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Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-11884

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answers to questions S6W-10939, S6W-10940 and S6W-10941 by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022, whether it has any plans to promote, including through the launch of a national campaign, the proposed change that will enable parents to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds, prior to the implementation date of 1 August 2023.

Local authorities are responsible for school enrolments in their area, including providing information for parents and carers who may wish to defer their child’s primary school start. We have written to local authorities to encourage them to update the communications they share with parents to reflect the change in legislation. The Scottish Government provides information about deferrals on the Parent Club website .

Question reference: S6W-11889

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10940 by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022, whether it has any plans to provide support for parents who cannot access online platforms, such as Parent Club, to access information and advice regarding parent and child rights in relation to the school starting age, and whether it will have a role in providing any other support for parents to help them understand their legal rights to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds.

Question reference: S6W-11888

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, from the implementation date of the proposed change that will enable parents to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds, what data it expects to receive from local authorities regarding the number of four-year-olds for whom parents have accessed such automatic deferral funding.

There will be an Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) census in September 2023 which, as in previous years, will collect information on the number of deferrals but not on the age of the children. The new individual level child census, due to take place for the first time in May 2024, will collect data on children registered for funded ELC, including the date of birth of the child. At that point it will be possible to identify how many children registered for funded ELC were eligible under the change in legislation on deferrals. Some local authorities already provide funded ELC for deferred children regardless of the child’s birthday, so we will not be able to identify if these children would have been registered for funded ELC if the legislation was not changed.

Question reference: S6W-11887

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 23 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-10939 by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022, whether additional sectors and professionals, including health visitors, GPs, and allied health professionals, be supported to understand the proposed change that will enable parents to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds.

Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their ELC setting about their child’s needs, and this may involve wider discussions with health professionals. We have written to local authorities to encourage them to review local processes and communications to reflect the change in legislation. Parents and carers already have the legal right to defer their child’s entry to primary school if they are not yet 5 years old at the beginning of the school year and this is not affected by the upcoming change in legislation.

Question reference: S6W-10941

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline regarding the proposed change that will enable parents to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds.

The expansion of funded early learning and childcare (ELC) for deferrals is a legislative commitment. From 1 August 2023, if a parent or carer of a child that is still 4 years old on the date they are eligible to start school defers their entry to school for a year, they can automatically access an additional year of funded early learning and childcare. Details are available on the Scottish Government website: Deferred school entry and eligibility from 1 August 2023 - Early learning and childcare: statutory guidance - July 2021 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot) .

Question reference: S6W-10940

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will consider providing parents with an information pack when their child turns three years old, regarding parent and child rights in relation to the school starting age.

Local authorities provide information to parents and carers about how they can register their child for early learning and childcare (ELC) and primary school. Parents and carers are encouraged to talk to their local authority to discuss their individual childcare and education needs. The Scottish Government’s Parent Club website has information about starting school and ELC, which is updated regularly. Parent Club also includes links to the individual local authority websites that provide information about how to apply for ELC: What’s your child entitled to? | Parent Club

Question reference: S6W-10939

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 08 September 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 22 September 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how (a) local authorities and (b) partnership providers will be supported to understand the proposed change that will enable parents to access automatic deferral funding for early learning and childcare for four-year-olds.

Question reference: S6W-09554

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 July 2022
Current Status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 29 July 2022

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update, regarding the funded rate for the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) early years sector, on the Ipsos Scotland report on the provision of 1,140 hours of funded early learning and childcare.

To inform the setting of sustainable rates for August 2022, COSLA and local authorities commissioned Ipsos Mori to carry out an independent cost collection exercise. This exercise will ensure that all local authorities have access to robust data on the costs of delivering funded ELC in private, third and childminding services.

Local authorities are currently reviewing their outputs from the exercise alongside the updated guidance on setting sustainable rates published on 26 May 2022. The guidance is clear that the findings of the cost collection exercise are only a part of the rate setting process, and local authorities will also consider local ELC market conditions and ongoing consultation with providers.

The COSLA Children and Young People Board has committed to local authorities being as transparent as possible on outputs from the survey, provided the data has the appropriate level of statistical confidence and confidentiality. The Scottish Government will also collect and publish data on rates for 2022-23 in the Autumn.

Question reference: S6O-01272

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 June 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 23 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to address the reported increase in incidences of violence in schools.

Question reference: S6W-08727

Asked by: Meghan Gallacher, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 26 May 2022
Current Status: Answered by Lorna Slater on 14 June 2022

To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to define and promote best practice in Invasive Non-native Species (INNS) biosecurity, eradication and long-term control.

The Scottish Government and its agencies collaborate closely with their counterparts in Wales and England on the control of INNS. Scottish Government officials have played an active role with their counterparts in drafting the 2022-2030 Great Britain Invasive Non- Native Species Strategy. This key document sets out our agreed, collaborative approach to preventing invasive non-native species reaching our shores, through surveillance, early detection and rapid response provisions and long terms management and control of species already established. The provisions in the Strategy will be implemented in Scotland through the Non-native Species Action Group, and similar partnerships, which has representatives from the public and voluntary sectors.