Early Learning and Childcare

– in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 March 2017.

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Photo of Kenneth Macintosh Kenneth Macintosh Labour

Good afternoon. The next item of business is a statement by Mark McDonald on the expansion of free early learning and childcare. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions during it.

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

This Government is committed to delivering a bright future for Scotland’s children, and key to that is ensuring that all our children get the best possible start in life. That is why we have done more than any previous devolved Administration—and indeed any other Government in the United Kingdom—to expand high-quality, free early learning and childcare provision.

If we are to achieve our aim of making substantial progress to close the attainment gap between children from the least and most deprived communities and interrupt the cycle of poverty that attacks the life chances of too many of our children, we must intervene early and provide a high-quality learning experience before they go to school, as well as appropriate support to enable parents to take up and stay in work, training and education.

Achieving excellence and equity for our children is a systemic challenge and one that the whole system that is involved in delivering education and children’s services needs to respond to. That includes those sectors and services that are involved in delivering early learning and childcare.

Every child and family is different, so our work with them needs to respond to those individual circumstances. Put simply, our public services need to focus on the individual and not on their own organisational arrangements. “A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland” sets out how we will seek to achieve that by nearly doubling the current 600 hours per year of free early learning and childcare entitlement to 1,140 hours. That expansion will be built around quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability to meet the needs of children and families across Scotland.

Between October and January, our consultation sought views on our blueprint, and I thank all the individuals and the 128 organisations that contributed responses or attended our seven consultation events for their thoughtful input. We are publishing an independent analysis of those responses today. Having carefully considered the responses, I can advise Parliament that we are publishing today a blueprint action plan that sets out 31 steps that this Government will take in the coming year to work towards the expansion of early learning and childcare provision to 1,140 hours by 2020.

Quality is already and will continue to be at the heart of our entire approach. We will develop a quality action plan by October 2017, working with stakeholders who know what drives quality and what more we need to do to strengthen that. As part of that, we will introduce a quality standard that all providers will be required to meet before they can access funding to deliver the free hours. That will draw on existing quality standards to create a coherent, consistent national standard.

We want to ensure that the service model maximises flexibility for families so that all parents can take up their entitlement for their children. Parents have told us that they want choice—genuine choice—of provision across sectors. That involves removing barriers to private and third sector providers delivering funded ELC. The service model for the future must ensure that there is more financially sustainable provision across all sectors, including community-led provision such as the approach to extending hours that is being supported through the Argyll and Bute trial involving the Mull and Iona Community Trust.

I make it clear that local authorities will continue to play a vital role in delivering ELC and building capacity for the expansion to 1,140 hours. They will be the main guarantor of quality and enabler of flexibility and choice. However, the service model that we will develop will fundamentally be provider neutral, prioritising the settings that are best placed to deliver quality outcomes for children and supporting our ambition to close the attainment gap regardless of which sector they are provided by. That model will ensure that funding follows the child and it will be underpinned by a rigorous approach to ensure the quality of learning and care, so we will also establish a new national standard for funded provider status. Sustainability and fairness will also feature in the new model to help to drive quality.

My officials will work in partnership with local authorities to develop the detail of the funding model and the national standard, and I can announce that we will commission a feasibility study to explore potential costs and benefits of introducing an early learning and childcare account in the future.

As I have already stated, local authorities will continue to play a key role in the delivery of our action plan and will retain their statutory responsibility to ensure that funded entitlement is available for all eligible children in their areas. We need to support them to build the capacity needed in their communities to provide 1,140 hours, so we will provide them with access to professional and technical expertise on common and complex issues and additional service innovation and redesign capacity. That support will be shaped with the involvement of local authorities.

I can further advise that we are issuing ELC expansion planning guidance to local authorities today, to help them to think through their key infrastructure, workforce and delivery model approaches systematically as they move towards providing 1,140 hours.

Increasing the role for childminders in delivering the funded hours received significant support in consultation responses. Our new provider-neutral approach and accompanying funding model will help make that a reality, but we must ensure that childminders are enabled to play their part. We will work with the Scottish Childminding Association and local authorities to ensure that childminders are properly promoted as a high-quality option for the funded hours, and in September 2017 we will publish a new learning and development pathway to encourage more people to choose to become childminders.

