 The next item of business is a debate without motion on the subject of early learning and childcare, 1140 hours and beyond. I would ask those members who wish to speak in this debate to please press the request to speak buttons now. I call on the minister, Clare Hockie, to open the debate and up to around 11 minutes, please, minister. Today's debate marks a significant milestone towards improving the lives and futures of Scotland's children and families. The Scottish Government's ambition is for all Scotland's children to grow up in a country where they feel loved, safe and respected, and to be able to reach their full potential. That ambition sits at the heart of our commitment to expand the funded early learning and childcare entitlement, and it drives our new policies for early learning and school-age childcare in our programme for government. We know that universally accessible and high quality ELC can make a huge difference to children's lives. It helps to provide children with skills and confidence to carry into school education and is a cornerstone for closing the poverty-related attainment gap between children from the most and least deprived communities. I am therefore pleased to confirm that, since 1 August, all three and four-year-olds in Scotland and those two-year-olds who need it most are eligible for 1140 hours of funded ELC, saving parents up to £4,900 per year for each eligible child. That has been a long-held ambition, first set out in the one Scotland programme for government in 2014-2015. I am really proud that Scotland is the only part of the UK to offer the equivalent of 1140 hours to all eligible children, regardless of their parents' working status, putting children first. That includes all three and four-year-olds and our eligible two-year-olds. The minister and I have had an exchange in the education committee before about that, but I wonder if she has made any progress on getting more eligible two-year-olds to take up the entitlement that is there for them, because there are only around one in three who are currently accessing it. Has she got an update on that provision yet? I certainly will touch on some of that later on in my speech and my closing remarks, but I am sure that Mr Rennie would welcome the statistics that, from August 2020 to 2021, there was a year-on-year increase of 27 per cent of eligible two-year-olds accessing their entitlement, but there is certainly work that we can do. As I said, all councils now offering 1140 hours of funded ELC to all eligible children and figures published in August by the Improvement Service show that, at the end of August, nearly 91,000 children in Scotland were accessing funded early learning and childcare. Of those 91,000 children, 97 per cent are accessing expanded provision and 87 per cent, nearly 80,000 children, are choosing to take up the full 1140 hours on offer. The figures also show a year-on-year increase of 27 per cent, as I mentioned to Mr Rennie, in the numbers of eligible two-year-olds accessing funded ELC up from 4,711 in August 2020 to 5,954 in August 2021. If I can make a little bit of progress, Mr Mundellana will come back to you. To get to this point, there has been an enormous undertaking, particularly in the middle of a global pandemic. This is testament to what can be achieved through joint working between national and local government and with our valued partners across the sector. It is worth reflecting on how we have made this work together. In April 2018, a landmark multi-year funding agreement was reached with the Scottish Government and COSLA to fully fund the expansion. By 2021-22, the agreement had seen annual revenue investment increased by £567 million on 2016-17 levels, bringing total Scottish Government funding for early learning and childcare in 2021-22 to around £1 billion. I thank the minister for giving way. I have heard what she said about the year-on-year increase, but back in 2012, when that policy was first introduced, there were 6,009 young people aged 2 who accessed that provision, so there are less people now accessing it than there were at the start. That is not a policy that is working well. I would need to disagree with Mr Mundellana, and I think that that policy is working well as is evidenced by the increase, as I mentioned, in the last year of eligible two-year-olds who have been accessing that. The increase in funding provision was of course intended for August 2020, but the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown meant that this could not be achieved. Building work and staff recruitment had to be paused to give local authorities much needed time to focus on the immediate pandemic response. I know how incredibly difficult that time was for families and for the countless businesses and organisations and individuals that make up the ELC sector. I am hugely grateful to staff for their resilience and their hard work in keeping services open for vulnerable families and key workers and all their work since to keep services open and to keep people safe. We prioritise a return to ELC and childcare for all children as soon as it is safe to do so, because childcare is fundamental to our children's development and to family well-being, as well as to parents' ability to work, train and study. Even in the face of the pandemic, local authorities, private and third sector providers and childminders made incredible progress to ensure that 1140 hours, almost double the previous entitlement of 600 hours per year, could be offered to all eligible children from the start of the new term in August 2021. Our local authorities have made huge strides in developing the infrastructure required for the expansion. The Scottish Government has provided £476 million of capital funding over the past four years to refurbish, repurpose and extend existing nursery settings, as well as providing 160 new built facilities across Scotland. The impact of that capital funding cannot be overstated. The £476 million is enabling the creation of 22,000 additional physical spaces through over 900 capital projects across Scotland that will support the delivery of good quality, flexible, accessible and affordable early learning and childcare provision. Over 82 per cent of the infrastructure is being delivered through refurbishments, extensions and outdoor facilities in keeping with the programme aspirations of making best use of existing facilities and aligning with the net zero agenda. The infrastructure programme has also supported local economies and the construction industry, with over 50 per cent of the construction projects being delivered by small and medium-sized contractors. At the heart of that, of course, are the children and the experiences that they will gain from attending high-quality ELC. Through the national standard and our world leading curriculum, local authorities and settings have put quality at the heart of the 1140 programme, thinking about what children will need to make their ELC experience comfortable, suitable and lots of fun. The expansion would not have happened without the joint effort of the public sector and private, third and child-minding sector providers. I know that child-minders and providers in the third and private sector continue to report real challenges in terms of recruitment, retention and sustainability, and I am committed to continuing to work with the sector to identify and implement solutions. Data shows that in August, around 32 per cent of funded places were provided by the private and third sector and child-minders, much greater than the 26 per cent projected at the start of the expansion and demonstrating our commitment to provider neutrality. The expansion has been supported by a transformational expansion of the workforce. I thank the minister for giving way again. Does she not accept that the reality is that the PVI percentage is higher because local authorities have not been able to meet the timescale? It is not because that sector has been well supported. I take issue with that given the expansion that there has been by our local authority partners. I would argue that that is about parental choice and it is where parents wish to send their children and allowing that funding to follow the child means that parents do have that choice. Enrollments across college and vocational routes grew slightly between academic years 2017-18 and 2019-20, with a particularly high growth of 41 per cent in numbers of modern apprenticeship starts. Broken down by academic year, that represents a significant exceeding of our targets to achieve 10 per cent growth in the number of starts here on year. We have also seen a 26 per cent increase in childcare staff registering with the SSSC since expansion planning commenced in 2016. Beyond those benefits for today's children and their futures and beyond the enormous expansions in infrastructure and workforce, the programme is also about expanding support to families, particularly those who are experiencing the most disadvantage. As well as improving children's outcomes in the long term, we expect the increase in flexibility of how the funded entitlement is delivered and where children can access their entitlement will allow more families to access ELC in a way that really meets their needs. That can be to open up routes into study, training, sustainable employment and out of poverty, transforming lives now. Our work continues and we continue to work closely with local government and the sector to embed the benefits of the expansion, to improve children's outcomes, increase opportunities to access work training and study and to improve family wellbeing. We have now set out our ambition to provide funded early learning to all one and two-year-olds, starting in the course of this Parliament, with children from low-income households. This year, we will begin engagement with families, the early learning sector and academic experts to design how the new offer will work in practice, focusing on developing an offer that will contribute to supporting