To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the impact of the reported rising childcare costs on families, particularly those on low and middle incomes, in light of recent research by the Coram Family and Childcare charity. (S6O-04533)

The Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise (Natalie Don-Innes):

Supporting families through access to high-quality, affordable and accessible childcare is critical to the First Minister’s mission of eradicating child poverty. That is why, since 2021, we have prioritised investment of £1 billion per year in funded early learning and childcare for all three-year-olds and four-year-olds, and the two-year-olds who need it most.

Our interim evaluation report, “Early Learning and Childcare Expansion to 1140 hours”, which was published in August 2024, found that the uptake of funded hours is high and that there are promising signs that the expansion is delivering improvements in quality, flexibility, accessibility and affordability. Our full evaluation report will be published later this year.

Although a part-time nursery place for a child under the age of two now costs an average of £70.51 per week in England, after working-parent entitlements are taken into account, that represents a 56 per cent decrease since last year. In Scotland, a part-time nursery place for a child under two costs an average of £122.38, which represents a 7 per cent rise since 2024. Clearly, that will hit lowest-paid workers hardest, with many families in Scotland having to pay £50 more a week than families in England are paying for the same childcare. What will the Scottish Government do to address that inequality?

Natalie Don-Innes:

Mr Whitfield raises an important point, but I point out that Scotland is the only part of the United Kingdom that offers 1,140 hours a year of funded ELC to all three and four-year-olds and eligible two-year-olds, and our investment is fundamental to giving children the best start in life. By contrast, the Institute for Fiscal Studies made it clear that the poorest third of families in England will see almost no direct benefit from the UK Government’s childcare entitlements.

Let me be clear that this is about what is best for Scotland’s children. Our offer is built for the children who need it the most. That said, we continue to work with local authorities and stakeholders to see how we can provide more support for parents. Martin Whitfield is aware of all the work that we are doing in relation to our early adopter communities and other aspects of our childcare offer. I will continue to look for ways that we can support parents with childcare costs.

Good-quality, accessible and affordable childcare is essential to addressing child poverty and enabling parents to re-enter the workforce. Thanks to the policies of the previous Conservative Government, as has been stated, the cost of a part-time childcare place has more than halved and the cost of a full-time place has been reduced by 20 per cent. I have been highlighting in the Parliament the issues with early years childcare for working parents for some time. Will the minister agree to examine the implementation of the 1,140 hours of free childcare and adjust the policy to ensure that parents can get back into employment?

Natalie Don-Innes:

Ms McCall talks about the UK Conservative Government’s childcare policy. I seriously call into question the impact that Conservative policies have had on families across Scotland for a number of years.

As I pointed out, this is about helping children. Our offer of 1,140 funded hours is guaranteed to benefit three and four-year-olds, but the picture is a little different for children under three. How much those children benefit from early learning and childcare provision is determined by crucial factors such as their family background, the age that they start in ELC, the quality of the services and the balance of hours that they spend between care at home and in ELC settings. We have a number of workstreams under way to increase access to childcare for parents, but I emphasise that we want to get this right for our youngest children and their families. That is what we are working towards.