their friends unhindered by health restrictions. Outdoor play has also been a big part of the Covid-19 health guidance for ELC settings. I am therefore particularly pleased to have recently visited an outdoor childcare setting, where I observed at first hand the benefits of children playing, learning and having fun outdoors.

We know that daily high-quality outdoor play experiences have a direct and positive impact on children’s physical, cognitive, social, mental health and emotional development. It is our vision that children in Scotland will spend at least as much time outdoors as they do indoors as part of their ELC experience. To support that, we are working with practitioners to develop strong communities of practice, which will enable such high-quality outdoor experiences to become the norm. Our national standard for ELC enshrines daily access to outdoor play and learning opportunities for all children.

I want to turn to points that members made during the debate, some of which, as I said in my introduction, were interesting and illuminating.

I will be happy to meet Mr Rennie—it is always a pleasure to spend time in his company—to discuss the capacity in nurseries.

The issue of school deferral was raised by several members. Having just complimented Mr Rennie, I gently remind him that the Parliament voted for the deferral pilot, and I think that the Liberal Democrats were the only party that voted against it. I am sure that Mr Rennie will correct me if that is not correct.

Gillian Martin mentioned how key ELC workers have been. They have been essential in allowing families to work during the pandemic, whether by going out to work or by working from home.

In my opening speech, I spoke about outdoor education. I was fortunate enough to go to a forest out-of-school care service in Fulton MacGregor’s constituency, which was an experience that I enjoyed.

In a very considered speech, Brian Whittle talked about the importance of working with COSLA. We have worked closely with COSLA throughout the process, and we will continue to do so.

In an interesting contribution, as well as talking about cucumbers, Christine Grahame gave us anecdotal evidence on the importance of learning in early learning centres.

Somewhat to my surprise—I will check the Official Report to make sure of this—the Tories seemed to be advocating for national pay bargaining across the country.

It is important to recognise that this is the first full year of delivery of a major programme. We have much to celebrate in reaching the milestone of 1,140 hours of funded ELC for all eligible children, but there is more that we need to do.

Will the member take an intervention?

I will give way shortly, if that is all right, Mr Whittle.

We will continue to work closely with local government to embed the benefits of the expansion as more families come forward, thereby ensuring that children’s social and developmental outcomes improve, that their parents and carers have more opportunities to work, train or study and that family wellbeing improves. We will also work with local authorities to increase awareness of the offer of funded ELC for eligible two-year-olds.

I am not unrealistic about the continuing challenges to providers in the private and third sector. We will act on the findings of the financial sustainability health check that we published in August and will work with the sector to build on the substantial targeted financial support of up to £25 million that has been made available to the sector since March 2020.

I will pause there, if Mr Whittle still wants to intervene.

Will the member take an intervention?

At the moment, we are looking to provide guidance, but I am certainly happy to explore the idea of a member’s bill with Mr MacGregor.

The steps that we are taking are important. We must do all that we can to ensure that families can afford school uniforms. We know that some families are sacrificing essentials including heating, food and rent payments so that their children can participate fully at school. That cannot be right.

As Emma Harper mentioned, yesterday Parliament voted overwhelmingly to support cancelling the planned £20 a week cut to universal credit next month. The cut will plunge 60,000 families, including 20,000 children into poverty. I find it quite rich that a Tory MSP has asked us to introduce a £20 a week Scottish child payment without delay. I note that no Tory members are sitting here—they have left the debate.

I am grateful to Fulton MacGregor for lodging the motion and enabling discussion of such an important issue in the Scottish Parliament.

I recognise and thank cool school uniforms for its work in supporting children, young people and their families to access school uniform items, which enables pupils to achieve their potential. I also thank all those who work and volunteer in clothing banks across Scotland for their commitment to and support for families. I absolutely recognise the issues and concerns that have been raised in this evening’s debate.

Our programme for government sets out the actions that we will take in our efforts to end child poverty. Subject to the necessary data being made available from the Department for Work and Pensions, by the end of next year the Scottish child payment, which already benefits eligible families with children up to the age of 6, will be extended to include children up to the age of 16.

However, we are already supporting as many children as possible through our bridging payments. Through that benefit, which is unique in the United Kingdom and is designed to tackle poverty head on, we are now reaching 108,000 children. We are committed to increasing the child payment from £10 to £20 per child per week as soon as possible, and we will consider that through the budget bill process.

As part of the strategic approach, we will also reduce the cost of the school day. We will build a system to ensure equal access to the full package of education by breaking down financial barriers in order to make a real difference in the lives of children from low-income families.

We have already abolished music tuition charges and we have extended provision of free school meals to children in primary 4. Over the course of this parliamentary session, we will extend free school meals to all primary school pupils all year round. In addition to the expansion of provision of free school lunches, we have committed to universal free breakfast provision for all primary school pupils during term time and in the holidays. That will ensure that all primary school pupils can benefit from a nutritious breakfast at the start of the day, every day.

We will also provide every child with an electronic device and a connection to get online, because we recognise that they are as essential to education today as jotters and pencils were in years gone by.

In a moment, I will speak about school uniforms in particular, but before I do so, I acknowledge the work of the Child Poverty Action Group. Recently, the group published an updated toolkit for schools to support them in considering the cost of the school day for families. The toolkit provides a range of resources to support schools, local authorities and their partners to identify and address financial barriers to participation and learning. At the heart of the resource is the involvement of children, parents and staff in identifying which school items result in additional financial burden for families, and risk children and young people experiencing stigma or feeling excluded.

I turn to the issue of school uniforms. We know that uniforms can be one of the most significant school costs for families. I confirm that we are firmly committed to overcoming barriers to accessing education, including those relating to school uniforms.

In partnership with local authorities, we have delivered on our commitment to increase the level of the school clothing grant to at least £120 for primary school pupils and £150 for secondary school pupils. That vital support was in place in time for the start of the new school year in August.

As has been recognised by Fulton MacGregor, during this parliamentary term we will introduce statutory guidance for schools, which will lead to an increase in use of generic items of uniform and a reduction in costs for families. The member asked what the timescale is for the measures. We will engage with stakeholders as soon as possible as part of preparing the guidance.