the wellbeing of the whole family. To support families further, we have committed to expanding access to childcare further. By building a system of wraparound school-age childcare, providing care before and after school and in the holidays, those on the lowest income will pay nothing and others will make fair and affordable contributions. The offer underlines and demonstrates our determination to tackle child poverty, as it will remove the barriers that childcare costs present for parents on low income, helping them to take up and sustain employment and it will also reduce inequalities in access to a range of activities during the school day, particularly for children who will benefit most. Presiding Officer, the wide-ranging programme of work, both in what has already been achieved and in what work is still to come, underlines the Scottish Government's commitment to improving lives and the futures of Scotland's young people. I look forward to hearing the contributions from across the chamber this afternoon. Many thanks indeed minister. Before we call on the next week, I need to advise the chamber that we are quite tight for time, so if you are taking interventions, they will need to be accommodated in your speech. I call Meghan Gallagher for around seven minutes, please. I welcome the opportunity to open today's debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. Before I continue with my contribution, I would like to draw members to my register of interest as I am a serving councillor in North Lanarkshire. The Scottish Government's policy to expand childcare through the 1140-hour programme received widespread support as it had the potential to improve the lives of families across Scotland by making childcare more accessible. Any policy that puts a child at the centre is welcomed, as it will allow parents to go back to work sooner, as well as exposing children to a safe environment where they learn necessary skills. However, the postponement of that policy and the failure to address some of the serious and urgent concerns that have left many parents and indeed those in the private voluntary and independent sectors feeling let down. Despite the Scottish National Party's claim today that it is focused on childcare expansion, it appears that it is failing early learning and childcare sector through the Government's declining standards and inability to show any signs of leadership to make necessary improvements. In August this year, the SNP finally increased free early learning and childcare from 600 to 1140 hours. I thank the member for taking our intervention. Does the member not recognise that we have been in the midst of a global pandemic and that local authorities who were delivering some of the building projects and indeed delivering some of the increased staffing had to focus their attention on other issues? I thank the minister for that intervention. However, issues were raised about the early learning and childcare programme back in 2019, if not before. I am sure that my colleague Brian Whittle will talk more about that in his contribution as well as other members today in the chamber, so I am not taking any comments regarding the pandemic as an excuse from the minister today. Moving on to the unpopular decision by the SNP resulted in hundreds of complaints from parents to SNP ministers, but the SNP managed to turn a positive flagship policy into a postcode lottery. No matter the excuses that I have heard from the SNP Government that it will try to use today, the Scottish Government is running months, if not years, behind this implementation, way before the pandemic hit in delivering the necessary infrastructure. During the last session of this session, my colleagues in these benches continually warned the Scottish Government of concerns relating to the private voluntary and independence sector. That prompted a response from the First Minister, as she herself admitted that she was aware of the concerns from private providers and that the implications 1140 could have on their businesses. She promised at this point that the PVI sector would be involved in the process and that the policy could not be delivered without their valuable contributions. I have spoken to private nurseries up and down the country, and many do not believe that the Scottish Government has included them fully in the roll-out of this important policy. The Scottish Government must accept that there are still issues with 1140 hours, and, if they fail to act now, we are heading for a childcare system that is not fit for purpose. One of the main issues that private nurseries have raised with me relates to the staffing crisis that is developing throughout the childcare sector. There are a few reasons for that, two of which relate to the ratio of council-owned facilities compared to private nurseries and the number of new housing estates that have been built without consideration of childcare demand. However, one of the main reasons is that the private nurseries continually lose out to local authorities. I am unconvinced that the strategy adopted by some local authorities was thinking about the repercussions that this could have on their 1140-hour PVI partners. After all, local authorities can offer better pay, working hours and benefits in hand. That has left the private nurseries in a continuous recruitment drive as they keep losing their staff. The pay gap between a nursery worker and a council run and a private nursery facility will only increase, and it leaves some in the sector feeling undervalued. Had the Scottish Government set out a fair pay model to begin with, that would have ensured that, regardless of what nursery you are in, you would be paid the same as someone else doing the same job. Another key problem is the huge variations in revenue funding rates for the PVI sector. The total revenue funding from the Scottish Government is increasing, but significant variations in funding rates across local authorities still exist. The variations have created an unfair system that benefits only some private providers. That has implications for partners if the funding rate is lower in their authority. The Scottish Government needs to address that to ensure that all private providers are treated the same, regardless of where their nursery is based. The truth is that the 1,140-hour policy document is littered with discrepancies that benefit local government over the private sector. That cannot and should not be allowed to continue if we are looking to create an equal playing field between private nurseries and local government. However, moving away from the PVI sector, a concern that has been raised by parents in relation to obtaining a place at their chosen nursery might seem odd given that we have expanded 1,140 hours. However, some local authorities have refused funding to parents on the basis that they have selected a private nursery over a council-run facility. Not only does that defeat the purpose of parental choice, it raises serious concerns over the influence that some local authorities have on where children are placed. That is undoubtedly being created due to the Government's lack of leadership and ability to form guidance to ensure that all councils are formed in all councils. I think that you should know that interventions from a sedentary position are not encouraged. Thank you very much, Ms Gallagher. That is barely an excuse, Ms Gallagher. To ensure that councils are following similar practices. If I compare the previous experiences to the needs set out by Upstart Scotland, it will highlight how far the Scottish Government needs to go to get it back on track. It asks for children to be valued the same, sustainable hourly rates to be paid to the PVI sector, realisation by local authorities that using what you have is more sustainable than reinventing the wheel, a level playing field for the sector's workforce, true partnership working and a model that allows outcomes for all children to be shaped to meet their individual needs. I do not see any of that reflected in the concerns that have been brought to my attention but should set off alarm bells with the minister here today. Perhaps they could look at the plan for parents that we, the Scottish Conservatives, launched in our manifesto that would give parents flexibility and support, as well as providing that wraparound childcare without leaving the PVI sector behind. In closing, 1140 hours has still got the potential, but as with everything that the Scottish Government touches, it is falling apart. I urge the minister today to get a grip of what could be a developing crisis to put young people and families at the heart of childcare policies. I am grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I start today by welcoming the opportunity to debate early learning, because I hope that we can all agree the importance of that time in a person's life. As Montessori so appropriately put it, if you can free the child's potential and you transform them into the world. I echo the comments of thanks to all the staff across this sector who worked so hard during these Covid times. At a time when a young person, when the seeds of their imagination, their empathy, their friendships are sown and nurtured, at a time when a child's experience will ripple through their lives, possibly forgotten in detail, but every present and influential are the decisions and choices that they make. Those decisions that will influence their educational achievement, their lifelong health, the potential for economic productivity, whether they can indeed become responsible citizens in successful communities and indeed become successful parents to the next generation. I must say that while we in Scottish Labour understand the busy time we are going through at this moment because of COP26, it is disappointing but not surprising that something as important as education and early years childcare in particular has only been given a debate slot that does not allow for the government to be held to account