Meeting of the Parliament 28 February 2018
There are a number of challenges involved in identifying the eligible two-year-olds and targeting the offering to their families. We are working with local authorities and the Department for Work and Pensions on sharing data to identify and target them. I accept that there is an issue.
There is a huge body of work going on behind the scenes to deliver the expansion. In the past year alone, we produced an early learning and childcare quality action plan, about which, members will be interested to hear, the NDNA said:
“It really shows that the Scottish Government has listened to and worked with the sector, including NDNA Scotland, in its proposal to improve quality in early years.”
We also produced a skills investment plan; an online resource for childminders; plans for an additional graduate in nurseries in Scotland’s most deprived communities from August this year; a multidisciplinary delivery support team to work with local authorities to provide innovation and redesign capacity; phase 1 of a national workforce recruitment marketing campaign to positively promote careers in ELC; and updated guidance for careers advice organisations.
Many of those actions relate to the need to expand the workforce, and we estimate that up to 11,000 additional workers will be required by 2020, creating job opportunities around Scotland. The investment to do that is already well under way. To support the first phase of the workforce expansion in 2017, we provided local authorities with £21 million in additional revenue funding, boosted ELC capacity in colleges and universities, and increased ELC modern apprenticeship starts by 10 per cent.