Delivering the Strategy
Introduction
To deliver the childcare strategy for Scotland, we need all those with an interest to work in partnership: central and local Government, other statutory agencies, employers, parents and private, public and voluntary sector childcare providers, among others, all have a vital ròle to play.
Scottish Ministers will;
- in carrying out in full the Government’s role, set Scotland - level priorities and, where appropriate, targets; establish a quality framework; and ensure that the development of childcare is properly co-ordinated with other national policies and programmes.
- establish a Scottish Childcare Board to advise on and help drive forward the Scottish childcare strategy.
- establish a comprehensive set of tasks to be undertaken at local level.
- ensure those tasks are tackled successfully through effective local childcare partnerships. We want these to be set up in every local authority area, building on the existing Early Years Forums. In 1998-99, we will be providing funding for the partnerships to carry out local audits of supply and demand and to draw up local childcare plans.
Employers have a vital ròle to play in delivering the strategy. We want to encourage and enable more employers to support childcare and adopt family friendly employment practices to help their employees to balance work and family life.
We will be:
- encouraging employers to review and wherever appropriate adopt the forms of childcare and family friendly employment practices which best suit the needs of the business and its employees;
- publicising the support available to employers, including tax relief and potential contributions from other sources towards community childcare projects;
- publicising and disseminating effective employer practice.
As an employer, Scottish Ministers will continue to promote good and extensive childcare in The Scottish Office and related bodies.
5.1. In this Green Paper we have set out our vision of a childcare strategy for Scotland. Government has an important role in setting the framework to deliver this strategy, identifying priorities and in promoting good quality provision.
The Government's role
5.2. The development of childcare will be driven from the local level by the needs, energy and initiative of individuals and communities. Central Government will act as an enabler and facilitator and set a framework within which local developments can flourish. We will:
- set Scotland-wide aims and objectives, identify priorities and, where appropriate, set targets to stimulate swift progress;
- in setting aims and objectives take account of the advice of a new Scottish Childcare Board;
- ensure that childcare is linked effectively with other relevant national policies and programmes;
- promote delivery mechanisms at national and local level which bring together effective partnerships;
- ensure the existence of a quality framework to cover regulation and inspection of childcare providers, standards for child development in childcare settings, a system of training and qualifications for childcare workers and effective and appropriate support for informal carers;
- enhance parental choice through the promotion of family friendly employment practices and by increasing employers’ awareness of the business case for the provision of childcare;
- pump-prime the provision of new childcare places in areas where there is market failure, and provide other appropriate targeted funding;
- secure necessary information about supply and demand to support national policy-making and inform local developments;
- arrange simple, clear signposting and contact points at national level for parents, employers and providers leading to detailed information services at local level which meet national standards;
- promote work in childcare as a career option, develop a framework of qualifications, and make training more accessible;
- establish a financial framework which encourages the costs of childcare to be shared among the beneficiaries and ensures that childcare is affordable for those who need it;
- disseminate good practice (including by setting a good example as an employer) and promote the strategy; and
- seek to raise the profile of childcare as an issue at European Union level, including as part of the forthcoming review of the Structural Funds
Scottish Childcare Board
5.3. A Scottish Childcare Board will advise Ministers on objectives and priorities for Scotland as a whole and in doing so draw out particular issues for different types of area eg peripheral estates and rural areas. The Board’s advice will also provide a strategic framework for the work of the New Opportunities Fund in Scotland and for childcare partnerships who will have the detailed knowledge to advise on the distribution of funds within localities.
5.4. A Scottish Childcare Board will also be able to advise on research into childcare and the drawing up of departmental and best practice guidance, and help to identify and disseminate good practice more generally.
5.5. Appointments will reflect the breadth of different interests in childcare.
5.6. Our vision of a Childcare Strategy for Scotland cannot be delivered by Government alone. If we are to ensure that good quality, affordable childcare, including formal and informal care, is available in every neighbourhood, we must look to all those who have a contribution to make to work together at local level. This will mean building on the valuable work which is already being taken forward in many areas, with a new focus on working together in partnership to reflect the needs of each neighbourhood.
A framework for action at local level
5.7. Childcare services must be able to respond to local needs and circumstances. They must respect parents’ preferences and local traditions in childcare, and take account of local employment patterns, the location of schools and transport networks, and strengths in existing provision. In some areas this already happens, but we want services to meet needs in all areas.
