Question reference: S6W-02690
- Asked by: Neil Bibby, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 3 September 2021
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Current status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 17 September 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how many two-year-olds are currently (a) receiving and (b) eligible for 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare in each local authority.
Answer
Based on population projections published by National Records of Scotland, it is estimated the eligible two-year old population is 14,500 children. The Scottish Government is working with UK Government departments and the Office for National Statistics to acquire further UK government held data which will enable us to measure the eligible population more accurately.
The latest data published by the Improvement Service in May 2021 reported that at the national level, there were 6204 two-year-olds accessing funded ELC. Of that number, 4113 two-year-olds were accessing 1140 funded hours. Updated figures will be published by the Improvement Service in the next month.
In December, the Scottish Government will publish Schools in Scotland, Summary Statistics report for 2021. This report will include figures to show the number of registrations of two-year-olds at national and local authority level.