with a vote. It would be truly shameful if a government sought to avoid scrutiny on the provision for our children because the eyes of the nation are elsewhere. But Scottish Labour agree that investment in childcare is a key part and a building block for our economic recovery, even without the shadow of Covid, but more so because of it. The planned expansion to childcare must go ahead this year as promised, but it must deliver the flexibility and availability that parents and families genuinely need. The Scottish Government's expansion to 1140 hours while much needed has caused problems across the sector, thanks to the lack of professional training, capacity and the very basic infrastructure to accompany the policy. While we want to see an expansion of childcare, it is vital that this is done in a sustainable manner, centred on the needs of the child. As an example, where this policy meets the government's policy on free school meals is the minister aware of the impending capacity crisis for young people from early years to P7 when they sit down for lunch. In many establishments, this means that multiple dinner sittings will have to take place over a long period of time. Some young people will eat not long after their breakfast but with a long wait until their next meal or indeed go for a long morning after breakfast before their lunch. The pandemic may have slowed down progress during the last 18 months, but the Scottish Government has had years before the pandemic struck to improve the offer on early learning and childcare. As we begin to look ahead to rebuilding after this pandemic, it is vital that we take the opportunity to look back to what has not worked, to what needs urgently addressing and to who has been let down. There needs to be a proper assessment of what has been lost during this pandemic and what needs to be done to repair the damage. We must not forget that our young people are in our path back from Covid. As with so many edicts on childcare in early years, it has come from on high. It has not had enough full thought, engagement and planning. It is entirely undeliverable by some local authorities without significantly more time and money. I look forward to hearing the policy being fleshed out as I have several questions for the Minister. What research has there been around how this policy will affect the attainment gap? Does the funding follow the child for those parents who live and work in different local authority areas? Will it create an agreed pathway for training and qualification for early years staff and funding to allow salary growth? If this is truly an educational child-focused policy, how can the Scottish Government tolerate that those who work in this field feel classed as low-skilled and indeed low-paid? The debate is titled 1140 hours and beyond, but what is the beyond? A child born the year the SNP came to power will be in their third or fourth year at high school. For those who began school the same year, they will be gearing up to leave almost their entire education under an SNP government. Rising numbers of teachers have quit the profession as a frequent failure to meet their own targets on class size and the poverty related attainment gap widens. The journey from early years to university over the last 18 months has been littered with failings. Every child from four to 18 has missed out on so much during the pandemic and each school year has had to pass them on to the next school year in the hope that someone else can pick up the slack. Did they sit formal examinations? Yes. Did they have a certificate that says they completed their year? Yes. Does this mean that they received the education they deserve? Does this mean that they have come out the other side with the knowledge bank that they will need? Does this mean that they were given the support and experience that they were owed? No, I don't think it does. All of our young people have this 18-month knowledge and experience gap, and for our youngest and early years, those foundation blocks that the system relies on potentially missing transitions into upper rooms, into school for the first time, undertaken without the full support that these children's parents expect. Obviously, this is a situation like no other, and there was always going to be a pause while everyone had to quickly adapt and find a new way of continuing, but the problem is some things never properly moved on from those first urgent panicked steps. Once we realised that Covid was not going to be over quickly, there was a space to look at what was missing and worked towards that goal, but instead what we got is gaps in the curriculum where students feel isolated, a fiasco of examinations and grading, and a devastatingly high rise in mental health issues among all of our young people. So who's going to pick up the responsibility of this knowledge gap? Who will fix it? The Scottish Government has been avoiding having any discussions on education since the start of this term because they know it really should be them that does that. And as we look to build back our society, we need to make sure that the generations are not lost again. We need to make sure that the gaps are filled, that children are given support, teachers, early years providers are given support, local authorities are given support, and most importantly the families and the young people themselves are given support. So is this policy an economic policy or is it an educational one? The Scottish Government have somehow made one that pleases neither. For parents, this is a question of who do you leave your children with so that you can go to work? We need to ensure that the earlier staff are given the pay, the qualifications, the respect to match this responsibility. Scottish Labour supports the provision of 1140 childcare hours, but it needs to be rolled out sustainably and with the genuine flexibility and resource that parents need. Please, not just another piece of soundbite. Thank you, Mr Whitfield. I now call on Willie Rennie for four minutes, Mr Rennie. I think that Martin Whitfield may have a very powerful point. I think that this is probably the first Government-inspired education debate for, I think, years. In fact, I think that it's always been the opposition that has led education debates and there was a reason for that. They didn't want it debated in the chamber and it's therefore a shame that, in the shadow of COP26, we have this debate. On the surface, there's actually quite a positive development that we've managed to roll out the early education proposals, but on the other hand, it should be a much wider point. There is a much broader debate to be had about education. As Mr Rennie is well aware, the decision on the business for the day is a matter for the bureau. I appreciate that the Liberal Democrats unfortunately are not there anymore, but this was not a matter for the Government, this was a matter for the bureau. I think that Christine Grair knows very well that the Government now has a majority on the bureau, so it doesn't matter what the bureau thinks, there will be a Government debate only when the Government wants to debate. I've only got four minutes. I'm really sorry, I'd like to debate this endlessly, I'm sure. Economist Professor James Heckman won his Nobel memorial prize because of his work on early years for which he said, we should invest, develop and sustain to gain, but that was 20 years ago. Despite what we think, Scotland is not ahead of the curve by any means and we have a long way to go if we look at Scotland's yawning poverty-related attainment gap, but, nevertheless, as I said, this is a welcome development to have this expansion. I've been a strong advocate for it for some years, I used to badger Alex Salmond repeatedly every week to get extended to two-year-olds, just like they were doing in England. Thankfully, he eventually gave in and agreed to the policy, but the problem, as always, with this Government is the implementation. Despite what the minister said, we still have a minority of those who are entitled to this two-year-old provision and are accessing it. I cannot see a plan from the Government to increase that rate, so thousands of young people who desperately need this education are missing out. I will take an intervention. I thank Willie Rennie for taking an intervention. I'll try not to take up too much of your time. I will write to Mr Rennie with the detail of what the Government is doing to increase the number of eligible two-year-olds who are taking up their place, and it will be quite a detailed letter. Mr Rennie, you can put it in spice as well. I am looking forward to that letter. I hope that, when she is writing to me, she will also address the issues around the viability of the sector, because I am deeply concerned about the viability of private and independent nurseries and voluntary nurseries, because the rates have not increased in many councils across the country. We cannot expect when costs are going up, wages are going up and the Covid responsibilities are increasing for the rates of reimbursement not to go up as well. That is why private nurseries are deeply concerned about whether they will be able to continue operating in the current way that they are. I have a proposal for the minister. I would like her to look at the transitions between ages at nursery, because it is under-utilising the capacity in nurseries. I know that young people move from one room to the other when they have their birthday, but that means that we have a one-child-two-spaces dilemma in nurseries. I have many nurseries in my area who would be interested in exploring with the minister whether we can look at that to improve the capacity within the nurseries, which would also make sure that we can get a better value for money. We can have greater stability for the young people, but we can perhaps pay the workers a little bit more money, because it is a better, efficient use of the service. I hope that the minister will perhaps agree to meet me to discuss the