Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38451 on 20 June 2025.

The Care Inspectorate report data publicly on their Data Store which may be able to assist with this question or alternatively the Care Inspectorate could be approached directly for a response.

This information is not held by the Scottish Government.

The Care Inspectorate report data publicly on their Data Store which may be able to assist with this question or alternatively the Care Inspectorate could be approached directly for a response.

The Care Inspectorate is the independent scrutiny body and regulator for care services in Scotland. It regulates and provides scrutiny of the quality of care in Scotland (including in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings) to ensure it meets high standards and to promote the safety, protection and wellbeing of all service users including children in ELC settings.

The Care Inspectorate publishes an annual report with their national findings on the availability and quality of registered daycare of children and childminding services for children and families across Scotland. The most recent report was published on 24 September 2024: Early Learning and Childcare Statistics 2023.

Figure 14 on page 19 provides an overview of the number and percentage of services holding evaluations of weak or unsatisfactory in all assessed key questions or quality themes by service type, at 31 December 2021, 2022 and 2023.

The Care Inspectorate report data publicly on their Data Store which may be able to assist further with this question or alternatively the Care Inspectorate could be approached directly for a response.

Access to NHS treatment is based on clinical need, however we recognise that service children should not be disadvantaged when accessing the NHS as a result of their parent’s service in the Armed Forces.

We regularly communicate the Covenant legal duty and paying ‘due regard’ to all NHS Boards via the NHS Armed Forces and Veterans Champions, who are responsible for ensuring its implementation.

Additionally, the General Practice Armed Forces and Veterans Recognition Scheme aims to raise awareness of the health challenges that veterans and Armed Forces families face as a result of military service.

I regularly meet with youth organisations such as Youth Scotland, YouthLink Scotland and Scottish Youth Parliament.

The First Minister of Scotland and other Scottish Minister’s also regularly meet with youth organisations. This includes a summit on 12 June attended by the First Minister of Scotland that brought together experts and grassroots youth organisations to discuss how to tackle youth violence.

Information on Ministerial engagements is published on the Scottish Government website and can be found at: www.gov.scot/collections/ministerial-engagements-travel-and-gifts/. The engagements are published three months in arrears.

Youth work falls within the scope of The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. This regulation, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision of Community Learning and Development in their areas.

As the regulatory requirements for Community Learning and Development are placed with education authorities, the Scottish Government does not collate information on youth centres.

The Scottish Government monitors trends across the whole childcare sector, drawing on data published by the Care Inspectorate. In recent years the Scottish Government has published financial sustainability health checks and the Sustainable Rates Review, which specifically considered the contribution of local authority sustainable rates to funded providers’ financial sustainability.

It is important to note that funded ELC is often delivered in a mixed economy model. The payments that providers receive from local authorities to deliver funded ELC therefore only form part of their total income. For example, the 2023 Financial Sustainability Health Check reported that public funding accounted for around 46% of overall income for private childcare services who delivered funded ELC.

The joint Scottish Government and COSLA Sustainable Rates Review identified a need to improve rates-setting processes to better support provider sustainability. As part of the evidence gathering phase of the review local authorities did however report that “they had seen very little evidence of funded services in the private, third or childminding sectors reporting to them that they had been under financial duress or of services closing due to financial sustainability pressures”.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are continuing to progress the reforms from the Sustainable Rates Review. This includes improving the data available to inform funded ELC rates-setting by contracting the Diffley Partnership to undertake a new funded ELC cost survey. The survey findings will inform future sustainable rates-setting and the Scottish Government and COSLA’s future financial planning.

Further information about support available to ELC providers, including the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme, which provides 100% relief on Non-Domestic Rates to eligible day nurseries in Scotland and is estimated to be worth around £11 million a year, is available on the Scottish Government website.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38244 on 17 June 2025 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/questions-and-answers.

Youth work falls within the scope of The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. This regulation, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision of Community Learning and Development in their areas.

As the regulatory requirements for Community Learning and Development are placed with education authorities, the Scottish Government does not collate information on youth workers.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38244 on 17 June 2025. 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/questions-and-answers.