Question reference: S6W-01619
- Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 20 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 17 August 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how many two-year-olds have received funded early learning and childcare places in each year since 2007.
Answer
The Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 (“The 2014 Act”) first introduced and defined the term ‘early learning and childcare’ (ELC). Prior to the 2014 Act, there was no statutory duty to provide pre-school education to 2 year olds.
The 2014 Act increased the number of funded ELC hours for all 3 and 4 year olds and introduced the statutory duty to provide access to funded ELC for eligible 2 year olds.
Since 2014, data on the number of registrations of 2 year olds receiving funded ELC has been collected for the annual census of ELC [1] . Prior to 2014, data was collected on registrations for funded pre-school education . Prior to 2012, data was not collected on registrations for children aged 2.
Year | Number of registrations of 2 year olds receiving funded Pre-school Education/ Early Learning and Childcare |
2007 | - |
2008 | - |
2009 | - |
2010 | - |
2011 | - |
2012 | 6,009 |
2013 | 5,743 |
2014 | 5,774 |
2015 | 4,321 |
2016 | 5,256 |
2017 | 5,363 |
2018 | 5,701 |
2019 | 5,990 |
2020 | 4,863 |
[1] https://www.gov.scot/collections/early-learning-and-childcare-statistics/