5.8. In every locality attention must be given to :
- assessing the demand for childcare and the supply of places available to meet it, and setting achievable local targets for filling the gap between the two;
- advising the New Opportunities Fund (see chapter 4) on local needs for out of school provision and priorities between bids for Lottery funding;
- identifying how the locality can draw on other potential sources of funds;
- providing support to parents and informal carers;
- ensuring childcare information services are available which meet national standards;
- identifying and meeting training needs; and
- securing employer involvement and commitment.
Local partnerships
5.9. This range of tasks can only be achieved by drawing upon the commitment and expertise of a wide range of partners with local knowledge and experience.
5.10. Local authorities are key partners. They already have responsibilities under the Children Act 1989 for registering and inspecting childcare services for children under the age of eight, for reviewing children’s services, and for providing information about childcare services. They are also important providers of childcare in their own right, particularly childcare geared to children in need.
5.11. Other partners include:
- private and voluntary sector providers of childcare;
- employers, many of whose employees will need childcare;
- Local Enterprise Companies which currently deliver the Out of School Childcare Initiative;
- further education colleges;
- schools, many of which are ideally placed to provide and develop suitable and accessible premises for out of school childcare. Many schools also provide nursery classes for under-fives;
- Health Boards and NHS Trusts, including the new Primary Care Trusts proposed in our White Paper ‘Designed to Care’; and, of course,
- parents, who will be best placed to decide the needs of their children and will need to be involved in decisions about childcare need and provision.
5.12. In order to bring together these partners, and to oversee and co-ordinate the planning and development of childcare and information services in each area, there is a need for a body - a “partnership” - representing all the relevant local childcare interests.
5.13. We believe that the responsibility for convening and supporting the partnership should most appropriately rest with the local authority. It is important, however, that partnerships are not seen as local authority bodies - it may be appropriate, for example, for partnerships to be chaired by an independent person, or perhaps a parent or an employer.
5.14. Most local authorities have already convened Early Years Forums. In Education in Early Childhood: The Pre-School Years we proposed that early education should become a formal part of the remit of all Forums, and this drew wide support. We now propose that Early Year Forums should be the basis for the new childcare partnerships and that they should have an enlarged membership, covering all the stakeholders, in order to function as childcare partnerships. The partnerships should be developed so that they can expand their remit to include childcare for older children.
5.15. Early Years Forums already include in their membership most of the local groups with an interest in childcare, including the private and voluntary sectors. However, in order to become fully representative childcare partnerships, they will have to be extended to include, for example, broader representation from employers’ groups, Local Enterprise Companies and from those with a particular interest in older children, including those with special needs. In many cases it will be appropriate to form strong links with out of school networks: there are twenty of these throughout Scotland.
Organisation of childcare partnerships
5.16. It will be for each partnership to decide how to organise itself. Different partnerships will cover areas of very different sizes and types with differing needs, and we expect to see that reflected in the range of approaches.
5.17. We envisage that each local authority will continue to have a single partnership covering its area. However, this does not prevent local authorities - especially the larger ones - creating or building on existing groups covering smaller areas to bring local knowledge and experience to the work of the partnership.
5.18. The childcare partnerships would be responsible for strategic overview of childcare in the area and taking on the tasks listed in paragraph 5.6. We would expect them to build on existing expertise and provision and to co-ordinate local activity to maximise the choice of good quality childcare in the area.
Role of childcare partnerships
5.19. We see the first task of the local childcare partnerships as carrying out an audit of local childcare services and of potential demand for childcare from parents and employers. In the light of the audit, partnerships should agree a childcare plan, setting out how childcare needs in the area will be met. The plan should identify priorities, timescales, local targets, responsibility for delivering different aspects of the strategy and the use to be made of the potential sources of funding. It may link to the Children’s Services Plan which local authorities are currently required to produce in terms of the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. In the slightly longer term there may be benefit in central government working together with local government, in particular, to review the existing statutory framework and guidance for planning and monitoring children’s services, particularly in the light of the new emphases produced by pre-school education and childcare.
5.20. Under Section 19 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are already required to review every three years the range of services provided for children under eight. Local authorities must look at provision, assess the level of need in the area through a process of consultation and publish a report setting out how they intend to meet that need. We intend that the childcare plans proposed here should dovetail with existing arrangements.
