Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-18992

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of eligible children with additional support needs are currently accessing 1,140 hours of funded childcare.

According to the latest Scottish Government Early Learning and Childcare census data from September 2022, 99% of 3- and 4-year-olds, and 14% of 2-year-olds, are estimated to be registered for funded early learning and childcare (ELC), and 18% of these child registrations are of children with additional support needs. The 2022 Parents’ Survey found that 85% of parents with children with additional support needs were satisfied that funded ELC meets their child’s needs.

Although we do not have data on how many hours of funded ELC these children are accessing, given these overall figures we envisage that a significant proportion of eligible children with additional support needs are currently accessing their entitlement to 1,140 hours of funded childcare. We are currently developing the ELC census and are looking to collect more information on the characteristics of children accessing funded ELC, and the hours they are registered for.

Audit Scotland’s report on progress of delivery of the 1,140 hours expansion of ELC, published on 1 June 2023, recommended that further work should be undertaken on the extent to which children with additional support needs are not accessing funded ELC, the reasons for this, and the extent of any unmet needs. We are considering this recommendation further, with a view to ensuring that all children who are eligible to receive funded ELC can benefit from the 1,140 expansion.

Question reference: S6W-18984

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to identify how much was spent by local authorities on phasing in additional hours of funded childcare between 2018-19 and 2021-22.

Routine spending information that councils report does not distinguish between spending on 600 hours of funded ELC and spending on the additional hours provided by the expansion. The Scottish Government has therefore gathered separate financial information on spending on the expansion from councils three times. However, despite best efforts, the information gathered does not provide a comprehensive picture of how much councils have spent specifically on the expansion at a national level. Measures are being taken by the Scottish Government to change reporting through local financial returns to produce more detailed information on how much councils have spent specifically on the provision of funded ELC.

Question reference: S6W-18982

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reported concerns regarding the fragility of the early years sector.

Question reference: S6W-18988

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to address the data gaps in the roll-out of 1,140 hours of funded childcare, as outlined by the Auditor General in the report, Early learning and childcare: Progress on delivery of the 1,140 hours expansion.

The data gaps identified by Audit Scotland relate to different elements of funded early learning and childcare (ELC). These include workforce movement, the living wage, parental demand, financial data, and the extent to which children with additional support needs are accessing funded ELC. As Audit Scotland note, providing a national overview of ELC data will require action by the Scottish Government, local authorities and other partners.

In relation to data on the movement of childcare staff between different types of provider, the Scottish Social Services Council will be publishing an analysis of staff movement within the Day Care of Children Category before the end of June 2023.

In relation to financial monitoring, the Scottish Government is working to change reporting through local financial returns to produce more detailed information on how much councils have spent specifically on the provision of funded ELC.

For information on action that the Scottish Government is already taking to improve ELC monitoring data in relation to the living wage and children with additional support needs, I refer the member to the answers to questions S6W-18994 and S6W-18992 on 21 June 2023.

All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

Question reference: S6W-18985

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 09 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when a value-for-money assessment of 1,140 hours of funded childcare will be completed.

The Scottish Government will be undertaking an economic evaluation as part of our multi-year strategy for evaluating the impact of the expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) to 1,140 hours on outcomes for children, parents and families. The purpose of an economic evaluation is to compare the value of the outcomes of a policy to the overall costs of that policy, in order to determine the value for money of the programme. Details of the economic evaluation approach were published in section 6 of our published in October 2022. Work on the economic evaluation will begin in 2023 and the final phase of this work is due to be completed in late 2025 – to allow the information from the Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare (SSELC) to be used in the economic evaluation.

Question reference: S6W-18607

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 15 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with New College Lanarkshire Motherwell Campus regarding the proposed closure of its halls of residence.

Question reference: S6O-02397

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 14 June 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 21 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government when the report by the taskforce to consider whether to extend wildlife crime investigation powers to the Scottish SPCA will be published.

Question reference: S6W-18613

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 02 June 2023
Current Status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 14 June 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether regulations will be introduced, under the Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, to ban the use of remote-controlled collars that emit electric shocks to dogs.

Question reference: S6F-02199

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 30 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 June 2023

To ask the First Minister what the Scottish Government's position is regarding recent reports that suggest there is a mental health crisis emerging in the early years sector.

Question reference: S6T-01392

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Monday, 22 May 2023
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 May 2023

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will compensate businesses if it decides not to proceed with the Deposit Return Scheme.