issue, because it is an important issue that requires some exploration. Finally, on the give-them-time campaign, it is okay to just briefly squeeze it in. The give-them-time campaign wants greater flexibility for families, wishing to hold their child back before they go off the school. I welcome the expansion of the pilots. I think that it is a good thing. I am glad that Fife is included in that. However, I cannot understand why we have had to have two years' worth of pilots. Surely we understand now that this policy can be delivered in councils. It is done so, and it is done so effectively. Let us just make it available for the whole of the country and be done with it. I want to start my contribution today to say thank you to all the early years professionals who have gone above and beyond to help our NHS staff, teachers or key workers from all over Scotland to get through this pandemic, of course early years workers or key workers as well. All the people who have had to physically get to work when the rest of us have adapted to working from home, and all those who have worked from home but needed their children to be in nursery to allow them to do that. To them, you were a godsend and you continue to be a godsend. The importance of good quality early years care and education cannot be overstated. In our early years, workforce is the key to so much to what makes our world go round and never more so than in the last 19 months. However, that aspect of their work and that support that they provide to families is just the tip of the iceberg. As 1140 hours has been rolled out across the country, I want to highlight the significance of the work that early years education professionals do from the impact they have on the health, social development, education and wellbeing of our children at this most crucial stage of their lives. What happens at this key developmental phase of a child's life is the building block for their whole lives and the positive impact of our expansion of early years, the universal expansion of early years education, will be felt in our society long-term. Pre-Covid, I met with some partner providers who were gaining up for 1140 hours, and I have had great visits to flower pots and king seat and tariff and many discussions with the managers there on the expansion from their perspective. I also want to speak to the apprentices at Hoodles and Old Meldrum. I am very much looking forward to a time post Covid when I can go back into my constituency nurseries to see how that expansion is going and to what I do, what I can to encourage more young people to consider it as a career, particularly young men. There are great opportunities in Aberdeenshire for school leavers to adults looking for a career change through the introduction of the modern apprenticeship, the assistant early years practitioner and early years support workers. For the existing workforce, there are substantial progression opportunities within the council's ELC service through the introduction of early years senior practitioner posts. We have now 75 early years senior practitioners in posts and these EYSPs are key to providing increased capacity for quality improvement, nurture and very importantly, increased engagement with families. We have also seen the introduction of six early learning excellence and equity practitioners who deliver a high level of educational expertise and input to those young children and their families. There are families who face the greatest disadvantages where additional support will assist in closing the poverty-related attainment gap. All in all, since 2018, we have seen a total increase in the workforce of 703 part-time and full-time early years staff in Aberdeenshire and that is set to increase further. I want to also mention the impact of the holiday cover and the approach that has been taken to giving parents the hours that suit them and their children. Based on initial feedback from parents, the council undertook a review of staff at the staffing model to ensure an increase in staffing to allow an earlier drop-off and later pick-up time for working parents. 17 settings across 16 clusters in Aberdeenshire were opened this summer as well to great success and had extremely positive feedback from parents. One mum said that she was delighted that the summer opening would mean that she would not have to go into debt through pressure to provide activities and experiences for her child during this time when she was also working. Our early years practitioners play an important part in a child's development and are fundamental to closing the poverty-related attainment gap. Frankly, I am excited to see the future impact on our country's population as the little ones receiving this enhanced early years education grow into adults. I just like to say that this is the emptiest time that I have spoken in a debate on early years childcare provision that has been led by the Government over the past few years. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to today's debate and what is, I believe, one of the most important and far-reaching pieces of legislation currently on the Scottish Government's books. Thirty hours of free childcare could be a major tool in the drive to tackle health inequalities and that preventable health agenda that I have spoken many times in this chamber. With some children reaching school age two years behind in their development compared with their peers, it is an opportunity to help finally tackle that stubborn attainment gap before it even starts to open. I think that furthermore it can be a huge boost to those who want to go back into work following the birth of their child. This is a piece of legislation that we on these benches recognise is hugely significant. We support its objectives and we want it to work as well as it possibly can. I think that to achieve those laudable objectives and create the number of places that require partnership working between local authorities and private nursery providers. As the minister said, the pandemic has been a major inhibitor to the roll-out of free childcare and I am sure that across the chamber we would agree with that. However, it should have given the Scottish Government the time to consider the issues previously raised on behalf of the sector in this chamber on many occasions from those benches. Specifically, the huge disparity across the country of councils' relationships and treatment of private nursery care, which in many cases has been far from ideal. Speaking with a number of private nursery owners, it is clear that serious concerns as to their treatment and sustainability within the scheme remain. I know that the minister will have examples of where the attitude and approach from local councils is collaborative and reflects the way in which the Scottish Government has set out its delivery plan, but there seems to have been little progress with ensuring that this is a picture that is uniform across the country. I have listened to stories of local authorities who have openly stated that they do not believe in private nursery childcare and have the intention of bringing all childcare in-house and have no intention of partnering with private childcare nurseries. Nurseries who have delivered decades of dot quality care have become an integral part of their communities. Every nursery representative highlighted the issue of local authorities recruiting directly from the partnership nurseries into local authority nurseries. They are losing so many highly trained quality staff that the care inspector are now downgrading them because of an increasing staff turnover. We have local authorities who have been able to pay a higher rate for apprentices than the partnership nurseries can for qualified staff, yet local authorities are asking the partnership nurseries to train their apprentices. We have this ludicrous situation where apprentices are being paid more than those who are training them. That is not a partnership. There are huge discrepancies between what the minister has asked local authorities to deliver and what some are actually delivering. There are local authorities who are consulting and treating the partnership nurseries as a crucial part of the scaling-up of childcare in Scotland. However, as I have tried to highlight today, there are a significant number who are treating them as anything but partners. To the point where they are now feel under threat, the unintended consequences is the pressure on the places for those children under three. I think that, to Willie Rennie's point, that there are only one out of three are currently taking up those places. The fact that, in many cases, local authorities are in essence setting themselves up in competition with partnership nurseries according to those partnerships. For the minister to deliver this crucial policy, she will need all of those partnership nurseries. The truth is that she is in danger of losing them, and all their years of experience dedicated care in our communities. Once they are lost, it will be next to impossible to get them back. Thank you very much indeed, Mr Whittle. I call Fulton MacGregor to be followed by Paul O'Kane. Again, four minutes, Mr MacGregor. Gives me great pleasure to speak in this debate. I have a four-year-old myself that currently benefits from the 1140 hours and I for one. I am very grateful for that. I think that the appearance up and down the country and certainly those in my constituency are also feeling the same, particularly as people strive to find a childcare work balance, namely women and mothers. For me, this is a major part of this policy, breaking down barriers, creating more equality and allowing more women to return to work and continue their careers, an argument well made by others today and by closing the gap in their briefing to us ahead of this debate. Some members may know that I have done a bit of work in the previous session around paternity leave and breaking the presumption that women are the primary caregiver. My own experience