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Meeting of the Parliament 15 March 2012

15 Mar 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Childcare

McArthur, Liam LD Orkney Islands Watch on SPTV

I am well aware of the concern that Mr Chisholm reiterates. However, the £300 million that has been invested in the childcare support element of universal credit will extend access to childcare support to a further 80,000 families. There is a mixed picture. I certainly hope that UK ministers will keep that under review.

At the weekend, perhaps in anticipation of this morning’s Liberal Democrat debate, we heard the First Minister promise

“the best package of free nursery education on offer anywhere in the UK”.

It is to be delivered through legislation that will entitle every three-year-old and four-year-old to 600 hours of pre-school nursery provision a year. Although that might be welcome, it follows a similar promise by Mr Swinney in 2007, that the SNP Government would deliver 570 hours of nursery provision to the same group by 2010. While those 570 hours are currently enjoyed by three-year-olds and four-year-olds in England, in all but two council areas in Scotland, the figure is 100 hours less than that.

Interestingly, Bronwen Cohen, the chief executive of Children in Scotland, has warned that even the new commitment from the First Minister might do little to help working parents who are trying to negotiate between childcare and pre-school providers. In The Scotsman yesterday, Ms Cohen stressed:

“In the early years, care and education are indivisible. Treating them separately has led to considerable inequality in accessing services, contributes to high costs to parents for childcare and means that some families cannot make use of their child’s entitlement to pre-school education.”

In essence, those are precisely the symptoms that are exposed in the Children in Scotland and Daycare Trust report.

The First Minister has also pledged additional support for looked-after two-year-olds and children who are in foster care. Again, Ms Cohen highlights that, although that is undoubtedly valuable,

“it is markedly less generous than what is being offered in England and Wales.”

In England, investment is being made in 260,000 childcare places for 40 per cent of two-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds. That entitlement to 15 hours a week of free early education represents a £380 million commitment by the UK Government. In Wales, the flying start programme is making similar headway. Those programmes offer examples of where lessons could be learned and of approaches that could be adopted here. Sadly, when the SNP casts its eyes south, it is invariably to condemn, as its amendment does this morning.

I recognise that concerns have been expressed by Malcolm Chisholm, in Neil Bibby’s amendment and elsewhere about the impact that changes to the childcare element of working tax credit might have on low-income families. That should be kept under review, but it is clear that the changes that are being introduced under universal credits will see 80,000 families in the UK, including many in Scotland, receiving more support with childcare. The removal of the requirement that recipients work a minimum of 16 hours per week, as well as the £300 million investment, will be welcomed.

Children in Scotland and the Daycare Trust have provided invaluable insight into the challenges that we face in ensuring that access to affordable high-quality childcare in this country matches the best in Europe. In addition, their report identifies a number of areas in which we lag behind the rest of the UK. That may offend nationalist sensibilities to such an extent that the Scottish Government cannot bring itself to express concern about the report’s findings, but I hope that, in working through the early years task force, SNP ministers will be prepared to learn lessons from what is happening elsewhere in the UK, and that we will start to see the more joined-up approach to education and care that parents, children and those who are involved in the sectors wish to see.

I move,

That the Parliament recognises that access to affordable, high-quality childcare supports children’s learning and development and enables parents to return to, or remain in, work; notes with concern the recent report, The Scottish Childcare Lottery, which found that there are very significant gaps in the availability of childcare in Scotland, childcare costs are among the highest in Britain and that there is greater geographic variation in childcare costs in Scotland than in any other part of the UK; believes that, while some local authorities have worked hard to ensure sufficient childcare in their areas, much more work is needed from the Scottish Government and local authorities to ensure that families have access to affordable, integrated pre-school and childcare services in every community matched to an assessment of local demand, as is required by the Early Years Framework; is also concerned that Scotland is lagging behind England on entitlement to free pre-school education, and calls on the Scottish Government to respond to the concerns about availability and costs raised in The Scottish Childcare Lottery report, to ensure that the objectives of the Early Years Framework are met and to set out the steps that it will take to increase childcare support in Scotland in order to match the best elsewhere in Europe.

09:25

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Meeting of the Parliament 15 March 2012

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