Chamber and committees

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme outlines the basis on which victims of violent crime will be compensated. For those who are direct victims of violent crime the scheme is open to police officers as it is to everyone. The scheme also compensates those injured indirectly through for example apprehending an offender where the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority are satisfied that the person was taking an exceptional and justified risk. The CICA considers each case on its own facts and will assess the case based on the information available. Some applications will by necessity take longer to decide.

The Scottish Government regularly meet with the CICA and performance is discussed. The majority of applications are decided by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority within 12 months.

The pay deal recognises the vital role of NHS staff in the delivery of the health service as well as fully considering affordability and value for money.

NHS Boards have been provided with a 3% budget uplift for 2025-26 which will help support implementation of pay deals, with budget assumptions based around the multi-year public sector pay policy framework. Whilst the pay uplift will result in additional costs for 2025-26 and beyond, this will be managed through the Health & Social Care portfolio and delivery of board operational plans including taking forward efficiencies and reform activity.

Future year budget allocations are yet to be agreed by the Scottish Parliament and will be considered in line with affordability and sustainability across the health budget.

As of May 2025, all Territorial Boards had begun implementation of the national digital dermatology pathway with 64% of GP practices across Scotland having access to the system. Boards are currently finalising optimisation plans to ensure images are included in new dermatology referrals and to embed image-led photo-triage within their dermatology service.

“Best Start, the strategic early learning and school age childcare plan 2022 to 2026” outlines four key priorities that will move us closer to achieving our vision that, through access to rich and nurturing early learning and school age childcare experiences, children, families, and their communities are enabled to reach their full potential and the poverty-related outcomes gap narrows.

Priority 3 is “Ensuring that the delivery of our priorities is supported by a sustainable, diverse and thriving sector and profession”. We recognise that we cannot deliver positive outcomes for children and families without a sustainable, diverse and thriving childcare sector. For that reason, we have taken forward actions including:

• making Fair Work central to the 1140 expansion to date - our investment to support sustainable rates and the ELC real Living Wage has already led to increases in pay across private and third sector providers;
• developing a range of new resources and learning signposting tools for the childcare workforce, including a new continuous professional learning portal and a new National Induction Resource;
• 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;
• allocating over £8 million in 2024-25 to Skills Development Scotland to deliver Modern Apprenticeships in childcare;
• providing funding for 100 childcare professionals to study for Masters qualifications each year at the University of Strathclyde and the University of Aberdeen; and
• investing in the Programme for Scotland’s Childminding Future, launched in June 2024 and backed by more than £1.6 million in 2025-26.

The Skills Development Scotland Sectoral Skills Assessment Childcare Report 2024 contains both a mid-term (2024-2027) and long term (2024 – 2034) future demand forecast for the childcare sector. In both forecasts, employment growth in the childcare sector is predicted to continue and with a larger percentage growth than is forecast overall across Scotland. However, the forecasts also suggest that recruitment will remain challenging in the sector.

“Best Start: Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland 2022-26" sets out our vision for early learning and school age childcare, our strategic priorities and the principles which guide our approach to working with partners and families.

With regard to reviewing and enhancing qualifications, we have worked with the Scottish Qualifications Authority to support the development and piloting of next generation Higher National qualifications for the childcare profession, which we anticipate will be rolled out fully for the next academic year.

The Scottish Government is also working with the Scottish Social Services Council on the current review of National Occupational Standards and will support the forthcoming review of Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SVQ). This work ensures qualifications are fit-for-purpose in providing the childcare profession with the knowledge, skills and experience required to deliver high quality services for children and families.

The response to question S6W-37815 on 4 June 2025 outlines additional actions that the Scottish Government is taking to support the ELC profession.

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 proportion of people working as managers in daycare of children’s services is 6.8% (as at 25 April 2025, according to Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) snapshot figures).

Registration requirements set by the SSSC specify that lead practitioners and managers must hold, or be working towards, a qualification at Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) Level 9 or above, such as the BA in Childhood Practice or the Scottish Vocational Qualification (SVQ) Social Services (Children and Young People) at Level 9. These qualifications are designed to support leadership, strategic planning and the delivery of high-quality early learning experiences. While not all members of the ELC workforce are expected to attain this level of qualification, it is a key requirement for those in leadership roles.

The following table compares data on managerial qualifications from 2017 to 2025. It shows that, as of March 2025, there were 3,157 managers registered with the SSSC in daycare of children services. Of these, 1,931 individuals (61.17%) had met their qualification condition and therefore held an SCQF Level 9 qualification or above. This represents a notable increase from April 2017, when only 763 managers (29.26%) had done so. Staff have three years in which to complete their Level 9 qualification.

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.

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 Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that all eligible children have access to high quality early learning and childcare (ELC) in order to receive the support they need to reach their full learning potential, and to give them the best possible start in life. The Scottish Government and local government have worked in close partnership throughout the delivery of the 1140 expansion, underpinned by a joint policy framework and a multi-year funding agreement.

Questions about the scrutiny of ELC services should be directed to the relevant bodies:

• Local authorities are responsible for meeting their statutory duties in relation to funded ELC. 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.
• Under section 53 of the Public Services Reform (Scotland) Act 2010, the Care Inspectorate has statutory obligations to carry out inspections of all ELC and school age childcare settings that are registered with them. The Scottish Social Services Council is the regulator for the social work, social care and children and young people workforce in Scotland.

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.