Scottish Childcare Strategy
ES1. The Government is committed to supporting families and children. We have already demonstrated that support - raising school standards, increasing child benefit and helping parents back to work through the New Deal - the biggest ever welfare to work investment - and the new ‘Working Families Tax Credit’ which will substantially raise the incomes of working families. The Scottish Childcare Strategy is a further vital component of our support for families.
ES2. Children are cared for in many ways and almost all children receive a mix of informal care from parents and relatives in the home and more formal care in other settings. Some services, such as parent and toddler groups and family centres, focus on meeting the needs of children with their carers. Others, such as childminders and out of school clubs, focus on meeting the needs of children while their parents are at work. Playgroups and homework clubs provide developmental and educational opportunities for all children, and may at the same time help parents in work with childcare needs. We want to see the full range of families’ needs being met.
ES3. Many parents prefer grandparents or other relatives to look after their children, but not all can rely on such informal sources of care. As the direction of social change is away from extended families an increasing proportion of parents who want childcare will not be able to use informal care. Government action is needed to fill gaps in the formal sector. This document explains how we will do this and gives examples of how we will support everyone who looks after children.
ES4. The approach taken by previous Governments to the formal childcare sector has been to leave it almost exclusively to the market. And the voluntary sector has been left to provide most of the support there is for parents looking after their own children. But this simply hasn’t worked. As a result we now have three key problems:
- The quality of childcare can be variable. There is no definition of standards for good quality childcare which is recognised and applied across all childcare settings. There are gaps and inconsistencies in the system of regulation. For example, childminders and nurseries are required to meet staffing ratios but pre-school education classes in schools catering for children of the same age are not. Many childcare workers lack formal qualifications.
- The cost of care is high. The Daycare Trust estimates that the typical weekly cost of a full-time childminding place for a child under five years old varies from £50 to £120 and that the cost of a full-time place at a private day nursery for the same child ranges from £70 to £180. This means that a family on average income with two children could pay out as much as one third on childcare.
- In many areas there are not enough childcare places and parents’ access to childcare is hampered by poor information about what is available. Because so many families cannot afford good quality childcare, the development of provision has been sparse. The quality and accuracy of information on childcare availability varies between local authorities. In many areas parents’ choices are limited by lack of information about what is available.
ES5. It is up to parents to decide what sort of childcare they want for their children. This is not a matter for the Government. But it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that parents have access to services to enable them to make genuine choices. This means good quality affordable childcare for parents who wish to work outside the home, and support for parents who want to spend time looking after their children themselves.
ES6. We have made a good start in helping working parents to spend more time with their children. The European Parental Leave Directive will give parents the right to three months unpaid leave after the birth or adoption of a child and to take time off for urgent family reasons. The Working Time Directive will limit working hours for many people to 48 hours a week. By ensuring equal rights for part-time workers, the Part-time Work Directive will allow parents who wish to reduce their working hours to do so without losing their employment rights. These are a useful foundation for the Government’s wider family friendly employment policies.
ES7. The Scottish Childcare Strategy is an important part of these policies. It will deliver good quality, affordable childcare across the country.
ES8. The two tests of success of our approach will be:
- Better outcomes for children, including readiness to learn by the time they reach school and enjoyable, developmental activities out of school hours.
- More parents with the chance to take up work, education or training.
Three Steps to a Scottish Childcare Strategy
Our aim is to provide good quality, affordable childcare for children aged 0 - 14 in every neighbourhood, including both formal childcare and support for informal arrangements by:
- Raising the quality of care: our plans include better integration of early education and childcare; a more consistent regulatory regime between education and childcare; new standards for early education and childcare; a new training and qualifications framework for childcare workers; more opportunities to train as childcare workers, including up to 5,000 places in Scotland through the New Deal.
- Making childcare more affordable and available: We will be investing £250 million a year in the United Kingdom in a new 'childcare tax credit' for working families - part of the new Working Families Tax Credit. It will give generous help with childcare costs of up to £70 per week for a family with one child and up to £105 per week for a family with two or more children.
- Making childcare more accessible by increasing places and improving information: We will be encouraging a diversity of childcare provision to meet parents' preferences. We will increase the number of childcare places through a £30 million investment in Scotland - £25 million of it from the Lottery - over the next five years to develop more places across the country. In addition from winter 1998 every four-year old will have the chance of a free part-time pre-school education place. Our plans include a new helpline in 1999 which will link parents with local childcare information services which meet national standards.
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ES9. We depend on the expertise and knowledge of local authorities, childcare providers, parents, the Enterprise Networks and employers to deliver the strategy. We are establishing a Scottish Childcare Board with members from these groups to advise Ministers. At local level, we will set up new ‘childcare partnerships’ based on existing ‘Early Years Forums’ which will be charged with planning and co-ordinating integrated early education and childcare. Their remit will be expanded to cover children up to the age of 14.
ES10. We have already made great strides with the strategy:
- Raising quality: For pre-school education we have issued HM Inspectorate’s Curriculum Framework for Children in the Pre-School Year to ensure children are exposed to a broad range of stimulating and flexible opportunities for learning.
- Making childcare more affordable and available: In advance of the Working Families Tax Credit, we have increased the help with childcare costs for low income working families through Family Credit. We will be providing almost an extra £5 million this year to stimulate childcare provision, help set up local childcare partnerships and develop information services.
ES11. The timetable for follow up action to this Green Paper is:
| June 1998 |  | Summit conference on the Green Paper |
| 28 July 1998 | | Deadline for responses to this document |
| Winter 1998 | | Introduction of free part-time pre-school education places for four-year olds |
| October 1998 | | Publication of guidance for new childcare partnerships |
| March 1999 | | Childcare plans completed and initial funding decisions announced. |
| April 1999 | | Funding for childcare from the Lottery’s New Opportunities Fund becomes available |
| October 1999 | | Introduction of the Working Families Tax Credit incorporating the new childcare tax credit |
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