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Under the Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, education authorities have duties to identify, provide for and review the additional support needs (ASN) of their pupils.

The National Occupation Standards (NOS) form the basis of qualifications and training programmes required to work in social services in Scotland and to register with the Scottish Social Services Council. The NOS define the knowledge and skills needed for effective performance, and include that professionals must ‘know and understand legal and work setting requirements on equality, diversity, discrimination and rights.

Within the registerable qualifications, which all childcare staff must obtain, equalities, diversity and inclusion are woven into the mandatory units at all levels, as well as containing ASN specific optional units. The Next Generation Higher National Certificate in Childhood Practice, for example, now contains a mandatory stand-alone ASN unit - Additional Support Needs: Positive Support Strategies for Children and Young People.

The Scottish Social Services Council also recently launched a continuous professional learning (CPL) portal specifically for the childcare profession, funded by the Scottish Government. Within the CPL Directory of the portal are multiple training resources which help practitioners to support children with ASN, including a resource on ‘building confidence in identifying and responding to additional support needs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28663 on 15 August 2024.

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 .

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) and other Disabled People’s Organisations to develop and implement a disability equality plan that is informed by the lived experience of disabled people and will deliver actions to help with the significant challenges they are currently facing.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-28663 on 15 August 2024.

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 .

Parental engagement is vital when there are decisions to be made about the care and education of children, particularly those with additional support needs.

The Scottish Government seeks to create opportunities to enable parents and carers to be consistently involved and fully listened to as key partners in the development of additional support for learning (ASL) policy, and more broadly in education policy. Parents and carers are represented in all our key stakeholder groups on ASL.

Parents are involved in the planning process for the delivery of care and educational support provided by local authorities, through Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) and ASL policy implementation.

The Children’s Service, My Rights, My Say is a Scottish Government funded national service which supports children who have attained the age of 12 years and their parents and carers who wish to exercise, or are considering exercising, relevant rights to help them access the advice and support that they need to be fully involved in decisions about their education.

The Scottish Government also funds Let’s Talk ASN Scotland, a national advocacy and legal representation service for young people (over 16 years old) and the parents and carers of children with additional support needs, who may require support in relation to a dispute or potential dispute with an education authority regarding support under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004.

The Scottish Government does not hold specific data on the number of nurseries which have cancelled their registrations with the Care Inspectorate since 2016. However, the Care Inspectorate publishes data each year on its website. This data shows that, between 1 January 2017 and 30 April 2024, 1,000 day care of children settings cancelled their registration. This figure will include nurseries as well as other types of day care of children settings.

It is important to note that a cancelled registration does not always mean that the service is no longer operating but can reflect other factors such as a change in ownership.

Source: Care Inspectorate Cancelled Services,

The Scottish Government does not hold specific data on the number of nursery closures by local authority area. However, the Care Inspectorate publishes data each year in the Early Learning and Childcare Statistics publication that sets out changes across different types of childcare settings at a national level. This shows an increase in the number of nurseries from 2,468 in 2016 to 2,538 in 2022 (a 3% increase). This figure will be affected by both closures and openings of new settings.

Source: Care Inspectorate, and .

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a diverse, sustainable and thriving childcare sector.

For those providers in the private and third sector, including childminders, who deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC) the payment of sustainable rates by local authorities is vital to supporting their financial sustainability and to enabling the delivery of high quality ELC. Rates have increased substantially since the implementation of the ELC expansion to 1140 hours – with the average rate paid by local authorities to providers for delivering funded ELC to 3-5 year olds increasing by 64.1% between 2017 and 2023, from £3.68 per hour in 2017-18 to £6.04 per hour in 2023-24.

However, while the average rate has increased, there remains variation in the rates paid across Scotland. That is why the Scottish Government will continue to look for opportunities to strengthen the current system, including taking forward the recommendations of the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Review of Sustainable Rates , published in December 2023. The evidence-based review recommends a wide-ranging set of actions, which are currently being progressed, to strengthen the process for setting rates.

In 2024-25 the Scottish Government has provided local authorities with an additional £16 million to enable staff delivering funded ELC in the private, and third sector to be paid at least £12 per hour from April 2024. To support this commitment joint Scottish Government and COSLA guidance sets out our shared commitment to increasing rates for all funded ELC providers by at least 7.6% in 2024-25.

To support the sustainability of the overall childcare sector the Scottish Government has legislated to continue the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme, which provides 100 per cent relief on Non-Domestic Rates to eligible day nurseries; made more than £35 million of dedicated financial support available to providers during the pandemic; and funded pilot programmes of targeted Business Gateway support to enable childcare providers to access tailored, specialist advice on strengthening their businesses.

As set out in we will maintain a robust but proportionate means of monitoring the financial sustainability of the childcare sector to ensure that both national and local policy is informed by up to date evidence about the health of the sector. This includes through the Financial Sustainability Health Checks. The most recent Financial Sustainability Health Check of the Childcare Sector in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) was published on 31 July 2023 and sets out a programme of actions, across a number of areas, to support the long-term sustainability of the sector.

Under Funding Follows the Child, all nurseries who deliver funded early learning and childcare (ELC) must, as part of the criteria in the National Standard for all ELC providers Section 2: The National Standard for all Early Learning and Childcare Providers - Funding Follows The Child and The National Standard for Early Learning and Childcare Providers: Operating Guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) , be able to demonstrate that they are financially viable providers and that they have a sustainable staffing structure in place which meets the recommended adult: child ratios.

Local authorities are responsible for assessing and monitoring compliance with the National Standard in all funded providers, as part of their contract management arrangements and in their role as guarantors of quality. With regards to business sustainability, services delivering funded ELC must ensure that they are able to demonstrate – when required – that their business model continues to be financially viable through the provision of appropriate financial information, for example, accounts and business forecasts/projections. A Business Continuity Plan must also be in place.

If a service delivering funded ELC was at risk of closure due to financial difficulties or staffing shortages then it is expected that they would make their local authority aware of these challenges.

The Scottish Government monitors trends in sustainability and staffing across the overall childcare sector, including through the Financial Sustainability Health Checks. Analysis in the most recent Financial Sustainability Health Check: Financial Sustainability Health Check of the Childcare Sector in Scotland - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) published on 31 July 2023, reported that annual cancellation rates for private and third sector services over the period March 2020 to March 2023 were at similar levels to previous years.

The Scottish Government's annual teacher workforce planning process is informed by a statistical model which estimates the number of Initial Teacher Education students required to maintain teacher numbers. The model considers a number of inputs, including projections of the number of teachers retiring.

The Strategic Board for Teacher Education, which comprises a range of key education stakeholders, is also considering issues around the recruitment and retention of teachers in Scotland.

The Scottish Government is committed to protecting teacher numbers, and we are offering local authorities £145.5m in this year’s budget for that purpose. This funding will allow councils to protect teacher numbers in order to support children’s education.