is that that still exists. It is actually quite prevalent and pervasive in society, not in a way that any individual can take responsibility for, but one that exists in our institutions and structures around us and one that exists in is all. I found that it is quite deep-rooted and creates barriers. I can say that that has been a dad recently. For me, the 1140 hours, as well as the expansion of the policy, will help to tackle that both directly but also by gradually changing the mindsets of society more generally. Covid-19 also allows us a chance to build back Becker better and differently in that respect. This Parliament will soon have a choice to make about remote working and how it links in with policies such as the expansion of early learning and childcare. For me, having a new born as a say, Master of Family can benefit from this situation and the technology, but only through the understanding of my chief whip and the committee convener, so in many respects I am the lucky one. However, it should not be like this. This Parliament needs to lead the way in terms of family friendly policies. If we expect businesses and other bodies to do likewise out there, we need to lead the way on that. In that note, I would like to pay tribute to the many businesses in my constituency that are embracing new ways of working, allowing their employees to fulfil a range of family obligations, childcare and others. Masking in this of the PO is that the Parliament is that where we can be, where it can be tempting to do, it is easiest. Like what has happened at Westminster, we should do what is right and lead by example. I would also like to comment on the education aspect of the expansion of early learning and childcare. I have been fortunate, like Gillian Martin said, about her constituency, to visit facilities in Cochbridge and Crescent. I have got an excellent record of outdoor facilities such as Jigsaw in Crescent, Stepping Stones and Steps and Townhead, Nursery and Cochbridge. The benefits of outdoor education in Stilling at a young age are well known and numerous. I am delighted that the Scottish Government continued to invest and promote that. I think that it is very important for our children's future. I would also like to make mention of the Government's on-going plans to entail all children who had deferred access to funded early learning and childcare in this year. I have seen the written answer this week, as well as I am delighted that Willie Rennie raised it also. I think that it is great that we are making good progress in this area. I brought it forward as a member's debate in the last session following contact from the Give Them Time campaign, which I am due to meet again later this month. They are going to update me on their current work in this area. I know that Diane Delaney and others from the campaign are delighted with the recent announcement from the minister. I would have liked personally for North Lancer Council to be included in the second phase of the pilot, particularly as councillors there were in Meghan Gallagherts, who was one of the councillors, who were the first in the country to change the local policy to that effect. It would have been good to see North Lancer Council in the roll-out, if the minister would be able to comment on that. That said, it is good that we seem to be making good progress towards the national roll-out in 2023, if it does not matter what local authority you are in. Overall, I think that we can be proud of this Government's record of nearly learning in childcare. That is a policy that has the potential to impact positively on many children and families, and it is doing that just now. Thank you very much indeed, Mr McGregor. I call on Paul O'Kane, the lead party that was entitled to two speakers, who have opted to have a single speaker. Mr O'Kane, I can offer you a generous six minutes. Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and may I draw members' attention to my register of interests as a councillor on each Renfrewshire council. With that on in, we are rightly debating 1140 hours of early learning and childcare, but the title of the debate goes on to talk about beyond. I feel that it is most appropriate for us to focus our attentions on the implementation of the current policy and to fix the issues that persist in delivering it before the Government draws a line and moves into the beyond. Our first priority must be ensuring that the planned expansion to childcare is embedded this year and also delivers the flexibility that parents and families require, because 1140 hours of early learning and childcare is widely supported across the chamber and across Scotland. We know from research the benefits that it brings to children and families, particularly those who live in areas of multiple deprivation. I have seen first hand the work done in family centres across communities such as Barheds, Neustyn and Thorntonly Bank, and the differences that are made in developing children and supporting their families by creating anchor institutions in areas such as Ock and Back and Dunterley, building trust and offering a holistic approach that meets people where they are. In particular, I think of the Sahari Burn Centre in Ock and Back, which is home to a wide range of learning and health opportunities for children and their families. The Atherley Family Centre nursery is based in the building, and activities and opportunities are available from various teams in the council and the health and social care partnership. Activities such as parenting workshops, breastfeeding cafes, speech and language outreach services, baby massage and baby sensory and book bug operate out of that centre every single day. That is the model that I think of when we talk about expanding early learning and childcare and we talk about the quality that we all want to see in that expansion. It was largely advanced before the wider agenda of 1140 hours by the council bringing partners together and developing through collaboration. Despite on-going cuts to local government budgets, councils are striving to deliver and to innovate for our youngest citizens. Early learning and childcare is about more than just the hours that are available. It is about the quality of inputs that children and young people receive and it is about supporting and regenerating the communities that they serve. However, we know that it is not the experience in every community, and the Government has failed to deliver the planned expansion on time. Of course, we have already heard reference to the impact of the pandemic, but the reality is that the Scottish Government had years before the pandemic to improve the offer on early learning and childcare and to work in meaningful partnership with local authorities to deliver. There are gaps in what has been possible for councils to deliver on the ground. Once again, we have seen a policy intention announced by the Government, but often with the lack of meaningful engagement with local authorities on the ground about how it will be delivered, particularly in the face of on-going budget cuts. I thank the member very much for taking intervention. I wonder if he agrees with me that to deliver fully in this policy will take collaboration between council nurseries and partnership nurseries. As it currently stands, there is a major disparity across councils in Scotland to the way in which partnership nurseries are being treated. I thank Brian Whittle for that intervention. Certainly, in my time in the council, I met many private providers who felt that it was often difficult for them to enter into partnership with local authorities. We worked very hard on those to make those partnerships available, but there has to be, I think, more parity in the funding available to ensure that we have the right provision at the right time in the right place. Once again, as I have already said, we have seen perhaps a lack of sufficiency in the funding around capital and revenue. Indeed, my inbox, as a councillor, has been full of parents, cannot always get the flexibility that they need because the funding allocations have led to rigid options across a variety of different locations and often parents cannot access the provision that they want in the community that they want or where they live or work. With an increasing population of children under five in East Renfrewshire, the council has had to make huge investment in the school estate in order to ensure sufficiency of places. For East Renfrewshire's context, that has meant building four new family centres and the extension of school buildings to accommodate nursery provision. There are other authorities who are in the same boat. East Lothian, which my colleague Martin Wettfield knows well, has also had some of that experience. There is a sense that the Government has not always listened to the individual needs and circumstances of local authorities when allocating funding, and that has resulted in significant shortfalls. That is even before we consider the impact of the provision of meals in early learning and childcare settings. As Martin Wettfield alluded to, the forthcoming expansion of free school meals in primary will yet again have an impact on the space that is required within the school estate. It is clear that there is a lack of joined-up thinking when it comes to what the Government expects local authorities to deliver and when it will be delivered. I hope that the minister will reflect on that as part of the on-going review, which will be undertaken to determine funding methodologies going forward beyond 2022, and perhaps she may say something on that in her summing up. In my remaining time, I would like to highlight one further issue that has not been tackled in a joined-up way in the process of expansion, but Megan Gallacher, Sotian McGregor and Willie Rennie have already put that on the record. However, they certainly give me time campaign and contacted me, whilst I was the education convener in East Renfrewshire, asking for funded deferos for all children who are eligible. It is clear that there must be a national approach to avoid a postcode lottery and that councils must be funded to deliver. The Government has agreed to do that in the last Parliament. I recognise that, and I hope that the minister may address that in her summing up. In conclusion, we must grasp the issues that are facing the current delivery of 1140 years, not least the financial pressures that are experienced by authorities. Ensure full roll-out before we can consider what is next. Thank you, Mr O'Kane. I now call Siobhan Brown. Brown will be followed by Gillian Mackay. Four minutes, please, Mr Brown. