9. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it is making in delivering the expansion of early learning and childcare. (S5O-02215)

The Scottish Government is on track to deliver our ambitious programme to almost double funded early learning and childcare entitlement to 1,140 hours by August 2020. We are committed to fully funding the expansion, and we reached a landmark agreement with Convention of Scottish Local Authorities leaders on 27 April on a multiyear revenue and capital package. That agreement means that annual revenue investment will increase by £567 million from 2016-17 levels by 2021-22 and that £467 million of capital funding will be provided over four years.

That real partnership working is further evidenced by our joint consultation with COSLA, which was launched on 29 March and which sets out the details of the national standard that will underpin the new funding-follows-the-child model, which will be introduced in 2020. That consultation is open until the end of this month.

We are also working with our partners to support the expansion of the early years workforce. In October 2017, we launched the first phase of our recruitment marketing campaign, which was targeted at school leavers. The second phase, which is to attract career changers and parental returners to ELC, was launched last month.

The Minister will, no doubt, be aware of the recent National Day Nurseries Association survey in which four out of five independent and voluntary sector nurseries said that the amount of money that they receive for the current funded places—£3.72 an hour per child—is too low. They said that they are £2 an hour per child short, which is no surprise if we consider the living wage and staff ratios. Does the minister recognise that figure? If so, how will she tackle the situation? I fear that, if she does not do so, the 1,140 hours target will not be met or real damage will be done to the small and independently managed nurseries that are important to that provision.

We will introduce the new funding-follows-the-child model in 2020. A key aspect of that model is that all providers that deliver the funded early learning and childcare entitlement will receive a sustainable funding rate that is set at the local level, that reflects the cost of delivering in a setting and that allows the delivery of national priorities including the payment of a real living wage.

As I said yesterday, we have introduced a new 100 per cent rate relief for private properties that are wholly or mainly used as day nurseries, and the sector has really welcomed that. It is estimated that that relief will remove the burden of rates from up to 500 businesses to support an inclusive workforce and benefit the economy as a whole.

We have engaged with, and we continue to engage with, providers on the development of that incredible expansion. Indeed, we have engaged with them multiple times. At the ELC strategic forum yesterday, I received a commitment from my COSLA colleagues, whom we have worked with in close partnership. We and COSLA colleagues have committed to tackling any difficulties that people encounter with individual local authorities. We have a really solid working agreement, a really solid partnership, a shared vision and a shared commitment, and we are willing to help the sector to solve any problems that it might face. It is absolutely essential to our delivery of the programme that those nurseries and childminders receive the payment that they require.

What impact does the Minister expect the deposit guarantee trial to have on Dumfries and Galloway? How will the Government evaluate that trial?

The deposit guarantee pilot will guarantee the deposit of participating families in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dumfries and Galloway. That means that up to 44 per cent of families with children under three will not have to pay a deposit up front.

Our recent survey found that families can experience difficulties in paying the up-front costs associated with nurseries, including deposits, and some nurseries have told us that the deposit guarantee scheme will help them to change their pricing model. If nurseries are able to use the deposit guarantee, they will no longer have to charge fees in advance, which families can struggle to pay and which can be a barrier to people returning to the labour market. The nurseries have said that they will be able to charge fees in arrears, which means that families will have received their first pay cheque before they have to pay their childcare costs.

We are working with NHS Health Scotland to ensure that the pilot is fully evaluated, and that will include understanding exactly how families and providers use the scheme and the impact that it has had.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

Thank you. If we have shorter answers and short supplementary questions, we will perhaps get a move on.