Questions and answers

Question reference: S5W-27610

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with early learning and childcare stakeholders regarding the number of early learning and childcare staff employed on temporary contracts.

Question reference: S5W-27611

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many students are currently enrolled on (a) early learning and childcare modern apprenticeships and (b) children and young people foundation apprenticeships, and how this compares with its projections.

Modern Apprenticeships

The following table shows the number of enrolments in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) modern and foundation apprenticeships to date, across 2019-20. “Starts” represent the total number of those who began their apprenticeship during that time period and “in training” represents the total number of those who were undertaking their apprenticeship during that time period.

Framework	Starts 2019-20 Q3 as at 27-12-19	In Training 2019-20 Q3 as at 27-12-19
Social Services Children and Young People	1,530	2,504
Social Services Children and Young People Technical Apprenticeship	215	321
Total	1,745	2,825

The ELC Skills Investment Plan (SIP) was published in early 2018. Within the SIP Skills Development Scotland made a commitment to increase the number of modern apprenticeship starts year on year by 10% in line with demand.

There was a 24.3% increase in starts on ELC related modern apprenticeship frameworks in 2018-19 (2,102 starts) compared to the previous financial year where there were 1,691 starts in 2017-18.

According to Quarter 3 data for 2019/20, a total of 1,745 candidates have commenced their modern apprenticeship compared to the same period during
‎ 2018-19 where 1,475 candidates had started their modern apprenticeship, which is an increase of 18%.

Foundation Apprenticeships

Framework

Cohort 3 2018-20 Starts

as at 1-11-18

Cohort 2 2017-19 In Training

as at 1-1118

Social Services Children and Young People

494

220

There are no comparable projections for Foundation Apprenticeships.

Information on the full 2019-20 year will be available in due course.

Question reference: S5W-27608

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what monitoring of early learning and childcare class sizes it currently conducts, and whether this information will be published.

The Scottish Government does not monitor class size in early learning and childcare (ELC) settings.

However, we do monitor the proportion of ELC settings achieving ‘good’ or better Care Inspectorate evaluations on all four inspection themes (which include the quality of the environment and the quality of care and support that children receive.)

This data is published annually in Early Learning and Childcare Statistics. The most recent data can be found here .

Question reference: S5W-27606

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 6 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many families will no longer receive the Scottish Child Payment once their child turns six.

The Scottish Government is serious about tackling child poverty. That is why we are introducing our “game-changing” new Scottish Child Payment two years ahead of the timetable outlined in the Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan for children under 6 years old. These payments are being made in recognition that of all children living in poverty, almost 60% are in a household where the youngest child is under 6.

This is benefit delivery at an unprecedented speed and in order to allow us to deliver earlier than planned, we have had to work within certain technical parameters. We have been open with stakeholders throughout the development of the payment about the complexities involved.

We estimate that around 40,000 families will have children that will age out of eligibility for the payment, between early introduction and full roll-out in 2022. This is because we do not have the data for over 6s from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) which would allow us to continue making payments. The DWP has confirmed that the required data will not be delivered in time for the launch of the Scottish Child Payment later this year, and we are waiting for confirmation of when this data will be made available.

Question reference: S5O-04249

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 11 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what recent discussions it has had with the UK Government regarding its EU negotiations on aquaculture.

Question reference: S5T-02059

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 02 March 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 3 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether all aspects of the expansion of funded early learning and childcare will be available to all families in August 2020.

Question reference: S5W-27451

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Friday, 14 February 2020
Current Status: Answered by Michael Matheson on 28 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a breakdown of the £70.5 million funding for Highlands and Islands Airports Limited (HIAL) set out in its 2020-21 draft Budget, and what the reasons are for the increase from the £45.9 million allocated in 2019-20.

The Scottish Government subsidises HIAL as none of the airports in the group generate sufficient commercial revenue to cover operating, maintenance and development costs. The £70.5 million funding for HIAL for 2020-21 is broken down as £24.2 million for revenue, £36.8 million for capital and £9.5 million for depreciation. HIAL’s budget allocation for capital has increased compared to the £16.1 million budget in 2019-20. This increase will ensure that HIAL can continue to maintain and improve its infrastructure in order to facilitate the safe and compliant operation of essential air services in the Highlands and Islands. This includes costs required to progress the Air Traffic Management 2030 Strategy Programme as well as a range of other infrastructure repairs and improvements across the HIAL estate.

Question reference: S5O-04223

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 26 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 5 March 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how it ensures that transport services meet the needs of island communities.

Question reference: S5W-27181

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 29 January 2020
Current Status: Answered by Maree Todd on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government how many (a) early learning and (b) childcare centres there were in 2019, and for what reason this information was not provided in its December 2019 paper, Summary statistics for schools in Scotland.

Table 2.1 of the Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland, No. 10, 2019 shows the number of settings who are delivering Early Learning and Childcare. Early Learning and Childcare is a service as defined in section 46 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

Table 2.1 shows that 2,576 centres were providing early learning and childcare in September 2019. This figure includes local authority settings and settings in the private and third sector, who are delivering ELC through a partnership agreement.

It is not possible to split the number of centres into separate 'early learning' and 'childcare' categories as the data covers all centres providing funded ELC as defined in the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014.

Question reference: S5O-04159

Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 19 February 2020
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 26 February 2020

To ask the Scottish Government what support it is providing to develop the tourism industry in Shetland.

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