Alison Harris

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what indications it has had from local authorities that the rate of revenue funding for the expansion of funded childcare that they will allocate to private and third sector providers will increase.

Answer · Maree Todd: The landmark multi-year funding agreement reached by the Scottish Government and COSLA in April 2018 to fully fund the expansion of early learning childcare entitlement to 1140 hours includes funding for the payment of sustainable rates to funded providers fr…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government which measures outlined in the recent delivery support plan for the expansion of funded childcare are new.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Delivery Support Plan for Early Learning and Childcare Providers sets out a number of new measures including:Providing Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland with additional resource to support providers to meet the quality aspects of the National Stand…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what the average staff to child ratio is in early learning and childcare services in (a) local authority, (b) private and third sector and (c) all settings, also broken down by local authority.

Answer · Maree Todd: This information is not held centrally.

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the uptake of 3- to 5-year-olds in funded childcare provision from 1 May to 30 September 2018 being 342 more than forecast, the data in the recent progress report on the expansion of funded childcare including early learning and childcare services from all settings, and the …

Answer · Maree Todd: Local authorities have flexibility to determine the most appropriate way to phase entitlement in their local area as they build capacity. In considering phasing, authorities should evidence consideration of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation to ensure…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the appropriateness of giving local authorities the freedom to define FTE according to their own classification, as outlined in the recent progress report on the expansion of funded childcare, and what impact inconsistent data collection methods have on the qualit…

Answer · Maree Todd: There is variation in how local authorities define full-time equivalent (FTE) members of staff, as staff are subject to different terms and conditions across local authority areas. For example, the standard contractual hours worked in a week can differ across…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the appropriateness of collecting data on early learning and childcare services that are providing over 600 hours as the primary method of measuring the progress of the expansion of funded entitlement to 1,140 hours, and whether it has considered breaking this dat…

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government does not collect data on services providing over 600 hours of Early Learning and Childcare. The data provided by local authorities and presented in the Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report relates to the numb…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason data collection in its recent progress report on the expansion of funded childcare was not undertaken in a standard way across all local authorities; what efforts were made to provide guidance to local authorities on its preferred data collection methods, and whether this…

Answer · Maree Todd: The Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report is based on data returns prepared by local authorities and submitted to the Improvement Service. As noted in the Progress Report, each local authority was provided with a standard template f…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of the lower-than-forecasted levels of newly-recruited FTE early learning and childcare staff between 1 May and 30 September 2018 it estimates can be explained by optimism bias.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report published in December shows that local authorities remain on track to deliver the capacity required to implement the expansion from August 2020. The report set out progress against targets w…

15 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of comments in the recent progress report on the expansion of funded childcare, whether it will provide details of where challenges have been found in “recruiting to some role types”, and what these role types are.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Early Learning and Childcare Expansion Delivery Progress Report published in December 2018 shows that local authorities remain on track to deliver the capacity required to implement the expansion from August 2020. Local authorities which encountered recr…

9 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Children and Young People on 19 December 2018 (Official Report, c. 55), whether it will confirm what action it is taking to ensure that each local authority will provide equal treatment to childminders if they conform to the national standard…

Answer · Maree Todd: The Funding Follows the Child approach enables parents and carers to make informed choices about where they want their child to access their funded entitlement to early learning and childcare. It is underpinned by a ‘provider neutral’ approach which allows pa…

9 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Children and Young People on 19 December 2018 (Official Report, c. 55), when it expects its initial targeted expansion in local authority services and areas of high deprivation to progress to partner providers and independent schools.

Answer · Maree Todd: Each local authority has developed an expansion plan which sets out how they intend to deliver the funded entitlement to 1140 hours in their communities by August 2020 in a way which best reflects local needs, which will include a phasing plan which supports …

9 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Minister for Children and Young People on 19 December 2018 (Official Report, c. 55), what proportion of the 4% reduction in childminders between 2017 and 2018 is due to a drop in the number of inactive childminders.

Answer · Maree Todd: Data relating to 2018 is not currently available. There was a 4% reduction (243 services) in the number of childminders registered with the Care Inspectorate between end of 2016 and end of 2017, as reported in Early Learning and Childcare Statistics 2017 whi…

9 Jan 2019 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5O-02782 by Jeane Freeman on 17 January 2019 (Official Report, c. 4), whether it will set out the timetable for the action that it is taking in response to NHS Forth Valley being escalated to stage 3 on the NHS board performance escalation framework; h…

Answer · Jeane Freeman: We are formally supporting NHS Forth Valley to return the board to a sustainable position of performance against the four-hour target. In order to do this we have appointed an interim site Director to work with the local team for a period of three months up t…

11 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will ask each local authority to provide it with details of the revenue cost per-child per-hour that they are using in local authority-run early learning and childcare services for the expansion of funded childcare to 1,140 hours and, if so, when.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government has no plans to ask authorities to provide details of the revenue cost per child per hour for local authority run early learning and childcare services. Scottish Ministers provided details of individual authority funding allocations i…

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether revenue funding settlements for the expansion of funded childcare to 1,140 hours take account of annual inflation.

