Question reference: S6W-00339
- Asked by: Ross Greer, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Green Party
- Date lodged: 1 June 2021
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Current status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 15 June 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how local authorities will be selected to pilot the policy of fully-funded deferred entry to primary school in 2022-23, and by what date the local authorities selected will be announced.
Answer
To progress the implementation of this policy ahead of August 2023, the Scottish Government and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) have agreed a Joint Implementation Plan under which five local authorities will pilot early implementation of this obligation in 2021-22. Those authorities are: Angus; Argyll and Bute; Falkirk; Scottish Borders; and the Shetland Islands. The Scottish Government has committed £3 million to support this early implementation.
We have committed to seek to add further pilots in August 2022 to further inform full implementation of the obligation. Local authorities would be selected based on their suitability for evaluation purposes, and on their readiness to deliver the obligation early. We anticipate that the pilot authorities for 2022-23 will be announced in Autumn 2021 following engagement with local authorities and CoSLA.