Question reference: S5W-36131
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 11 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Maree Todd on 23 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-27612 by Maree Todd on 23 September 2019, what percentage of the 435 equity and excellence leads are in post; how many of the posts are vacant, and on what date all posts were filled, including where the post-holder has since moved on.
Answer
As outlined in the answer to S5W-35589 on 12 March 2021, The Scottish Government provide funding to local authorities to recruit equity and excellence lead posts across all 32 local authorities. The allocation of posts and provision of funding have been set by Scottish Government and these posts are recruited and managed by local authorities.
Snapshot figures of graduate level posts in early learning and childcare (ELC) are published annually in Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland 2020 . Data in the tables is gathered from centres (either local authority or partner provider centres) with children registered for the funded entitlement at the time of the census. In 2020, this was collected from 14-18 September 2020.
At that point in time, there were 350 (316 FTE) Equity and Excellence leads in post which is 73% of posts, therefore 27% of posts at that time were vacant. We recognise that there will always be a degree of staff turnover in the system, particularly during this period of ELC expansion and with the further challenge of COVID-19. Ongoing recruitment campaigns are managed locally.