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Thank you, convener. The Provision of Early Learning and Childcare (Specified Children) (Scotland) Order 2014—that is, the 2014 order—currently specifies that a two-year-old is eligible for funded ELC if their parent is in receipt of a universal credit award with a monthly income not exceeding £796 per month. The amending order will increase the maximum income level for households who are in receipt of universal credit to £850 per month.

As in previous years, the amendment is necessary to reflect changes to the national living wage at the United Kingdom level. This year, an additional amendment will be made, due to the imminent conclusion of the UK Government’s planned migration to universal credit of working tax credit and child tax credit. As tax credits will end on 5 April 2025, we are removing from the 2014 order references to those credits as qualifying benefits.

You have absolutely hit the nail on the head with regard to the difficulties in relation to childcare. Every family’s—and every child’s—needs are different, and the Government is doing a number of things to try to understand families’ needs and how we can best support them.

On your point about additional support needs, I am very switched on to that issue. Our work on the rates review is looking at specific points to understand what providers require in order to support or help children with additional support needs.

Our early adopter communities, which the member will be aware of, deal with families in a very targeted way. They speak to families to understand what they require, tie that up with other areas of work, such as employability schemes, and try to provide the wraparound support that a family will require to meet their individual childcare needs. I say in relation to Ms Duncan-Glancy’s point that the early adopters work is key to understanding what families need, and it is work in progress.

There are a number of different strands to what we are doing to support families with their childcare needs in Scotland. As the member has alluded to, the picture is complex, but I am absolutely committed to driving forward work on the issue and to ensuring that families are supported.

I know that there has been discussion in Government about it in relation to other aspects of the portfolio, such as the Promise—which, obviously, I am not here to talk about. It is something that I believe the Government is interested in. If we can secure funds to improve the lives of people in Scotland, we are absolutely committed to doing so.

I was keen to learn more about the public trust model but, with regard to this specific bill, I do not believe that it is suitable to include that model in a statutory duty. With a statutory duty, funding has to be guaranteed year on year via the budget process. With a public trust model, there could be years when private investment was not forthcoming, which would mean that the Government would be responsible for paying a higher share, however the proportions were originally worked out. Public trust funding is not reliable. Although it works in other areas and could be used to improve the estate, it is not viable to include it in the statutory duties that would be introduced by the bill.

Good morning. I thank the committee for inviting me to give evidence on the draft Scottish statutory instrument. I hope that what I will say will be helpful to committee members.

The SSI has been made under powers in the Protection of Vulnerable Groups (Scotland) Act 2007. As you will be aware, the PVG scheme was the Scottish Government’s response to the Bichard inquiry, which was a public inquiry into how best to reduce the risks of harm to children after the horrific murder of two young girls in Soham. Recommendation 19 of the report set out the need for the registration of those working with children. That is fully embodied in the principles of the PVG scheme in Scotland, which has the unique quality of every PVG member being checked every day to ensure that they have not become unsuitable for work with children or protected adults.

The SSI sets out prohibitions and requirements that apply to organisations that employ individuals to undertake regulated roles either as paid work or in a voluntary capacity. The Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020, which will come into force on 1 April 2025, repeals part 5 of the Police Act 1997 as it applies in Scotland and amends the 2007 act. The reforms require changes to the administration of the PVG scheme to enhance safeguarding in Scotland.

The 2007 act made it an offence for a barred individual to undertake or attempt to undertake regulated work, and it made it an offence for an organisation to knowingly employ a barred individual in regulated work. However, currently, an individual does not need to be a member of the PVG scheme to carry out regulated work.

One of the safeguarding reforms in the 2020 act is the introduction of mandatory PVG scheme membership for anyone who undertakes a regulated role. The mandatory PVG scheme will provide assurance that anyone who undertakes a regulated role with children or adults is suitable for that role. The mandatory scheme means that it will be an offence for an individual to carry out a regulated role while not being a member of the PVG scheme for that type of regulated role.

The SSI supports the mandatory scheme policy by prohibiting organisations from employing an individual to carry out a regulated role where the individual is not a member of the PVG scheme relating to that type of regulated role.

The SSI continues an existing prohibition to ensure that organisations continue to be prohibited from permitting individuals who are barred from regulated roles with children or adults to carry out such roles, and it requires organisations to remove an individual from a regulated role when they have been notified that that person is barred. Failure by an organisation to comply with the SSI will constitute an offence.

The offences created under the mandatory scheme will commence three months later than the majority of the provisions in the 2020 act. The short delay, which was welcomed by the committee at stage 1 of the bill, will provide a grace period for individuals who are not currently members of the scheme but who will need to become members when they are given the opportunity to apply to join from 1 April 2025.

The short grace period will also apply to the prohibition requirement in regulation 3 of the SSI to enable organisations to ensure that all relevant employees and volunteers who already carry out regulated roles for them are members of the PVG scheme and to encourage those who are not members to join, so as to avoid committing an offence.

Disclosure Scotland has already undertaken targeted engagement with relevant sectors and individual organisations that might not currently use the PVG scheme but will be required to do so, to raise their awareness of the mandatory PVG scheme and the date on which it will come into effect.

In addition, a wider public information campaign is under way to raise awareness of the impact of the implementation of the 2020 act more generally, and includes reference to the new mandatory scheme requirements and associated offences. Disclosure Scotland will continue to engage with and support the relevant sectors and organisations throughout the implementation period for the 2020 act.

I am happy to take any questions that members have on the SSI.

That is a concern. That takes me back to the issues that I mentioned around capacity and the implementation timeline. We are definitely not ready to make such provision available to all children and young people who would be eligible for it.

As Mr Adam alluded to, there are huge challenges in the sector regarding the standard of the existing infrastructure. Maintenance and retrofit are key challenges that would need to be addressed if legislation to create a statutory entitlement was in place. We would have to focus on quality assurance to ensure the safety of our children and young people. I know that SAPOE representatives have highlighted to the committee the importance of high-quality capacity and that it would be complex to ensure that good infrastructure is in place across Scotland. Again, that brings us back to some of the issues around data.

I come back to my point about the potential for further discussions with the sector and members if legislation was not an option. We could explore how targeted capital funding, modelled around Ms Smith’s public trust model, could be used to support improvements to and the maintenance of the existing capacity. I am thinking about the timeline around that.

As I have said, the pupil equity fund and the Scottish attainment fund are important. There is also something to be said about the investment that the Government has put into our school estate and the different environments that are being created specifically for outdoor learning in a number of schools across Scotland. I would again touch on some of the visits that I have been on and some of the fantastic things that I have seen that are widening access to outdoor learning for all pupils.

However, I hear the member’s point about whether the bill might not be the way forward. I have already touched on the work of the outdoor learning strategic working group. It will be reporting to me by summer 2025. As I said, it is working on a range of different areas in relation to outdoor learning and how we can improve that and drive it forward.

Inspection is also an important driver for change. HM Inspectorate of Education is undertaking a review of the inspection frameworks, and work is being done to consider the learning for sustainability programme, of which outdoor learning is a key part. We are also working closely with educators in schools and other partners to improve the resources and guidance that are available to schools. That includes the development of new online training materials for outdoor education instructors.

The newly launched curriculum improvement cycle also provides an opportunity to ensure that the three-to-18 curriculum is designed and delivered to offer greater consistency in outdoor learning experiences across Scotland—

I am sorry, Mr Rennie, but I will have to ask my officials to clarify that for me.

I do not have it to hand, Mr Rennie.

I believe so.

I would need to see the detail around those specific local authorities.