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Scottish Government submission of 3 December 2021

PE1883/C - Open all toddler and baby activities within Tier 3 of COVID-19 /future pandemic lockdowns

In relation to the Committee’s letter of 8 Nov 2021, we have provided a written response below to each of the areas in turn.

• Whilst written guidance was in place in late 2020 to allow baby and toddler groups to re-open, the petitioner states that in reality many of these did not re-open until spring of 2021.  Has the Scottish Government carried out any analysis to establish why this might be the case?

No formal analysis has been carried out in relation to these specific groups, as they are difficult to quantify due to the varying nature of provision. However, engagement took place with a number of stakeholders who were member organisations for various baby and toddler activities throughout the past 18 months. It was recognised that the challenges in restarting some of these specific activities were not always directly related to the pandemic, and these overarching organisations provided advice to their members on how to restart safely, as well as advice to non-members where appropriate.

In recognition of the need to support organisations that provide activities for babies and toddlers, Early Years Scotland, Care and Learning Alliance (CALA) and Play Scotland were included in the Scottish Government’s £20m investment in a summer programme here. Small grant funds were set up within these organisations to support smaller organisations in restarting their activities, where cost was one of the main barriers.

• As restrictions eased, there appeared to be a divergence between different age groups being able to socialise – e.g. pubs and cafes were allowed to open, but soft play facilities were amongst the last to do so.  Which factors contributed to this and how will you make sure that people of all ages are treated equally, should any future restrictions be required?

Decisions about restrictions are never easy but are informed by four harms considerations as well as advice from senior clinicians and public health experts as set out in our COVID 19: framework for decision making.

In recognition of the Rights of Children, including the ‘right to play’, children’s rights impact assessments were undertaken as part of any changes to the socialisation rules at each stage of the pandemic. In relation to specific business sectors, including Soft play, Business Regulatory Impact Assessments were also undertaken at each stage.

The main risk factors (in relation to COVID-19 transmission) in soft play centres include:

• The indoor, close-proximity inter-household mixing between children within the soft-play structures
• The potential for transmission from/to children and families
• Minimal ability to ensure physical distancing within the play structures
• Minimal ability to clean equipment after single use by child 
• High level of bodily secretions on the equipment due to age of children and physical exertion whilst playing both droplets and aerosols are key routes for transmission in this setting which may not be able to be mitigated against fully
• Difficulty in applying face coverings (under 5s are exempt from the requirement to wear face coverings) to mitigate against transmission in light of reduced physical distancing
• Difficulty in ventilating the closed indoor environment”

• A key issue for baby/toddler groups was that, on re-opening, the number of children who could participate was limited. If future restrictions are put in place, how will you ensure additional funding is provided to allow children from across Scotland to access these groups, should they wish to do so?

As set out in our response of 12 October 2021, there were many grant related schemes available to organisations and groups providing services to young children. We would expect appropriate considerations to be given to any future grant schemes, in the event of future restrictions.

• In the event that indoor activities have to close again, how will you ensure that funding for outdoor activities is made more accessible to parents?  

In recognition of the multiple benefits of outdoor play to children’s health and wellbeing, we launched the Outdoor Community Play Fund in March 2020 to enable more children and families in disadvantaged communities to enjoy outdoor play. In 2021/22, we have invested £500,000 in the Fund which supports 25 charities across Scotland in delivering organised outdoor play activities and equipment for children and families. Furthermore, this year’s Programme for Government included a commitment that we will invest £60 million to renew play parks in Scotland, so children have access to high‑quality outdoor play in their own communities.

• Recognising the impact of the lockdown on children aged 0-3 years old in particular, how will you ensure they are prioritised in Covid-19 recovery plans, including in relation to socialisation?

We continue to recognise the potential and future harm that may have been caused to young children due to the measures taken to supress this harmful virus. All children, from birth, have regular child health reviews which is delivered through our universal health visiting pathway. This is one way we can monitor early signs of impact on some child development domains, and we are working closely with colleagues in Public Health Scotland (PHS) to understand more fully what those impacts might be, using evidence gathered throughout the pandemic, and actions that could be taken to ameliorate some of that impact. Considerations for our children and young people continue to be fully part of our Covid-19 recovery plans.