Introduction by the Secretary of State for Scotland
In our election manifesto we undertook to produce a childcare strategy for Scotland which would ‘match the requirements of a modern labour market and enable parents, especially women, to balance family and working life....’ This Green Paper marks a major step forward in meeting that commitment. It makes clear our intention to bring about a step change in the provision of childcare for Scotland.
As will be seen from our manifesto commitment we are convinced that this will be in the interests of parents and of the Scottish society and economy as a whole. But above all it must be in the interests of children. Fulfilling another manifesto commitment, Sam Galbraith was appointed on our entry into Government as Minister for Children’s Issues with a special responsibility to monitor all our policies to ensure that they took the needs of children fully into account. I have therefore allocated to him, working closely with other Ministerial colleagues, the job of driving the strategy forward.
This is not a field in which Government has a monopoly of expertise - quite the opposite. For too long childcare has been neglected by Government. We need to work in partnership with others if we are to achieve our vision. To kick-start that partnership approach I will be inviting interested parties in childcare to a summit conference next month to discuss these matters in detail. But we will need a continuing source of advice as we implement the strategy. To secure that I will be appointing a Scottish Childcare Board which will include people from the public, voluntary and private sectors to bring outside expertise to bear upon our strategy. We need that partnership approach at local level too and our document sets out how we intend to achieve that.
We also need to ensure that the childcare strategy ties in with the wide range of our social and economic policies. It should, for example, contribute to promoting social inclusion. It can also support the policies set out in our Green Paper on Working Together to Improve Scotland’s Health by assisting economic participation by those on low income, improving the safety of the settings where children spend time, and providing opportunities for effective health-linked interventions.
Much of the work of implementing the strategy will take place under the Scottish Parliament. I am certain that childcare will be a major policy priority for the Parliament. Its existence will enhance the scope for us to develop the strategy in Scotland in close dialogue with all the interests concerned. It will also make it easier to take forward the work we have already done to adopt a more holistic approach to children’s issues. We will need to look at ways of stimulating and fostering multi-agency working including such possibilities as the development of “full service” community schools, already developed in some states of the United States of America, where health, education, after-school care, parenting and family support are addressed together within the local school setting. Under the New Deal for Communities we will be supporting pathfinder projects to pilot New Deal Schools, based on this concept.
This framework and consultation document is not the last word. I very much hope you will let us have your views and suggestions before we turn to finalising the strategy’s detailed design. With your help and advice we can maximise the huge potential of the strategy to change for the better the lives of very many children and their parents in Scotland, both immediately and for the generations to come.
Donald Dewar
May 1998
|