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It seems like yesterday, my 17-year-old and 14-year-old were at nursery. Although there was an element of free childcare at the time, with no family support locally for childcare, I do remember the monthly childcare bills being eye-watering until they both started school. Scotland has moved on, and our early year childcare provision is the envy of many of my friends and family in England, Australia and in America. Fast forward 11 years, and now with a five-year-old daughter who is not so longer walked through the nursery doors for the first time. I remember vividly the excitement and the wonder as she ran into the classroom to play with the doll's house, the toy kitchen and all her friends. We can never underestimate the importance of these early years. We have heard that the first three years of a child's life are critical for growth and development, physical, emotional and social. It is during this age that their minds must be nurtured and nourished. This plays a significant role in their development and future success. That Wendy house in the nursery classroom is much more than a place to play. It is a place for children to socialise and form relationships with people other than their family. It combats shyness, gives them confidence, helps them to develop friendships while teaching them about trust, teamwork and lending a hand skills to see them through life. My five-year-old is the youngest of three, and while shyness is not a character trait of hers, she is learning that you must share, you must co-operate and you must be kind. But the early schooling years are when your child learned so many more important skills outwith the dynamic of the family home. As a child starts interacting with others, they form friendships and develop a sense of personality. They start becoming aware of themselves and their self-esteem and their confidence. When your child goes to nursery, they will meet children from different backgrounds, various cultures, nationalities and religions. This is the time when your child learns to accept differences and respect others and beliefs. Importantly, it is also during this time that it gives our highly skilled early years educators the chance to identify areas where the child may need extra support and can tailor and develop programmes and activities around them. It is therefore crucial that we reach out at this stage and provide affordable and flexible childcare. The future of our nation and our planet will depend on our children's success. Only by providing them with the best start in life can they reach their full potential and to create a better, fairer, wealthier, smarter Scotland and become global citizens. We need to inspire the next generation and let them experience the joy that comes from education and give them the thirst for knowledge. We need our children to follow in the footsteps of Scotland's great thinkers. I have the privilege of seeing the education system with two hats on, as a mum and as an MSP. It is clear to see how we are nurturing young minds here in Scotland. Last week, I visited the children of Brassie and Glenburne primaries in Trun and Presswick. I was there to answer questions about Scotland's route to net zero. I was amazed and impressed with their questions. I am totally confident that the planet is in good hands with those youngsters. However, when I look at other parts of the globe, I realise how lucky we are here in Scotland. Nearly half of all pre-primary aged children around the world are not enrolled in preschool. Scotland is leading the way by expanding free childcare hours. When we came into Government, the childcare system delivered 412 hours and we are now providing 114 hours per child. Saving families is up to £4,000 per child a year. It is also important to note that the lack of affordable accessible childcare is one of the major barriers for parents not being able to go to work. By providing that, we can enable more women, people with disabilities and ethnic minorities to prosper in life and make Scotland a fairer country. Barack Obama summed it up perfectly when he said in his 2013 State of the Union Address that early education moulds a child in a way that helps them to tackle all that is thrown at them in life's journey. That's the journey that our education system is preparing our youngsters for. I warmly welcome the expansion of free childcare to 1140 hours for all eligible children. With the estimated savings of almost £5,000 per year for families who take advantage of the full entitlement, I am hopeful that that will go some way to address child poverty in Scotland, providing much-needed financial security and peace of mind for families, particularly those on low incomes who are struggling with the on-going cost of living crisis. We recognise that a child's earliest years are some of their most important and, as Scottish Greens, we will always work to provide a safe, secure and loving environment for every child in Scotland. Both the improved availability and consistency of childcare that should come out of the expansion will help to support Scotland's children, particularly the most vulnerable and those with the lowest household incomes, providing them with a welcome sense of routine and security that is so important for healthy childhood development. However, the job is not done. I welcome the minister's statement that future work will be done to provide funded early learning to one and two-year-olds and to build wraparound childcare for children of school age, both of which will prioritise families on low incomes. As a Parliament and as a country, we must work in the interests of the poorest, the most vulnerable and the least secure, so I am glad to see priority being given to those who need it most. I hope that those services will be expanded in time to support all of the priority families set out in the tackling child poverty delivery plan. That would be a long way to support those who are at the highest risk of poverty, young parents, lone parents who are often women, disabled people and those from minority ethnic backgrounds. I thank not just the childcare providers but the childcare workers in all sectors, workers who have been doing an incredible job in ever-changing and unpredictable circumstances over the past 20 months. We need to continue to drive up wages, terms and conditions across this sector to value those in the sector who have worked so hard and to attract more people to this role. Of course, until Scotland has full control over employment and workers' rights, we will be working with one hand tied behind our back. However, with the powers that this Parliament does have, we should be promoting the principles of fair work in everything that we do. We must do more for workers, including those in the childcare sector. It is not enough to offer freely accessible childcare. We must also be offering high-quality childcare. We need to ensure that those staff have the time to participate in continuing professional development to progress towards promoted posts such as the early-year senior practitioner or to develop their further skills. Those staff are inspiring young minds and deserve to be recognised for the incredible work that they do. To conclude, we warmly welcome the steps that have been taken so far to expand the provision of early learning and childcare and to make Scotland one of the best places to grow up. However, as I said, the work is not done. We cannot be complacent and we must always be working towards a better future for Scotland's young people. Thank you very much indeed, Ms Mackay. I now invite Christine Grahame to speak to the rest of us, as she will be followed by Pam Gosol. Ms Grahame, four minutes please. I hope that I am no longer speaking to myself. Presiding Officer, years ago, giving evidence to the End Health and Sport Committee, Harry Burns, former chief medical officer in Scotland said, and I paraphrase, inequality begins in the womb. That inequality can be addressed by taking on poverty and by education. In passing, therefore, let me praise the baby box, which every new parent may apply for in as a way of welcoming every new born into Scotland, it's practical and it's educational. In its first three years, the uptake was 144,000 homes, 93 per cent uptake, a good start. For the child, and this is as plain as a pike's staff, the earlier we can as a society support its development, in the broadest sense, the better. In my long-gone former days as a secondary teacher, at one time in a small rural school adjacent to its primary, I could see from my classroom window as I watched the primary children at playtime which children were already struggling, long before they crossed the threshold of my classroom. Indeed, entire families could be identified generation after generation as already on an unequal and frankly failing path. The provision, among other supports, too many to list fully in this short speech of free nursery provision now 100, 1,140 hours for all three-year-olds onwards is excellent, extending almost threefold on what the SNP Government inherited and it's to be applauded. That is not the end. In this Parliament, wraparound childcare is to be expanded before and after school to all and free to the poorest families. I say to Fulton MacGregor that I have the privilege, I wonder if it's a privilege, of