Meeting of the Parliament 26 February 2026 [Draft]
I will come on to that point, but it is not the case that nothing has materialised; a lot has materialised.
I know that families are still facing challenges. Last year, I met Pregnant Then Screwed to discuss the impacts that a lack of childcare can have on parents, who want the flexibility that increased childcare can offer. The Government is sensitive to those challenges.
Alongside our funded 1,140 offer, we are exploring ways to expand the provision of childcare through our early adopter communities programme. We are also delivering wraparound school-age childcare services to families who are most at risk of living in poverty.
We recognise that one of the most effective ways of tackling poverty is to enable parents and carers to enter sustainable work. Through our no one left behind approach, parents receive parental employability support from a dedicated key worker, which includes one-to-one tailored support to help to reduce barriers to employment. Since April 2020, more than 99,000 people have started to receive that support, of whom more than 30,000 were parents.
In addition, our investments to deliver funded wraparound school-age childcare in some of Scotland’s most deprived communities demonstrate the ability of expanded access to childcare to support the Government’s priorities of tackling child poverty and achieving economic growth.
More than 7,000 children and families who are most at risk of living in poverty are benefiting from funded or subsidised school-age childcare activities and related services through our investment in the early adopter communities programme, the extra time programme and the access to childcare fund. We are seeing positive outcomes from those programmes.
Improved outcomes for children are also being reported from people being able to access a range of activities that support physical and mental health. In 2026-27, we will continue to invest more than £5.5 million in our extra time programme. We will also invest an extra £2.5 million to test the delivery of a wider after-school activities offer for primary school children.