Chamber and committees

The level of the parking charges at Sumburgh, Stornoway and Kirkwall Airports will be kept under review by HIAL, like all other charges levied by the company, to ensure that HIAL achieves a balanced budget in each financial year.

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) states that any person who requests information from a Scottish public authority which holds it is entitled to be given that information by the authority, but that this right is subject to certain conditions and exemptions as set out in the act. The Deputy First Minister took the view that it was appropriate, subject to the public interest test, to apply the provisions of the statutory exemption relating to the Royal Household (Section 41(a) of FOISA) to four documents in the draft response. An additional exemption under Section 38 (1) (b) was also initially applied to part of this material.

All documents associated with FOI/17/01247 have subsequently been released. Three of the documents requested (numbers 20, 24 & 25) are available at the Scottish Government’s FOI website by following this link https://beta.gov.scot/publications/foi-17-01247-review/ . The additional document number 26 was released prior to the Government publishing responses on this website and this will be sent to the member.

The Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) states that any person who requests information from a Scottish public authority which holds it is entitled to be given that information by the authority, but that this right is subject to certain conditions and exemptions as set out in the act. When considering the release of documents requested under FOISA account needs to be taken of the application of these same conditions and exemptions, which are the subject of discussion internally and with relevant third parties, as necessary.

As part of that process, a Special Adviser raised the following points:

• an extraneous email that had been included in the material proposed for release was identified and suggested this be removed;
• material that was proposed to be redacted by officials was identified as having had an exemption incorrectly applied and suggested should be released;
• material proposed for release should be assessed in light of Section 33(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 as to whether it was, subject to the public interest test, commercially confidential;
• suggested that track changes within a document should be resolved before issuing

All documents associated with FOI/17/01247 have now been released.

The Additional Support for Learning Act requires education authorities to identify, provide for and to review the additional support needs of their pupils. In order to meet these requirements it is for education authorities to ensure that appropriate resources are in place to provide for pupils needs, this includes teaching and support staff.

95% of children with additional support needs are educated in mainstream schools, this has been consistent for a number of years. It should be noted that all teachers provide support to pupils not just ‘support for learning’ teachers.

Local Government Financial Statistics for 2016-17 showed that local authorities spent £5.07 billion on education in Scotland. This has gone up from £4.95 billion in 2015-16 - a 0.3% increase in real terms (2.5% in cash terms). Of that, £610 million was on additional support for learning – this has gone up from £584 million in
‎ 2015-16 a 2.3% increase in real terms (4.5% in cash terms)

The 2016 SNP Manifesto contained a commitment to “take action to reduce fares on ferry services to Orkney and Shetland”. I announced on 22 August 2017 plans to introduce reduced fares within the first half of 2018.

My officials have been engaging closely with relevant ferry operators on the Pentland Firth, with work continuing apace to ensure the commercial operators are appropriately compensated when reduced fares are introduced.

I am aware that stakeholders are keen for further news and further details on the fares reduction and timescales will be made available as soon as practicable.

It is for local authorities to determine, on the advice of their own legal and procurement teams, the local process for contracting with providers in the private and third sectors to deliver funded early learning and childcare entitlement hours.

However, we know from the Blueprint for 2020 consultation, and our ongoing engagement with providers, that the current process for becoming a funded provider can be cumbersome and restrictive, and varies across local authorities.

We are currently working with local authorities and delivery partners to develop a new Funding Follows the Child approach to be introduced in 2020. This will prioritise and safeguard high quality provision, whilst enabling choice for parents and carers.

As part of this approach providers will face a more open and proportionate approach for delivering the funded entitlement.

It will be underpinned by a National Standard, which means that all providers who wish to deliver the funded entitlement will face a clear and consistent set of criteria for becoming a funded provider.

As part of the new approach there is also a commitment to simplify the process for, and reduce the burden on, providers who wish to deliver the funded entitlement.

We will set out more details on this approach at the end of March.

Local authorities have a duty to provide early learning and childcare to all eligible children within their area. Parents can contact their local authority to find out where their child can access the funded hours. There may be a number of reasons why it is not possible to obtain a funded place in a parent’s first choice nursery.

From 2020, as part of the national roll-out of 1140 hours, any provider wishing to deliver the funded ELC entitlement must meet the requirements of the new National Standard.

The proposed criteria in the draft National Standard focus on what children and their families should expect from their ELC experience, regardless of whether they access their entitlement in local authority, private, or voluntary/third sector nurseries or through provision offered by childminders. We anticipate this means parents will be able to access the funded hours at any childcare provider that meets the national standard, subject to there being a place available at that provider.

As I set out in my answer S5W-15210 on 26 March 2018 it is for local authorities to determine, on the advice of their own legal and procurement teams, the local process for contracting with providers in the private and third sectors to deliver funded early learning and childcare entitlement hours.

All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

Our approach to delivering the expanded entitlement from 2020 is ‘provider neutral’, and under our new Funding Follows the Child approach any provider, regardless of sector (public, private, third sector or childminder), who meets the new National Standard will be eligible to deliver the funded entitlement. We are working closely with delivery partners, including engaging with providers across the country, to inform the development of the new approach. This approach will prioritise and safeguard quality provision and provide choice for parents and carers by making it more attractive for high quality providers to deliver the funded early learning and childcare entitlement. We will set out more details at the end of March.

Local authorities have also been developing expansion plans which set out how they intend to deliver the expansion to 1140 hours in their respective areas, which include local level estimates of the number of hours to be delivered by funded providers in the private and third sector.

We do not hold this information.

Local authorities are responsible for fulfilling the duty to provide early learning and childcare. Local authorities are also required to consult representative populations of parents and carers on how funded early learning and childcare should be made available. They should also publish and implement plans on how they will make their services available in response to those consultations.