Meeting of the Parliament 05 February 2025
The First Minister declared that tackling child poverty is the national mission of this Scottish parliamentary session. Our education system, as a universal service that the vast majority of families access, is an essential component of that.
In its briefing, Save the Children states:
“The early years of childhood are golden, when development is rapid, vast and holistic.”
All parents want the best for their children, but, without support, poverty in the early years can limit young children’s potential and entrench inequalities. The poverty-related gap in children’s outcomes opens well before they set foot in a primary school classroom. Disparities in health and development take root from early childhood, with those who grow up in poverty more likely to have poorer health, educational and economic outcomes throughout their lives.
Children from low-income households are much less likely to score well on measures associated with readiness to thrive at school. Like many other countries, Scotland is still reckoning with the increasing developmental concerns following the pandemic, which can have knock-on effects on the rest of a child’s education. That is particularly true for children in the most deprived communities. Interventions focusing on early childhood can play a significant role in mitigating the impacts of poverty by helping families to lay strong foundations for their children’s future.
The Scottish Government has taken many steps to make Scotland one of the best countries in which to experience the early years—the Scottish child payment, the baby box, best start grants, support services for parents and carers, investment in quality early learning and childcare—and is making every effort to ensure that those approaches are reaching and benefiting families.
Investment in high-quality early years services is essential for tackling child poverty, inequality and social exclusion and for breaking intergenerational cycles. There is clear evidence that high-quality early years education and childcare is beneficial to children’s development, with the strongest effects being seen among children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The Government has massively expanded the provision of fully funded and high-quality early learning and childcare—it has provided 1,140 hours for eligible children aged two and for all three and four-year-olds. This year’s budget includes about £1 billion of investment in early years services.