Now that the policy framework has been announced, local authorities can develop more refined cost estimates for the expansion. That is key to ensuring that we collectively maximise public value from this significant investment. I am clear that the new funding model will ensure that resources that are provided for early learning and childcare directly reach front-line delivery, in order to best meet the needs of children and their families. Although the details of actual funding allocations will be made clear in the formal budget process later this year, we will provide greater certainty to local authorities over multiyear revenue and capital funding assumptions over the coming weeks and months. We remain absolutely committed to meeting the costs of expanding the entitlement, and I reaffirm that commitment today.

The role of the early learning and childcare workforce is critical to our principal aim of achieving better outcomes for children. The expansion will see an opportunity for the workforce to grow substantially, resulting in the creation of new employment opportunities in all parts of Scotland. We need to demonstrate how much we value this work, by offering fulfilling career opportunities, entrance pathways and progression routes at all levels, from apprentices through to centre heads, and by ensuring that the workforce is fairly remunerated. That will be a key focus of a new recruitment marketing campaign, which will be developed and ready for autumn 2017. We will work with delivery partners to develop recruitment and career pathways to assist in attracting to the workforce and retaining high-calibre candidates, to raise the profile of a career in ELC among underrepresented groups and to seek to improve gender balance across the sector.

We will also increase the focus on access to graduate-level early years educators, seeking to strengthen the practice-based element of graduate level training, with clear measures to be set out in our quality action plan.

Our expansion plans will be built on a foundation of fairness for the workforce, with the living wage extended to all childcare staff delivering funded entitlement from the full roll-out of 1,140 hours in 2020. As the First Minister stated at the weekend, we will provide local authorities with up to £50 million additional annual revenue funding to enable funded providers to pay the living wage to childcare staff delivering the entitlement. Up to 8,000 staff in the private and third sectors will benefit from that uplift.

Expanded provision must be accessible and delivered in a way that ensures equality of access for all children. The consultation highlighted that it can still be difficult for some families to access their entitlement if their child is disabled or has additional support needs. We are therefore introducing a new fund that will enable the provision of better support to meet children’s needs. Providers will be able to access funding for specialist training and equipment, with a total of £2 million available over the next four years.

Research shows that high-quality learning and care in early years has a positive effect on a range of outcomes for children, and has the potential to make a key contribution to closing the attainment gap. That is why we are determined to ensure that the expansion of early learning and childcare in Scotland helps to deliver the strong foundations that our children need to succeed at school and in life. The blueprint action plan that is being published today sets out 31 key steps that we will take in 2017-18 to progress delivery on our key commitment to nearly double free early learning and childcare to eligible two-year-olds and all three and four-year-olds in Scotland by 2020. Crucially, by founding those steps on the core principles of quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability, we will ensure that the expansion helps to give every child in Scotland an equal chance of fulfilling his or her potential.

Photo of Elizabeth Smith Elizabeth Smith Conservative

I thank the minister for sight of his statement. I very warmly welcome the move to this model, which will ensure that funding follows the child, and especially the prospect of a childcare account. That sort of model will, I think, remove a lot of the inflexibility in the system that has prevented many parents from accessing the childcare of their choice. These moves are exactly what the Conservatives have been calling for for some time now; more important, families and providers have been asking for them, too, and we are very appreciative of the move.

I have three questions for the minister. First, with regard to his desire to improve the quality of care as well as the quantity of places, he states that providers will have to meet new standards. Although we welcome that, what thought has been given to measuring those standards on the basis of regular inspections in order to maintain and enhance them over time? What data will be used in that respect?

Secondly, in recommendation 12 in the action plan, the minister mentions a new fund for additional support needs. How much money is being devoted to that?

Thirdly, in the context of ASN, which is so important, has the minister given further thought to the letter that he sent to me on 21 February with regard to concerns that I had raised about the need for all providers to have a level 9 qualification? It is very good to have a highly professionalised group of people involved in this, but many providers flagged up concerns about additional costs, particularly for those in very small units.

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

I thank Liz Smith for her positive approach to this issue and her welcome for the Government’s approach.

We will give careful consideration to how quality will be measured, because we want to ensure that where those standards are in place we keep track of different providers’ performance in relation to them. Part of the judgment in developing the standards will be how they are measured as part of the wider inspection process, so we will consider that matter carefully as we take this work forward.

On ASN support, the fund that has been announced amounts to £2 million over four years, or £500,000 per annum, and that money is being allocated to support staff training and purchase equipment to support children with additional support needs in early learning and childcare settings.

As for Ms Smith’s third point, if I remember correctly—I do not have the letter in front of me, so the member should not quote me based on my power of recall—I mentioned that we were continuing to give careful consideration to the points that she had raised. That remains the case, and we will continue to look very carefully at the points that she has raised and the concerns that she has fed back to me.