5.21. In drawing up their local childcare plans, childcare partnerships will need to pay particular attention to the different wishes and needs of parents through promoting diversity of provision.
5.22. Partnerships will need to consider how they can meet the needs of all children from all communities, including those with Special Educational Needs and those with disabilities. They will also need to recognise and respect the needs and expectations of children and families from ethnic minorities.
Funding and guidance for childcare partnerships
5.23. We will make specific grant funding of almost £4 million available to local authorities in Scotland in 1998-99 to stimulate childcare provision, help develop information services and for local childcare partnerships to carry out audits and draw up plans. The Scottish Office is commissioning research to inform the drawing up and issuing of guidance on local audits.
5.24. Further guidance on setting up partnerships, their remits, and funding will be issued in the autumn, following analysis of the responses to this Green Paper. In the meantime, local authorities, Early Years Forums and other interested parties are encouraged to begin preparatory work: identifying potential extra members for childcare partnerships and considering the scope of the local audit.
Employer involvement
5.25. We want to see employers playing a full part in the work of childcare partnerships. Some Early Years Forums already have employer representatives, and employers will have an even greater contribution to make to the new local childcare partnerships.
5.26. Individual employers can also benefit from helping their employees to balance work and family commitments. Employers should be concerned about the well-being of their employers. With more women employed, employers are recognising the need to change patterns of work to reflect the needs of the family.
5.27. The benefits to employers of “family-friendly” policies include the retention of skilled, trained workers, a wider pool of skilled personnel from which to recruit, and less stress and absenteeism among their workers. The costs of not helping employees include the cost of recruiting and training new staff if new mothers do not return from maternity leave, the cost of being unable to recruit the best staff and the cost of extra, unplanned absences by parents who have no-one else to care for their children when they are sick or during the school holidays. The business case for “family-friendly” policies is becoming more compelling as patterns of work and family life continue to change.
"Childcare is not a perk - it is an investment for today and tomorrow"
Employers for Childcare
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5.28. Practical assistance towards childcare provision is currently only offered by around 10 per cent of employers. Provision of assistance of any kind is concentrated in the public sector or private sector employers with large numbers of employees. The Daycare Trust estimate that in the United Kingdom the total annual expenditure by employers on childcare is around £60 million, compared with the £2.6 billion spent by parents.
5.29. A significant number of employers do provide some ‘family friendly practices’. Maternity leave beyond the statutory minimum is available to 9 per cent of mothers (paid for 6 per cent) whilst 24 per cent of fathers are eligible for paternity leave.
5.30. Many parents particularly value flexible working patterns, such as reduced hours or home-working, which enable them to look after their own children for some of the normal working week, reducing their reliance on formal childcare. We want to encourage employers in enabling this to happen. We shall build on the parents’ existing statutory rights in particular by implementing European Directives on parental leave, part-time work and working time.
Support for employers
5.31. There are many ways in which employers may assist their employees with childcare. But not all employers are aware of all the options available. Different options will be appropriate for different employers. Options for childcare need to be flexible to take into account the needs of employers, especially small business, as well as the needs of employees with childcare responsibilities.
5.32. Workplace nurseries are one way in which employers can support the childcare needs of their employees. But they do not suit all employers or employees and there are many other ways in which employers can help. Businesses will want to consider what is best for them and their workforce.
5.33. Employers can claim their day-to-day expenditure on childcare provision or subsidies for their employees as an allowable expense when calculating their business profits for tax purposes. They may also be able to obtain tax relief for the running costs of operating workplace nurseries. The cost of equipment for a nursery or playscheme and the capital costs of providing nursery or playscheme premises may qualify for capital allowances. Employees do not have to pay income tax on the benefit in kind of a place in a qualifying workplace nursery provided by their employer.
Motorola
Motorola employs over 5,000 people in manufacturing semi-conductors and mobile phones at three sites in Scotland. In 1995 they established a purpose-built on-site nursery, offering fifty subsidised places, at their Bathgate plant in West Lothian. The nursery is open from 6.45am to 6pm throughout the year (other than Christmas and New Year). The nursery reflects Motorola's desire to attract and retain good quality staff but also their commitment to family and company values.
