Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government provides a range of financial and logistical support to early learning and childcare (ELC) practitioners seeking to upskill through formal qualifications.

(a) Financial Support

In 2024-25, the Scottish Government allocated over £8 million to support Skills Development Scotland to deliver Modern Apprenticeships in childcare.

A tuition fee grant of up to £1,820 is available via the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) through the Part-Time Fee Grant (PTFG) for individuals with a personal income of £25,000 or less. This funding supports eligible higher education courses and professional development at SCQF Levels 7–10, delivered by approved providers in Scotland. This funding is available to those working in childcare who are looking to study for a degree or college-based qualification.

The Scottish Government is also providing funding to enable 100 practitioners to study Masters degrees at the Universities of Strathclyde and Aberdeen to support their early years practice.

(b) Logistical Support

Practitioners benefit from a range of logistical support options to help them upskill while continuing to work in ELC. Many training providers offer flexible routes such as part-time, online or modular learning, enabling practitioners to balance study with existing commitments.

Work-based qualifications, including Modern and Technical Apprenticeships, allow staff to gain experience and qualifications on the job. In addition, many ELC employers support professional development by providing study leave, protected learning time and mentoring.

Practitioners can also access resources through the Scottish Social Services Council’s Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) portal, which offers a range of ELC-specific training opportunities and guidance.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-37815 on 4 June 2025

Information about the Scottish Government’s steps to reform or modernise these public bodies is included below.

(a) Scottish Enterprise

As our national enterprise agency, Scottish Enterprise is focused on delivering a programme of support to help businesses to start and scale, increase and improve productivity, access finance and attract investment, develop new products and services, enter new markets, and positively impact on their communities. Through its missions-based approach, Scottish Enterprise focuses on targeted areas and opportunities with the greatest potential for transformational change and impact on Scotland’s economic growth Scottish Enterprise’s workforce innovation specialists can offer businesses tailored guidance to help build workplace culture across areas like workforce planning and organisational design.

(b) Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council

On 22 January 2025, the Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Minister for Veterans announced the next steps in delivering plans to simplify the post-school funding body landscape. Changes will include funding of apprenticeships moving from Skills Development Scotland to the Scottish Funding Council, as well as moving all student support funding within the Student Awards Agency Scotland.

On 5 February, the Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill was formally introduced to the Scottish Parliament. On 6 February, the Minister for Higher and Further Education; and Veterans announced the introduction of Tertiary Education and Training (Funding and Governance) (Scotland) Bill to Parliament.

We are pressing ahead with the proposal to consolidate all post-school provision funding within the Scottish Funding Council and all student support funding within the Student Awards Agency Scotland. This Government committed to bringing learner support funding together in one place, and funding for apprenticeship provision together in one place

None of the changes we are bringing about are a reflection on the performance of any individual organisation, indeed there is strength and depth across all our public bodies. Skills Development Scotland will continue to play an important role working to Ministerial priorities across the skills system, particularly their ongoing careers delivery role. We will work with Skills Development Scotland regarding their remaining functions and will set out further details in the coming months. All of our public bodies will have to transform to meet the needs of the system following these changes.

The Scottish Funding Council will be a fundamentally different organisation. This change means that all apprenticeships will be overseen by the Scottish Funding Council. This will also result in Student Awards Agency Scotland taking responsibility for all further education student support funding, with the Scottish Funding Council no longer involved in this process.

(c) Scottish Social Services Council

Last year, following Scottish Government investment, the Scottish Social Services Council launched their ‘Futureproofing Programme’, an ambitious programme of streamlining and modernisation to registration services which have brought in efficiencies and multiple improvements which benefit the registered workforce, including those working in early learning and childcare. More information on the Futureproofing Programme can be accessed here: Registration is changing - Scottish Social Services Council.

The Care Inspectorate is the independent scrutiny body and regulator for care services in Scotland. It looks at 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 10 in this report provides quality data in relation to all daycare of children and childminding services:

Figure 10: Percentage of services holding evaluations of good or better, and very good or excellent in all assessed themes or key questions, 2014 to 2023.

The information requested is not held centrally. Decisions about where to locate an early learning and childcare (ELC) setting are the responsibility of the service provider. The Scottish Government does not routinely collect or hold information about the characteristics of buildings from which ELC services are provided. Statutory requirements for the fitness of premises to be used for the provision of ELC are set out in Section 10 of The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011.

The information requested is not held centrally. Building management responsibilities are a matter for the owners and managers to ensure the safety of their premises. Statutory requirements for the fitness of premises to be used for the provision of early learning and childcare (ELC) are set out in Section 10 of The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011. The Scottish Government does not routinely collect or hold data about the closure of ELC settings as a result of building safety concerns.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government. The Scottish Social Services Council may be able to assist with this question and can be contacted at:[email protected].

The most recently published annual workforce data (Scottish Social Service Sector: Report on 2023 Workforce Data) shows that the number of people working in daycare of children services and childminding reduced by 660 from 45,140 in 2021 to 44,480 in 2023.

The information requested is not held centrally by the Scottish Government.

To support the expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to 1140 hours per eligible child, the Scottish Government provided £476 million of capital funding to local authorities between 2017-18 and 2020-21. Supplemented by local authorities’ own funding, the 1140 expansion infrastructure programme includes 583 refurbishment projects, 124 extension projects and 157 new build projects. Over the course of the 1140 expansion infrastructure programme, no local authority has reported to the Scottish Government that its ELC estate is not fit for purpose. Statutory requirements for the fitness of premises to be used for the provision of ELC are set out in Section 10 of The Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (Requirements for Care Services) Regulations 2011.