Photo of Daniel Johnson Daniel Johnson Labour

I, too, thank the minister for advance sight of today’s statement.

Although Labour has many criticisms of the Government’s approach to education, we welcome the ambition in and direction of the expansion of early years and childcare provision. We know that, whether it is equality, attainment or getting parents back to work that is the measure, childcare plays a huge part in improving our society. As a result, we back the commitment to expanding provision.

However, we remain concerned about the investment that is required to meet the commitment. To deliver 1,140 hours, we need substantial investment in buildings. Just this week, First Step community nursery in Hamilton was officially opened at a cost of £3.2 million, and it has just over 100 places. If that is what 100 places cost, surely the £30 million of capital investment in the budget is insufficient to meet the commitment to almost doubling provision. What capital funding will be made available, and when will it be available?

I note the minister’s emphasis on a continued role for local authorities in providing childcare, but the new funding model implies a significantly changed role for them with regard to funding and regulation. What will be the role for local councils in respect of quality and standards in childcare?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

The capital allocation this year is to allow local authorities to start the process of developing their expansion plans towards 2020. Today’s announcement provides the clarity that local authorities will want about what the model will be and about our approach to provider status, which will help them to refine the plans that they have been discussing with the Scottish Futures Trust. As I outlined in my statement, future capital allocations will form part of the budget process and part of our discussions between local authorities and the Scottish Futures Trust. I reiterate that we remain committed to fully funding the expansion that is taking place.

Local authorities will continue to have a key role in mapping and shaping provision in their areas and in providing support through the quality assurance that we as a Government will set in place. That will be taken forward as a continuing partnership.

We recognise—as Mr Johnson will have recognised—from feedback that we have received that too often the feeling is that the funding that is put in place does not necessarily relate to the delivery of flexibility in hours or providers. We are seeking to address that through the provider-neutral model, in which the funding follows the child.

Photo of Clare Haughey Clare Haughey Scottish National Party

I welcome the focus on quality in the plans to nearly double free early learning and childcare provision and I welcome the acknowledgement of the role that a highly skilled workforce plays in that. How will the action plan that the minister announced help to provide security for the existing workforce and increase diversity and skills?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

The action plan sets out a range of approaches that we will take to develop the early learning and childcare workforce, improve career pathways and attract more workers to the sector. For example, we will increase the number of modern apprenticeships in the sector by 10 per cent year on year up to 2020; launch a recruitment marketing campaign in the autumn of this year, as I highlighted in my statement; work with Skills Development Scotland to produce updated guidance on opportunities in early learning and childcare for careers advice organisations; and work with the Care Inspectorate and other partners to publish the new learning and development pathway for childminders in September 2017.

Alongside that, our commitment to delivering £50 million of funding to ensure payment of the living wage across the sector provides both security for the existing workforce and the encouragement that is required to attract new people into the workforce to ensure that we can deliver our aims for expansion.

Photo of Jeremy Balfour Jeremy Balfour Conservative

I, too, welcome the minister’s statement. I suspect that some of the devil will be in the detail. We look forward to seeing how the process will work over the next few months.

Does the minister agree that there is still an issue for parents who live in one local authority area but work in another when they try to get the childcare that they want? How does he intend to work with local authorities to make sure that parents get a nursery where they want it, which is not necessarily where they live?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

I agree that the funded entitlement should be delivered where parents choose to access it. We have issued guidance to local authorities on cross-boundary funding of placements. Where we can demonstrate that that is not occurring, I am more than happy to have discussions with the local authorities involved.

As well as preparing for the expansion for 2020, we have to address the here and now in the entitlement that is currently available. I will continue to have discussions with local government to ensure appropriate flexibility and ensure that the cross-boundary issues are addressed.

The model that we are putting in place—the provider-neutral model in which funding follows the child—will help to address the cross-boundary issues that Jeremy Balfour is right to identify.

Photo of Iain Gray Iain Gray Labour

The minister talked about the need to build capacity, which seems correct, and about the importance of provision from all sectors so that childcare can be expanded. In the private sector, one of the problems that nurseries face is the significant increase in their costs through business rates. One example from my constituency was of an increase of more than 40 per cent.

What can the minister do to ensure that providers survive that increase in their costs so that they can contribute to the strategy?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

I will say two things on that—well, maybe more than two; we will see how it goes.