being a granny and watching my youngest granddaughter benefit from nursery provision as I see the pictures of her out in woodland walks with her friends, bringing home her drawings and hearing her jumbled-up excited account of the day's events. It has given her confidence and social skills. She even passed me the cucumber slices the other day before she dug into them herself. Mind you, she still has a little to learn and passed them one by one and not in the dish. But I have no doubt that that will come, but sharing, I think, came partly about through nursery. Her parents, too, now working from home, are finding it testing to do so with an energetic three-year-old scrambling about their feet and demanding attention. But they were lucky. There is the single parent stuck in a flat with no real access to outdoor space. For them, nursery provision is vital. It's not just nursery provision. We now have the provision for those who qualify for a national £120 minimum school clothing grant for primary and £150 for secondary, so the stigma of being visibly poor can be alleviated. Of course, as in Penny Cooke at Ladywood and elsewhere, there's a supply of pre-loved local school uniforms. There's now an after-school club, schools out, first provided in people's and now extended to Penny Cooke. Add to that free school meals for P1 to P4 and we, as a society, are on the right track. You can't learn on an empty stomach. The SNP has determined every child—as I hope we all do in here, regardless of their circumstances—a child should get the best start in life. The ambition for Scotland this Parliament should be that this is the best place to grow up in the world, whichever side of the chamber we sit on. Baby boxes, free nursery provision, free school meals, school clothing—so much to level up, to use a prevailing phrase for which certain members of the Opposition have a fondness. Thank you very much, Ms Greer. I now call on Pam Gosel, who is followed by Co-Cub Stewart. Ms Gosel, four minutes, please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. All too often, a policy that sounds good on paper is hard to implement in practice. Perhaps this statement is what sums up the 1140 policy-based. Let me be clear from the start, Presiding Officer. If there is one thing we all agree on is that a good start in life can make an enormous difference to a child's quality of life both socially and economically later on. That is why the intention of the 1140-hours policy received widespread support. I am pleased to see that the Scottish Government is in the process of designing plans to expand the one- and two-year-old children, but we must draw attention to the practical problems arising from the implementation of the 1140-hours policy. Our economic recovery is set to be jobs-focused recovery, so you can understand my concern upon hearing of the troubles with the access that people are experiencing. Presiding Officer, the collapse of private ELC providers poses a risk to the availability of spaces for children and the flexibility that the 1140-hours policy affords to parents. Already, from 2017 to 2019, there was a notable reduction of around 783 child-minding services and around 80 daycare of children's services, with private nurseries warning the ELC expansion threatening their survival. That is an area that today the majority of the speakers have echoed. That is having an impact on those on the ground where the effects of the 1140-hours policy have already been felt by parents in my council area. Some have complained that they are unable to find availability, times, days or locations that suit them. Presiding Officer, plans to pay the living wage is not enough to attract the levels of employment that are needed to deliver on the flexibility that parents were promised. The Scottish Government must improve the attractiveness of employment to early learning and childcare sector, because the supply of ELC providers is not meeting the demand of early learning childcare. I have not got enough time. Those are issues that cannot be ignored. In closing, Presiding Officer, I would like to repeat my first point. The first few years of a child's life are some of the most important in relation to future development. There are three things that we can take away from today's debate. Firstly, if we get early learning and childcare right, we can ease the burden on the rest of the education system, while at the same time providing a much-needed flexibility for families. Secondly, if the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that there must be far more flexibility and choice for working families. Finally, we need to invest in our children's futures by investing in those who shape them. Presiding Officer, I am sure that no-one here will disagree that education is the cornerstone of governmental responsibilities. Therefore, the SNP needs to listen to the people on the ground. I now call Cocab Stewart, who will be the final speaker in the open debate. I remind all those who have participated in the debate that they need to be in the chamber for closing speeches. If there is one thing that I have learned as a former primary teacher over far too many years, the best start in life begins long before formal education provided by our schools, the role of early learning and childcare provision plays a crucial role, not only for our but for our whole society and the economy. We know that the Conservatives have very little interest in giving anyone the right start in life. Never mind the best start. They slashed funding under austerity for the short start programme in England, even though it was proven to address inequalities in early years support. In 2019, a study conducted by the Institute for Physical Studies concluded that sure start children's centres reduced numbers of people taken into hospital and saved millions of pounds for the national health service, yet it did not stop the Tories closing over 500 centres between 2010 and 2017. Then we came to Scotland, and the Dune Sayers of the last Parliament, who said that 1140 hours of early years care could not be done. In 2019, just two years ago, the Conservative spokesperson for children and young people told this Parliament that ministers had to urgently address flaws in its plan to double free childcare provision. Yet the policy was successfully delivered on time and in partnership with local Government and early learning and childcare providers within the first 100 days of the Government. Building the system of wraparand childcare—something that was often talked about by new labour but now delivered by the SNP—will have significant benefits to families and the wider economy. Free to low-income households and with fair contributions from those who can afford it, families can now plan job opportunities and careers in ways that would deny to parents in the past. Knowing that early learning and childcare is taken care of, it frees women in particular to return to work and, importantly, to return to full-time should they wish to do so. Then there are the jobs that have been created in early learning and childcare. Remember the Tories told us two years ago that there would not be enough train staff to deliver on our commitment, and yet here we are with 435 new graduate-level ELC posts across Scotland supported by £21 million funding in 2018-19. Building the capacity for future growth as we expand ELC to one and two-year-olds. No doubt the Tories will be telling us again today that we and they have done that we are too poor and too daft to make this work. What the Tories lack in positivity is more than made up by the ambition and aspiration for our families and children on this side of the chamber. Thank you, Ms Stewart. I would encourage members that there is little point in heckling the screen. I would, however, note that Siobhan Brown is not in the chamber having participated in the debate, and I am sure that she will advise us to the reason why. I call on Michael Marra to wind up for six minutes, please, Mr Marra. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate today. I draw members' attention to my register of interests as a Serving Cancer for Loughy and Dundee. I think that we have heard all sides of the debate today reaffirm their commitment to the expansion of early learning and childcare, early years spending and tackling the gaps and attainment between the richest and the poorest, which begin to show and to grow from the very earliest of years. That is a well-observed phenomenon and regrettable in Scotland. We have known for too long that the gap between the poorest and the richest in terms of outcomes and attainment is far too wide. Indeed, the Education and Skills Committee heard again from the Auditor General just this very morning that the Government has failed to meet its own intent around that. We are a decade on now from the prevention agenda that preventative spending from Campbell Christie and Willie Rennie drew our attention to, over 20 years ago, analysis that was done in terms of the form of preventative work and how the impact that that could have in terms of the economic benefits for the country as well as the social benefits that flow from that. It is no great innovation in terms of analysis, but we are keen to see that delivered as quickly as possible. What is also clear is that the issues are being experienced and continue to be experienced in the system from both families and young people and from the providers themselves. We have heard many of the practical considerations around the delivery around the chamber. The minister started off by talking about childcare that was universally accessible and affordable and said that she was delighted to announce that that eligibility had been expanded. The reality is that what we are interested in is the outcome of people who avail themselves of those services rather than the broad availability of it. We need to think more about who are the people who are benefiting, who are accessing those services and, crucially, who are