The reason why David MacBrayne Limited decided to challenge the outcome of the tender process for the Northern Isles Ferry Services is a matter for the company, not Ministers.

Scottish Ministers are confident that the procurement process for the Northern Isles Ferry Services was robust and fair and are pleased that the litigation has been withdrawn.

Preparatory work is still underway with our local government colleagues to assess the resource implications and agree an implementation approach. Once an approach is agreed, I will update Parliament.

I am sure Parliament will appreciate that our collective response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a key factor in considering the operational approach to implementing further changes to early learning and childcare eligibility.

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

I refer the member to the answer to question S5W-25748 on 6 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

We have not had any specific discussions pertaining to the local progress reports produced by local authorities with the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA). However, the NDNA is a standing member of the ELC Partnership Forum where national expansion progress is discussed as part of proceedings.

My officials also meet with representatives of the NDNA regularly and as recently as 10 March attended their Members Event in Edinburgh.

I refer the member to the answer to questions S5W-25748 and S5W-25754, on 6 November 2019. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx .

From August 2020 Funding Follows the Child means that parents and carers will be able to choose to access their child’s early learning and childcare (ELC) entitlement from a local offer of ELC providers who all meet the National Standard – as long as the provider has a place available and is willing to enter into contract with the local authority. This will enable parents and carers to choose the type or combination of settings that best meets the needs of their child.

As a result of the expansion, parents and carers will be able to access more hours from a greater range of providers, and will have greater access to year-round or full-day provision, giving them greater flexibility and choice.

The local offer will vary between areas and will continue to be shaped by parental consultation under local authorities’ statutory duty. The variety of types and patterns available will depend on the number of providers who are able to demonstrate that they meet the National Standard criteria, which set out a range of requirements relating to quality, staffing and business operation including Fair Work principles.

This statement was made by the National Day Nurseries Association (NDNA) in relation to the results of their 2019 workforce survey on local authority approaches to recruitment. As a result of this issue being raised by the NDNA, we have taken action to improve peer to peer sharing between local authorities in relation to different approaches to staffing models which seeks to minimise the impact of local authority recruitment on other providers.

The most recent national data on the number of equity and excellence leads in post can be found in the early learning and childcare census. Findings were published on 10 December 2019 in Summary statistics for schools in Scotland . This found that during census week (the week beginning 16 September 2019), 76% (331 FTE) of equity and excellence leads were in post.

Our regular monitoring of progress with local authorities indicated that 96% of posts (418 full time equivalent posts) will have been filled by the end of March, even if the post-holder has since moved on.

We recognise that there will always be a degree of staff turnover in the system, particularly during this period of ELC expansion. We therefore believe that this latter measure is the most appropriate means of monitoring if the commitment has been fulfilled.

Given the specialist nature of the these posts in supporting the most disadvantaged children, local authorities are taking care to ensure that the most highly qualified and suitable candidates are appointed. This has resulted in some of the posts taking longer to recruit to than anticipated but efforts with recruitment continue.

We know that the most effective mechanism to deliver high quality Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) experiences is by utilising the combined strengths, skills and dedication of a range of ELC professionals and staff.

The most recent ELC Census statistics published in December 2019, shows that the number of staff- including teachers- holding or working towards graduate level qualifications in ELC increased from 4,222 in 2018 to 4,781 in 2019, an increase of 13% .

We continue to fund a range of additional training and education. Over the last three academic years, we have created around 1500 additional graduate level places to increase the pool of graduate level qualified staff available in the ELC sector. Through the introduction of the BA and PDA in Childhood Practice, a significant proportion of the workforce now have graduate-level specialist early years qualifications, expertise and knowledge to lead practice in ELC settings.

Teachers continue to form part of this ELC graduate workforce. To encourage teachers to develop expertise in early years, we also continue to fund places on the Masters courses in Early Years Education offered at the Universities of Strathclyde and Aberdeen.

The Scottish Government has no plans to introduce a maximum class size in early learning and childcare (ELC) or to introduce a cap either on how many children can be registered with an ELC setting or how many children can be accommodated at the same time within the setting.

When assessing applications to register as an ELC setting or to varying an existing registration, the Care Inspectorate assess each application to ensure that the setting will support positive outcomes for children. This may result in limitations on the numbers of children in certain settings.

The Care Inspectorate also issues guidance on adult: child ratios in ELC. These can be found here .

In their regular inspections, the Care Inspectorate will consider how well the deployment of staff takes account of the skills mix of staff, the complexity of individual children’s needs, service routines and the activities of the day to ensure that children’s needs are fully met. The number of children attending a setting, along with other considerations, would influence these evaluations if it was having an impact on the overall quality of outcomes for children.

Our National Standard for ELC Providers, which comes into effect from August, requires settings that are delivering the funded hours to achieve Care Inspectorate evaluations of ‘good’ or better on all four quality themes, including the quality of the environment and the quality of care and support that children receive.