We will set out more details on our programme of infrastructure development in Spring 2017 as part of the Scottish Government’s response to the consultation.

Scottish government provided significant additional capital funding to local authorities to support implementation of the early learning and childcare elements of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014: £71 million in 2014-15, £69 million in 2015-16 and £30 million in 2016-17.

Local authority capital expenditure on pre-primary education for financial years
2010-11 to 2014-15 (most recent data available) is shown in the following table.

Scottish Futures Trust have not provided any funding for capital investment during the last five years.

Through our consultation, A Blueprint for 2020: The Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare in Scotland, we are seeking views as to how payment of the Living Wage and wider Fair Work practises can be encouraged across the Early Learning and Childcare sector.

We will publish our response to the consultation in Spring 2017.

We will commission a Flexible Jobs Index for Scotland, which will determine the availability of flexible jobs in Scotland, by the end of 2016 and we will seek to publish as soon as practicable thereafter.

A draft of the Skills Investment Plan for the Early Learning and Childcare sector will be produced by January 2017 and shared with partners. The final version of the Plan will be published in spring 2017.

We do not collect specific data on the number of parents not using funded early learning and childcare. We do collect data on the number of funded registrations through an annual census in September which is published in December.

The Scottish Government does not make student debt projections.

However, the Student Loans Company publishes data on total student debt and average student debt:

http://www.slc.co.uk/official-statistics/student-loans-debt-and-repayment/scotland.aspx

Table 1: Total amount owed by borrowers who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK, or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland

Source: Student Loans Company

Table 2: Average Loan Balance for borrowers who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK, or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland

Source: Student Loans Company

Detailed operational planning for the new Scotland-wide statutory board, including how many staff will be delivering international activities, the chair of the new board and the appointment process, will take place as part of phase 2 of the review.

Phase 2 of the Enterprise and Skills Review will conclude in Spring 2017. A programme of work for implementation of the recommendations from phase 1 will be set out during phase 2. This programme will be undertaken over the lifetime of the parliament.

The Scottish Government proposes an increase in the number of people working for Scottish Development International in Europe from 20 to 40 over the next two years.

SDI currently has four European offices in Copenhagen, Düsseldorf, Paris and Stavanger. Detailed work, including location proposals, is being undertaken to ensure that additional resources deliver maximum benefit for Scotland.