Answer · Maree Todd: The revenue allocations in the multi-year funding agreement have been uprated for inflation. This was confirmed in a summary note lodged with the Scottish Parliament’s Information Centre in May 2018 regarding the funding agreement reached by Scottish Minister…

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on local authorities deciding that all children from areas of multiple deprivation who require early learning and childcare services will receive these at council-run centres.

Answer · Maree Todd: Families will be able to access high quality funded ELC with the provider of their choice if that provider meets the criteria set out in the National Standard, wishes to deliver the funded entitlement, has a space available, and is willing to enter into a con…

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to the supplementary to question S5O-02648 by Maree Todd on 5 December 2018 (Official Report, c. 12), whether it will provide the information requested regarding whether it will intervene to ensure that local authorities establish a dialogue with private and third …

Answer · Maree Todd: We are creating the mechanisms for sharing good practice partnership working between local authorities and providers. The ELC Partnership Forum established in October 2018 will drive action and promote more meaningful partnership working across the ELC secto…

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to increase transparency of local government finances in relation to the accounts of local authority-run early learning and childcare services.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Scottish Government commissioned a financial review of the Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) sector in 2016. This provided a detailed breakdown of the costs of delivering ELC in local authority, private partner and voluntary settings across Scotland. Th…

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider bringing forward the date by which local authorities must provide an update on their actions to support private providers and hourly revenue funding rates from the end of 2018-19 to the end of January 2019.

Answer · Maree Todd: As set out in our Delivery Support Plan for Providers, published on 19 December, we are encouraging local authorities to provide immediate support to funded providers by utilising the final £6 million revenue to be allocated in 2018-19 to support funded provi…

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on reports that some local authorities are considering a local standard on top of the national standard for the provision of 1,140 hours of funded childcare.

Answer · Maree Todd: All settings wishing to become a funded provider in Scotland will be assessed against the same National Standard criteria. Local authorities cannot add to or amend these criteria.

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of reported concerns regarding the exclusion of children under three in its data on early learning and childcare, what action it is taking to improve the collection and quality of its data.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) census includes information on children under 3 who are registered for funded provision. The data from the 2018 census reported 539 registrations for children aged under 2, and 5,701 registrations for 2 year olds (which …

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide details of the support package that will be available to private and third sector early learning and childcare providers, and when this will be delivered.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Delivery Support Plan for Providers was published on 19 December and can be found here: https://www.gov.scot/publications/delivery-support-plan-early-learning-childcare-providers/ .

6 Dec 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when and where it plans to publish data on the progress of the expansion of funded childcare to 1,140 hours.

Answer · Maree Todd: The Early Learning and Childcare Delivery Progress Report was published on 19 December and can be found at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/early-learning-and-childcare-delivery-progress-report/ .

27 Nov 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to reduce the workload of teachers in Falkirk.

Answer · John Swinney: We continue to tackle teacher workload and bureaucracy across Scotland. Following the recommendations of the Working Group on Tackling Bureaucracy I launched a further review in 2016, looking at the demands placed on schools by local authorities. To provide f…

21 Nov 2018 · Portfolio Question

To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to ensure that all major tourist attractions receive sufficient levels of promotion.

16 Nov 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of NHS Forth Valley’s performance being the worst in Scotland in relation to meeting waiting time targets for the inpatient treatment time guarantee and child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), what measures have been put place to improve performance in these areas.

Answer · Clare Haughey: Our Waiting Times Improvement Plan, which was launched in October, will ensure that all patients have swift and safe access to the full range of services from NHS Scotland. The Plan will direct investment of more than £850 million to substantially and sustain…

16 Nov 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the percentage of efficiency savings made by NHS Forth Valley in non-recurring areas increasing from 7% in 2016-17 to 28% in 2018-19, what action it is taking to help the board in ensuring that efficiency savings are sustainable.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Scottish Government has established a Sustainability and Value Programme to maximise the benefit from efficiency and productivity savings. This Programme supports NHS Boards in identifying recurring savings which are then retained for local reinvestment.…

16 Nov 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government when NHS Forth Valley will be allocated its NRAC (NHSScotland Resource Allocation Committee) parity target funding for the first time.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The NHS Resource Allocation (NRAC) Formula sets out ‘target shares’ for the distribution of funding to the 14 NHS Territorial Boards. The Scottish Government has invested significantly in supporting boards that are behind parity and, over a seven year period,…

14 Nov 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government what provisions will be included in the NHS Forth Valley waiting times improvement plan in relation to waiting times.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The Waiting Times Improvement Plan will ensure that all patients have swift and safe access to the full range of services from NHSScotland. The Plan will direct investment of more than £850 million to substantially and sustainably improve waiting times in the…

14 Nov 2018 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many first outpatient consultation appointments were (a) made and (b) missed in NHS Forth Valley in each year since 2014-15, and what the cost was of those appointments missed.

Answer · Jeane Freeman: The following table shows the number of first outpatient appointments where the patient did not attend consultant or dental led outpatient clinic during the financial years 2014-15 to 2017-18. The costs of appointments where patients did not attend are not ce…