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Glasgow City Council
Glasgow City Council has its own 15 place nursery for Council staff at the Queenslie Industrial Estate in Glasgow and buys another 70 places at another nursery at Cowglen. Subsidies are available at both nurseries, the exact amount depending upon household income. Glasgow City Council believe that the provision of nursery places has resulted in recruitment and training costs, the retention of skills and expertise which otherwise would have been lost and higher morale amongst the staff concerned.
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5.34. Typically, employers’ decisions on childcare are taken in terms of its direct advantage to the business. However many employers also choose to support their local communities in ways which do not necessarily have an immediate payback. We encourage employers to consider community childcare projects when doing so. Larger companies may be able to make financial contributions and smaller companies may be able to make donations in kind.
Information about childcare
5.35. We will ensure that we continue to secure the national level information needed to inform policy-making, the allocation of resources, and monitoring and evaluating the impact of the strategy. We will undertake an audit of supply and demand for childcare in Scotland in 1998.
Disseminating effective employment practice
5.36. In developing the childcare strategy we want to find more effective ways of encouraging best practice amongst employers. We want to strike the right balance between providing support for employees without placing undue burdens on business.
5.37. All employers need to be aware of the business gains from childcare support as well as the benefits to their employees, their employees’ children and the wider community. The Government is undertaking a range of initiatives to help promote the business case for family friendly employment more effectively.
5.38. We have made the promotion of family-friendly employment policies a key priority and are working across Government to identify the best ways of achieving this aim. Government Departments have various projects in hand to research and disseminate good practice. For example:
- we have sponsored a new employers’ pack on childcare by Parents at Work which will form part of its wider series on ways in which employers can help parents;
- we have supported activities such as the Parents at Work “Employer of the Year Award” for family friendly employment;
- we will make available booklets, aimed particularly at small and medium sized companies, presenting good practice examples of family friendly policies in the science, engineering and technology, including information technology, sectors;
- we have provided support through Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise for the Fair Play Initiative which was established by those organisations and the Equal Opportunities Commission in response to a request by The Scottish Office. Fair Play is a consortium bringing together the strengths, expertise and information resources of specialist agencies to support and promote equal opportunities between men and women and has promoted childcare as part of this, for example through its guide aimed at employers Childcare: A Business Case.
5.39. There is much to be done to increase employer involvement in childcare, and we shall be discussing with employer bodies and others how to make sustained progress. More immediately, we will:
- ask local childcare partnerships to include employer representatives and to work with local employers to find ways of meeting business needs and increasing employer involvement in childcare provision;
- continue to identify opportunities to disseminate good practice;
- ensure that the help available to employers through the tax system is widely known about, so that more take advantage of it. The leaflet IR115, Tax and Childcare, gives further advice and can be obtained from tax offices;
Government as an employer
5.40. We recognise the importance of Government’s own role as an employer. We too must adopt best practice and not be complacent about the progress that is being made. We will continue to encourage flexible working arrangements and the provision of high quality childcare throughout the Civil Service. Many Departments and agencies provide assistance with childcare - for example, by helping with childcare costs (e.g. while on training or on special duties); providing information about private nurseries, and playschemes; arranging after-school care; or giving special leave for childcare emergencies. Virtually all civil servants in Scotland have access to one or more of part-time working, career breaks or job-sharing.
The Scottish Office
The Scottish Office provides two workplace nurseries offering 51 subsidised places. In addition almost all staff are eligible to work flexible hours and many work part-time or job-share. All female staff have the normal statutory maternity rights and most are eligible for 52 weeks maternity leave of which 15 are paid. All male staff are entitled to 5 days paternity leave.
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National Savings
National Savings is an Executive Agency of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and employs almost 2,000 staff in its Glasgow Office. It runs a holiday play scheme with 47 places and also has 14 subsidised places at a 70 place nursery open from 8 am to 6 pm throughout the year.
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Consultation point 10
How can the effectiveness of childcare partnerships at local level be maximised?
Consultation point 11
Does this Chapter set out correctly what should be done to improve national and local data on childcare?
Consultation point 12
Have the tasks to be carried out at local level been identified correctly?
Consultation point 13
What are the barriers to employers, including small and medium sized companies, becoming developing family friendly employment practices, including help with childcare, and how can employers be encouraged to recognise the benefits?
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