Question reference: S5W-34053
- Asked by: Angus MacDonald, MSP for Falkirk East, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 15 December 2020
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Current status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Maree Todd on 16 December 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its approach to implementing the Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Amendment Order 2020, which will entitle all children whose school start is deferred to access funded early learning and childcare in their deferred year, from August 2023.
Answer
On 2 October 2019, I confirmed that the Scottish Government would introduce legislation in this parliamentary session to entitle all children whose school start is deferred to access funded early learning and childcare in their deferred year.
The legislation required, an affirmative Scottish Statutory Instrument (SSI) under the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, was laid on 7 December 2020.
To progress the implementation of this policy, 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. The Scottish Government has committed £3 million to support this early implementation.
The Joint Implementation Plan has been published at
The pilot authorities will be: Angus; Argyll and Bute; Falkirk; Scottish Borders; and Shetland. The Scottish Government and COSLA have committed to working to increase the number of authorities implementing the obligation fully or partially from August 2022.
An evaluation of the impact in pilot authorities will be undertaken to monitor the impact of the policy, inform assessment of likely uptake of the entitlement and inform wider implementation of this legislation.