Expanding Childcare

As an amendment to motion S7M-00128 in the name of Màiri McAllan (Expanding Childcare), leave out from "and supports" to end and insert “but notes that parents must be provided with the choice that they were promised as part of the rollout of 1,140 hours of funded childcare by introducing fairer rates for private, voluntary and independent providers to cover the actual costs of delivering high-quality early learning and childcare (ELC); believes that working families need to be prioritised in any extension of ELC funding, starting with shifting the 1,140 funded hours to start on a child’s third birthday, thus treating this as a critical part of our economic infrastructure that would help parents return to work, close the gender pay gap and raise additional tax revenues; calls for local authorities to be brought together to strike a partnership agreement that ensures parents who live in one council area but work in another have choice on where their child attends nursery, thus guaranteeing that funding really does follow the child; considers that childcare options in remote and rural areas can be more limited; therefore believes that there needs to be a new support package for childminders in these areas, and calls on the Scottish Government to make sure that there is no postcode lottery for childcare in Scotland.”