Hansard

I am delighted that we have laid legislation on deferral to ensure that children whose primary 1 place is deferred can benefit from high-quality funded early learning and childcare. I am pleased that we have also now legislated to reintroduce the statutory duty to deliver 1,140 hours of childcare by August 2021. However, we must be mindful that delivery in parallel with our deferral commitment requires a balanced approach, particularly with the continued backdrop of the challenges that are imposed by the Covid-19 response.

It is essential that the introduction of the SSI does not put at risk successful delivery of the early learning and childcare expansion, for which the Scottish Parliament has demonstrated strong support. It is important to note that the deferral policy has the potential to have a significant impact on the number of children attending ELC. Around 20,000 children will become newly eligible for funded ELC as a result of the SSI, but it is difficult to predict likely uptake. We do not know what impact the change will have on parental behaviour, in terms of changing demand for deferred places.

Local authorities have planned carefully for the 1,140 hours expansion and are working to full capacity to ensure that sufficient places will be available across the public, private and third sectors in August. To add the additional pressure of the deferral obligation during the final stages of preparation would introduce an unacceptable and unnecessary level of risk to successful delivery of the expansion. We must therefore gather robust evidence to help us to better understand likely changes in uptake of the entitlement, ahead of full roll-out.

That is why we announced £3 million in December to support five local authorities to pilot implementation in 2021-22, which we intend to extend to more authorities during 2022-23. We will learn from all the pilots, including those in authorities that have previously funded most or all requests for discretionary deferrals. We will, for example, learn more about behaviour change in terms of parental demand if there is not an application process.

I am acutely aware that this year has been a difficult one for children, and that it will continue to be so for many families. I have said previously and say again that it is important that we do not think of children as being school ready, but of schools as being child ready. Most children will be eager to start school as normal in August, and I know that schools and ELC settings will be carefully considering the needs of the cohort, as they plan their transition. Ahead of full implementation, I expect local authorities to continue to use their discretion on funded deferrals, with the interests of the child being at the heart of those decisions, whether the request is due to the impact of Covid-19 or otherwise.