Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-02330 on 7 June 2023. The answer to oral Parliamentary Question is available on the Parliament's website, the Official Report can be viewed at: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-07-06-2023?meeting=15356&iob=130954

It is the responsibility of Integration Joint Boards (IJBs) to plan and commission adult palliative and end of life care services for their areas using the integrated budgets under their control. My officials are therefore engaged with Health and Social Care Partnerships and Scottish hospice sector representatives in relation to issues around funding.

I am meeting with the Scottish Hospice Leadership Group and Hospice UK on 13 September, and my officials continue to communicate and engage with hospice representatives meantime.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18980 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

Work is underway now and the current timescale for development completion of the SEEMiS Early Years IT platform is Jan-Mar 2024. The actual system “go live” date is yet to be decided, with an options appraisal currently underway and scheduled for Project Review Board consideration over summer 2023.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-18980 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

The University of Strathclyde, through a PhD project co-supervised with Marine Directorate staff, is involved in data collation and stock assessment modelling for demersal fish stocks in the Clyde. The project uses fisheries-dependent data (from logbooks for landings), routine Marine Directorate on-board observer sampling data (for fish not officially landed), and fisheries-independent data from the Scottish West Coast groundfish survey. The PhD project is in the writing-up phase, aiming to submit at the end of the summer 2023.

The University of Strathclyde, through a PhD project co-supervised with Marine Directorate staff, is involved in data collation and stock assessment modelling for demersal fish stocks in the Clyde. The project uses fisheries-dependent data (from logbooks for landings), routine Marine Directorate on-board observer sampling data (for fish not officially landed), and fisheries-independent data from the Scottish West Coast groundfish survey. The PhD project is in the writing-up phase, aiming to submit at the end of the summer 2023.

I am proud of what we have achieved with the expansion to 1140 hours, and I was pleased to see Audit Scotland recognising that the Scottish Government, local authorities and partners did well to deliver the expansion despite the challenges of a global pandemic. I was also pleased to see Audit Scotland conclude that most parents are happy with the flexibility available as part of the expanded Early Learning and Childcare offer. Providers in the private, third and childminding sector have an important role to play in continuing to offer this flexibility.

Recognising the need to support the sector the Scottish Government made more than £35 million of dedicated financial support available to private, third and childminding sector services during the pandemic; we have legislated to continue the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme, which provides 100 per cent relief on Non-Domestic Rates to eligible day nurseries beyond the previous end date of 30 June 2023; and we have funded pilot programmes of targeted Business Gateway support to enable childcare providers to access tailored, specialist advice on strengthening their businesses.

Childminders are a valued part of our ELC sector, providing a unique form of high quality childcare in a nurturing home-based environment. We continue to work closely with the Scottish Childminding Association to support a successful childminder recruitment pilot aiming to recruit and train 100 new childminders in remote and rural communities. We are also supporting a second phase which is trialling this recruitment model in urban communities within Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and East Renfrewshire.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a diverse, sustainable and thriving childcare sector. However, I recognise there are real challenges facing the sector as a result of delivering an expansion in the face of the pandemic, Brexit and now the costs crisis. The Scottish Government is committed to working closely with every part of the childcare sector to understand and address these issues together. I hosted a round table with sector representatives on Tuesday 18 April to hear about challenges and opportunities for the sector, and I will be undertaking a programme of engagement over the next few months.

Throughout the 1140 expansion we have sought to improve conditions across the private, third and childminding workforce delivering funded ELC, including through our investment to support sustainable rates to be set at a level to enable payment of the real Living Wage to those workers delivering funded ELC . Evidence from the Financial Review of the ELC Sector highlights that when the ELC expansion began around 80% of practitioners and 50% of supervisors in private and third sector settings delivering the funded ELC were paid an hourly rate below the real Living Wage. In contrast, our 2021 Financial Sustainability Health Check indicated that 88% of funded ELC providers in the private and third sectors intended to pay the real Living Wage to all their staff from August 2021.

As set out in the supporting Funding Follows the Child and National Standard Contracting Guidance it is expected that within the contract terms and conditions for funded providers local authorities will set out expectations regarding payment of at least the real Living Wage to all childcare workers delivering the funded hours.

In partnership with the sector and local authorities, we have taken important steps to improve our understanding of real Living Wage progress, and to support providers to deliver higher pay and Fair Work. To support this we have established a real Living Wage and Fair Work Implementation Group to explore implementation challenges and potential solutions to help all childcare providers become real living wage employers. The first meeting of the Group took place on 15 December 2022. The group is due to reconvene shortly.

We are also collecting further information regarding the payment of the real Living Wage as part of our update of the Financial Sustainability Health Check; and through the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Review of Sustainable Rates. Both of these reports will be published this Summer.

According to the latest Scottish Government Early Learning and Childcare census data from September 2022, 99% of 3- and 4-year-olds, and 14% of 2-year-olds, are estimated to be registered for funded early learning and childcare (ELC), and 18% of these child registrations are of children with additional support needs. The 2022 Parents’ Survey found that 85% of parents with children with additional support needs were satisfied that funded ELC meets their child’s needs.

Although we do not have data on how many hours of funded ELC these children are accessing, given these overall figures we envisage that a significant proportion of eligible children with additional support needs are currently accessing their entitlement to 1,140 hours of funded childcare. We are currently developing the ELC census and are looking to collect more information on the characteristics of children accessing funded ELC, and the hours they are registered for.