Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-18983

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to provide support to private nurseries and childminders in order for them to be able to provide flexibility and choice for families, in light of the reported fragility of the sector.

Question reference: S6W-18981

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce any budget pressures being experienced by early years and childcare businesses.

Question reference: S6W-18986

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when updated software needed to improve the management and monitoring of early learning and childcare services will be developed and ready for use.

Question reference: S6W-18989

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when it will be able to assess whether the 1,140 hours expansion of funded childcare has led to (a) better outcomes for children and (b) increased opportunities for parents to work, study or train.

Working with our Monitoring and Evaluation Working Group, we have set out a multi-year strategy for evaluating the impact of the expansion of funded early learning and childcare to 1,140 hours on outcomes for children, parents and families. The bespoke Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) is the main vehicle for collecting evaluation evidence on child and parent outcomes. Baseline data for the SSELC was collected during 2018 and 2019 from children and their parents accessing 600 hours of funded early learning and childcare. During 2023 and 2024 data will be collectedfrom a sample of children and parents accessing 1,140 hours. The Final Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Evaluation Report is due to be published in late 2025. More information can be found in our Evaluation Strategy published in October 2022.

Question reference: S6W-18987

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what the total cost will be of the development of software to improve the management and monitoring of early learning and childcare services.

Question reference: S6W-18988

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the data gaps in the roll-out of 1,140 hours of funded childcare, as outlined by the Auditor General in the report, Early learning and childcare: Progress on delivery of the 1,140 hours expansion.

The data gaps identified by Audit Scotland relate to different elements of funded early learning and childcare (ELC). These include workforce movement, the living wage, parental demand, financial data, and the extent to which children with additional support needs are accessing funded ELC. As Audit Scotland note, providing a national overview of ELC data will require action by the Scottish Government, local authorities and other partners.

In relation to data on the movement of childcare staff between different types of provider, the Scottish Social Services Council will be publishing an analysis of staff movement within the Day Care of Children Category before the end of June 2023.

In relation to financial monitoring, the Scottish Government is working to change reporting through local financial returns to produce more detailed information on how much councils have spent specifically on the provision of funded ELC.

For information on action that the Scottish Government is already taking to improve ELC monitoring data in relation to the living wage and children with additional support needs, I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-18994 and S6W-18992 on 21 June 2023.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-18985

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when a value-for-money assessment of 1,140 hours of funded childcare will be completed.

The Scottish Government will be undertaking an economic evaluation as part of our multi-year strategy for evaluating the impact of the expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to 1,140 hours on outcomes for children, parents and families. The purpose of an economic evaluation is to compare the value of the outcomes of a policy to the overall costs of that policy, in order to determine the value for money of the programme. Details of the economic evaluation approach were published in section 6 of our Evaluation Strategy published in October 2022. Work on the economic evaluation will begin in 2023 and the final phase of this work is due to be completed in late 2025 – to allow the information from the Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) to be used in the economic evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-18982

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reported concerns regarding the fragility of the early years sector.

Question reference: S6W-18607

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with New College Lanarkshire Motherwell Campus regarding the proposed closure of its halls of residence.

Question reference: S6O-02397

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the report by the taskforce to consider whether to extend wildlife crime investigation powers to the Scottish SPCA will be published.