First, the opportunity is there for businesses to appeal any revaluation decision. That should be the first step that any business takes if it feels that a revaluation is unfair because of the costs that will land on it.

Secondly, the chamber decided to pass the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, which provides local authorities with the power to implement localised rates relief schemes—something that is happening in a number of local authority areas across Scotland. The power exists for local authorities to identify local sectors that require rates relief and put that relief in place.

On the basis of the feedback that came to the Government from the business community and Opposition parties, we have taken steps at a national level to put in place specific rates relief schemes. Nevertheless, the power is extended to local authorities and additional money was allocated in the budget, through the deal that was struck between the Government and the Green Party, to enable local authorities to put in place their own localised rates relief schemes, and some local authorities have chosen to do that. I encourage Mr Gray to have conversations with his colleagues at East Lothian Council about the approaches that they could take to rates relief locally.

Photo of Rona Mackay Rona Mackay Scottish National Party

As is demonstrated by the fair funding for our kids campaign, parents often voice concern about their difficulty in taking up current free provision for their children despite what has been on offer from local authorities. How might today’s announcement that the funding will follow the child change that?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

The new system that we are putting in place, in which the funding will follow the child, will remove some of the key barriers that providers in the private and third sectors have highlighted as currently preventing them from offering funded entitlement. The introduction of a standardised approach to offering the funded entitlement will remove some of the inconsistencies that exist in respect of their gaining partner-provider status with local authorities. The approach will also underpin a national quality standard that providers will have to meet. That should encourage more providers in the private and third sectors to offer funded entitlement or, if they are providing it already, to increase the number of funded places that are available, which will unlock more choice for parents and, at the same time, guarantee high-quality provision.

Photo of Alison Johnstone Alison Johnstone Green

The Scottish Greens have previously called for a living wage for all those who work in childcare, so we warmly welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to that. I am also pleased to read about the additional support needs fund of £2 million, the aim to increase diversity in the workforce and promotion of childminders. Why has the minister taken a provider-neutral approach over a local-authority-first one? Does he agree that all children should have access to a General Teaching Council for Scotland qualified teacher?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

T he discussions that I have had with local government have focused on the fact that there needs to be a provider-neutral approach in order to ensure that a range of providers are available.

It is fair to say that some local authorities have involved childminders in their delivery of the 600 hours, but we recognise that that approach is currently not being taken universally. The provider-neutral approach allows us to bring providers including childminders in to deliver the extended hours.

On teacher access, the Government has allocated funding to enable an additional teacher or graduate to work in some of our most deprived communities. We are looking carefully at how we can increase the number of graduates who are working in the sector, as I said in my statement. We recognise that there are, as well as the teachers whom Alison Johnstone identified, graduates with BAs in childhood practice who also have a lot to offer the sector. We want to ensure that as many routes into the profession as possible are available.

Photo of Tavish Scott Tavish Scott Liberal Democrat

I thank the minister for the advance copy of his statement and acknowledge the role that he has played in bringing all this together. Indeed, he is probably now known as the great facilitator on the front bench, having brought all the parties together in broadly welcoming what has been announced today.

But—there is always a “but”, as Jeremy Balfour rightly said—the figures on workforce planning needs that were presented to the Education and Skills Committee earlier in the year by the minister and the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills suggested that between 14,000 and 20,000 extra members of staff would be needed to fulfil the needs of the plan. Does the minister believe that those needs will be met within the exacting timetable that has been established for the policy?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

I cannot help but feel that Tavish Scott is trying to set me up for a fall by heaping such praise on me, but I will do my best to live up to such high expectations.

On staffing numbers, part of the discussion that we will have with local authorities following today’s statement will be about considering carefully the staffing requirements to deliver the policy. The recruitment campaign that we will launch in the autumn will be focused very much on ensuring that we get the required number of individuals taking the various pathways into the early learning and childcare workforce so that we meet our requirements for the expansion of provision by 2020.

I assure Tavish Scott that this Government is fully focused on ensuring that we have not just the right number but the right quality of staff in place to deliver the expansion and high-quality provision to the children of Scotland.

Photo of Fulton MacGregor Fulton MacGregor Scottish National Party

It is important that all children are able to benefit from free early learning and childcare. Will the minister provide more detail about what the access fund that was announced yesterday will provide and how it might help more disabled children to take up their entitlement?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

I thank Fulton MacGregor for his question. He will have heard me say in response to Liz Smith’s question that we are providing £2 million over four years to enable training to be provided to staff and equipment to be purchased, which will help to ensure that children with additional support needs can overcome some of the barriers that they face in accessing their early learning and childcare entitlement.

