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-37866

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to address any regional inequalities in the early learning and childcare workforce in (a) general and (b) relation to (i) recruitment and (ii) retention in (A) rural and (B) deprived areas.

We recognise how vital early learning and childcare is in all parts of Scotland, both in relation to giving children the best start in life and supporting families to work.

We are working with local government and our partners in the sector to develop long-term workforce plans that address workforce issues and ensure sustainable delivery of the 1140 funded entitlement.

At a national level, several work programmes are underway to support childcare provision in rural areas and areas of disadvantage including:

funding the national childminder recruitment and retention programme;
making grants available to local authorities via the Addressing Depopulation Action Plan Fund, two of which will contain a focus on addressing childcare issues in areas affected by acute population decline;
continuing our investment of £16 million over two years into our early adopter communities;
providing funding to local authorities to enable payment of the real Living Wage to childcare workers in private and voluntary services providing funded ELC; and
continuing to provide funding to local authorities to enable additional teachers or degree-qualified childcare professionals to work in ELC settings in the most disadvantaged areas.

Question reference: S6W-37860

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what targeted measures it is taking to reduce staff turnover in early years settings in (a) general and (b) areas with persistent recruitment difficulties.

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

We recognise that, as with many areas of the economy, recruitment remains a challenge for the childcare profession. We also recognise the particular and distinct challenges, barriers and opportunities rural and island communities face, and will continue to work with all relevant partners to identify, develop and enable place-based solutions to address these challenges.

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-37861

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 5 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it has assessed the sufficiency of current (a) pay, (b) career progression and (c) conditions in retaining experienced early learning and childcare staff.

The Scottish Social Services Council published their ‘Have Your Say’ Workforce Wellbeing Survey 2025 report on 22 April 2025. The survey aims to capture the experiences of people working in the social work, social care and children and young people workforce, to inform the development of national policies and strategies on how best to support the workforce, and to inform national workforce planning. We are considering the findings of the report carefully with partners.

Question reference: S6O-04770

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 June 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to the recent EY assessment of the Scottish economy.

Question reference: S6W-37809

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many early learning settings have operated from (a) temporary and (b) modular buildings, since 2015

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.

Question reference: S6W-37806

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many early learning and childcare settings have failed to meet Care Inspectorate standards between 2015 and 2024.

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.

	All evaluations Good, Very Good or Excellent		All evaluations Very Good or Excellent
Year	Childminding	Daycare of Children	Childminding	Daycare of Children
2014	91.0%	90.3%	49.6%	42.2%
2015	91.8%	88.4%	48.8%	41.5%
2016	91.8%	87.6%	48.7%	40.3%
2017	92.1%	88.3%	47.6%	37.8%
2018	91.9%	88.0%	45.2%	35.7%
2019	91.7%	87.7%	44.0%	33.7%
2020	92.6%	88.7%	44.2%	33.0%
2021	92.8%	87.7%	43.9%	31.7%
2022	92.0%	88.5%	41.7%	31.5%
2023	92.6%	88.3%	39.6%	30.0%

Note: Any services that have not yet been inspected are not included in the table above.

Figure 18 in the report provides the data in relation to funded ELC settings.

Figure 18: Proportion of daycare of children services offering funded places holding evaluations of good or better and very good or excellent in all assessed themes or key questions on 31 December, 2014 to 2023.

Year	% of services found to be Good or better in all evaluations	% of services found to be very good or excellent in all evaluations
2014	93.2%	49.1%
2015	91.9%	48.1%
2016	91.4%	45.8%
2018	90.6%	40.5%
2019	90.2%	38.1%
2020	90.8%	36.9%
2021	89.4%	34.9%
2022	90.1%	34.6%
2023	89.8%	32.9%

Note: Any services that have not yet been inspected are not included in the above table.

Question reference: S6W-37810

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many local authorities have reported that its early learning estate is not fit for purpose, and what action it has taken in response to any such concerns.

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.

Question reference: S6W-37807

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many nursery buildings constructed since 2015 have failed to meet the standards set out in Space to Grow: Design guidance for early learning and childcare and out of school care settings.

Question reference: S6W-37815

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what it has done to address reported concerns that the expansion of funded hours has led to staff burnout and retention issues in the early learning sector.

The Scottish Government is working with local authorities and other partners to develop long-term workforce plans that address retention issues and support staff wellbeing across the ELC sector.

In 2025-26, we are providing £9.7 million to local authorities to enable payment of the real Living Wage to childcare workers in private and voluntary services providing funded ELC. Building on last year’s recurring investment of £16 million, this funding for the further increase to at least £12.60 per hour demonstrates our commitment to the Fair Work agenda. The Scottish Government remains the only part of the UK to fund the payment of the real Living Wage to ELC staff in the private and third sectors.

In addition, we have worked with partners to develop a range of new resources for the childcare workforce, including a new continuous professional learning portal which features a mental health and wellbeing resource specifically for early years professionals. We are working with Skills Development Scotland and funded partners in the private and voluntary sector to pilot ways of working that support efficiencies in services and allow practitioners to prioritise their professional learning within working hours.

Question reference: S6W-37808

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 May 2025
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 4 June 2025

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) nursery and (b) early learning settings have been (i) temporarily and (ii) permanently closed due to building safety concerns, since 2015.

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.