One of the key principles behind the expansion, which I outlined at the outset and have repeated throughout, is accessibility. That does not just mean geographical accessibility, whereby children can access their entitlement locally; it means ensuring that no child finds himself or herself excluded from provision as a consequence of their needs. The funding is designed to ensure such accessibility.

Photo of Ross Thomson Ross Thomson Conservative

The Conservatives have consistently raised the unfairness of birthday discrimination, whereby a child who was born in August receives a full two years of Government-funded provision before starting school, but a child who was born in September receives only 18 months and a child who was born in January receives only 15 months. Will the minister clarify whether the measures that he has outlined will tackle that inherently unfair situation for children and families in Scotland?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

Currently, local authorities have the flexibility to offer entitlement at an earlier stage than that which was outlined by Ross Thomson, and some authorities choose to do so. That will not change as a consequence of the position that I have outlined.

I am determined to continue to focus on driving improved uptake among eligible two-year-olds who are looked after or come from low-income backgrounds. We recognise that they have much to gain from accessing the entitlement, which I believe addresses some of the points that the Conservatives have raised about ensuring that those who require the provision and would benefit most from it receive it.

Photo of Maree Todd Maree Todd Scottish National Party

It is good to see that so many people and organisations took part in the consultation “A Blueprint for 2020: Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland Consultation”. Given the impact that the policy will have on local authorities, will the minister advise us which local authorities provided their views? Similarly, did any of the Opposition parties or spokespeople provide views?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

We received responses from 27 of the 32 local authorities. The authorities from which we did not receive response were Clackmannanshire Council, East Dunbartonshire Council, South Ayrshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Stirling Council.

We received a response from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, but we did not receive one from the Scottish Local Government Partnership.

Although we did not receive formal responses from the Opposition parties, I met Liz Smith, Daniel Johnson, Tavish Scott and Alison Johnstone. Without telling tales out of school, I am sure that they would agree that those were constructive discussions; I am also sure that they will have seen some of our discussions reflected in my statement to Parliament.

Photo of Jenny Marra Jenny Marra Labour

The minister will have seen the National Day Nurseries Association survey that was published this morning. It said that just half of private nurseries are likely to provide places for the expansion of free early learning and childcare hours. Dundee has a disproportionate number of private nurseries—they account for almost 50 per cent of service provision, compared with a third for Scotland as a whole. How will the minister ensure that local authorities such as Dundee City Council are not left behind in the expansion? How will he put in place the right conditions to encourage private providers to offer funded places?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

I hope that the steps that I have outlined on the approach that we will take to the funding model—to ensure that funding is provided so that the living wage can be provided, and so that we create a suitable quality standard—will help to encourage more providers to offer funded entitlement, whether through expanding what they currently offer or by bringing themselves to the table as new providers.

The NDNA has highlighted issues in its survey. I thank it for its continued constructive input. It has been involved in the Government’s on-going discussion in developing the action plan and the wider policy framework. We will continue to have discussions with the NDNA, but I am confident that the measures that we have outlined will help to address some of the points that it has highlighted to us in its survey.

Photo of Willie Coffey Willie Coffey Scottish National Party

My question is also about the NDNA survey. Particular issues that it raises include staff wages and recruitment. What is the Scottish Government doing to ensure that private nurseries, which play a key role as partner providers, can address those issues?

Photo of Mark McDonald Mark McDonald Scottish National Party

As I have highlighted on more than one occasion, the £50 million of additional revenue to ensure that all staff who deliver the funded entitlement are paid the living wage will help with that.

On the recruitment campaign that we will undertake, an issue that has been raised with me on numerous occasions is the feeling that the role of staff in early learning and childcare settings has not been valued highly enough. I want to change the mindset that can sometimes exist out there. Essentially, we are asking people to join us in transforming children’s lives in Scotland, and what we are looking to deliver can have no higher status. That is the driving principle behind our approach. I hope that that will encourage more people to go into the sector. We will work on ensuring that the living wage is being paid and that there are better salaries and career progression in the sector in order to ensure that we continue to attract high-quality staff to deliver the entitlement.

The Presiding Officer:

That ends questions on the statement on the expansion of free early learning and childcare.

Before we move on to the debate on the consultation on the draft British Sign Language national plan, I am delighted to say that we are providing signing facilities for the benefit of our audience in the gallery and those who are watching at home.