not accessing those services so that we can understand the kind of benefits that it has. I will certainly do that. I thank Mr Marriff for taking my intervention. I think that he makes a very valid point there that we need to ensure that the children who absolutely need to be at nursery and early learning centres are there. That is something that we are working very hard to do. I think that if you look at the percentage of children who are in the three and four-year-olds, you will see that there is a really high proportion of those children to attend. I am not in any way denying that there is still work to do on the eligible two-year-olds, but I think that it is something that we are working on and are progressing on. I take his point, and I think that it is well-meaning. Michael Marriff. I appreciate the minister for the intervention. I think that there has been many practical considerations being voiced from different sides of the chamber coming from different perspectives as to how we can actually deal with some of those issues in terms of the people that access it. I think that Martin Whitfield started off with a very principled examination of being mindful that this is about children, generally the individual child and the families that are around them. Siobhan Brown, too, gave a very eloquent exposition of that position and focusing on the child and how we make sure that they are at the centre of the decisions that we make. It is crucial that we understand who and why. We have to recognise that some families may choose not to avail themselves of that provision and bear statistics such as percentages of eligibility and those that uptake it do not give us the nuance that we require to see if we are actually meeting the generally shared aspirations for that policy. I think that part of the issue has always been a thorn in the side of the delivery of 1140 hours has been the Scottish Government's at times seemingly willful confusion as to whether that policy and spending is intended as an education policy, or to improve early years learning and development, or whether it is an economic one allowing parents more freedom to work. I would say at times that it can be both, that is certainly the case, but it determines how then you actually form up the policy and the decisions that you make. We would say that the Government must consider when it says that points to the pandemic as a reason for delay is understandable, of course, but the first policy that was wiped from the books in terms of the deadline when the pandemic came along because it was not going to be a deadline that was met in any case. Fulton MacGregor made, I think, a really important contribution on outdoor learning talking about the pandemic. Gillian Martin did similar and talked about some of the situations there. I think that that development in terms of the provision in the sector is very welcome, but we have to make sure that indoor settings have the ventilation systems that are required. So far, we have spent £10 million of taxpayers' money on alarm systems to tell us when we should open the windows. It does not appear that we have provided any active ventilation systems across Scotland, and that has to urgently change if we are going to ensure that we bring case numbers down and that children can be taught in safe environments. However, a raft of key practical issues that the Government must address in provision now before, as Mr Paul Cain talked about the lofty rhetoric about beyond, can begin. As a councillor, Paul Cain is able to bring forward some of the real challenges about the particular funding methods. The exchanges between Brian Whittle and Paul Cain on the issue was very important. We have to recognise that there is a challenge between private sector providers, the dynamic between private sector and local authorities, and we have to make sure that, crucially, the funding follows the child and that funding is sufficient to make sure that we can support staff in what they do. Megan Gallacher also led off talking about this eloquently as well and how important it was. I want to touch on funding deferil and just as in closing, Deputy Presiding Officer, the Government announced last week that there are to be more pilots instead of rolling this approach out generally. Frankly, organisations like Give Them Time have won the argument and exposed the nonsense of the loophole that exists. We just need to move and make sure that that is fully in place. I did enjoy co-cab stewards trot through the sins of the Tories, but we have to note that part of that is a policy that we were told that independence required on the day of the launch of the white paper in 2014. Here we are now talking about the practical delivery of it. We are urgently in need of an analysis into the impact of the pandemic, on learning, development and attainment in Scotland. In the early years, yes, but beyond as well. There is nothing that I have seen that sets out the scale of the challenges that the education system faces, and simply there can be no effective plan for recovery if the nature of the challenge is not understood. As I close today's debate for the Scottish Conservatives, I would like to return to where my colleague Megan Gallacher began. It is a point that we have heard time and time again this afternoon in this debate, and that is about the widespread support and unity across Parliament when it comes to the policy aims behind 1140 hours. The question, as a member of the previous Parliament, who has been party to a number of debates on this topic, has always been one about delivery. Eligibility is one thing, access is another. Siobhan Brown talked about being kind and learning to be kind at nursery. If I am trying to be kind, I would say that we have had two different debates today. Those on the Government benches have talked lots about the principles behind early learning and childcare, something that we can all get behind. Perhaps they have been too kind to their own Government because they have not got into the nitty gritty of the practical delivery on the ground. That is a real question for Gillian Martin. I am not trying to prompt Mr Mundell to reference my speech, but my speech was about the on-ground delivery in Aberdeenshire, which is actually going apace. It is not just a case of what he says all the Government benches singing from some kind of hymsheet that has been handed out to them. I thank Gillian Martin for that intervention, and I do not want to pick on her individual speech. There was lots in it about the good things that are happening, and I recognise those. I see them in my constituency, but I cannot believe that Gillian Martin, in the time that policy has been under development, has not had any contact from private and voluntary and independent nurseries expressing concern about how that policy has been delivered. I will come to some points around Aberdeenshire later in my speech. Although I am willing to accept that Covid has brought a unique and unprecedented set of challenges and that the Government felt that it had no choice but to delay, that is not the full story. That is a policy that has been riddled with concerns and poor implementation from the get-go. I personally will not forget Marie Todd, the previous minister's explanation to my colleague Liam Kerr, who sought to ask her about concerns facing nurseries in the north-east and about how the provision would be delivered in practice with some nurseries facing closure, only to hear him being told that he would not expect to be able to drive over a bridge 18 months before it was built. However, as was pointed out at the time, he might not expect the bridge to be there, but he would expect the detailed planning to be undertaken before the building work began. Right the way through the development of the policy, it is quite clear that the route map has been lacking and that the planning at that detailed level did not exist when the policy was announced here in this Parliament. That has created unnecessary tensions and challenges, many of which could have been avoided under better leadership. While we have come a long way to building a system with the capacity to provide these increased hours, we are not there yet. Like many members, including my colleague Pam Gosall, I share concerns about the possibility of a collapse in the PVI sector. In the medium to longer term, this policy will not be possible without their support and their continued commitment. Indeed, some of the challenges around staffing are a matter that I raised with Audit Scotland this morning at the education committee. From the statistics that I quoted in my opening speech, you can see how valued those PVI providers are in terms of delivering the 1140 hours across Scotland. In August this year, we had the financial sustainability health check that was published on 31 August, which set out a road map to address some of the issues and concerns that have been raised by the ELC industry as a whole. Oliver Mundell, I thank the minister for that intervention, but I fundamentally disagree on the characterisation. The Government and local authorities and all of us across Scotland are dependent on the PVI sector. They are not being well supported. They are continuing to pick up the slack because it is something that they care about and are keen to deliver those hours. I will come back in more detail to that later. However, if what she was saying was correct, why would Audit Scotland this morning recognise that the same risks that they have previously identified in relation to the workforce continue to exist? It has been persistently raised in this Parliament since the policy was first announced. Without increasing the workforce, we are not going to be able to deliver access. We can announce eligibility, but people are not going to get the flexibility or access that they are looking for if we do not find the workforce to help to deliver it. It is important to remember that those settings also provide increased parental choice, and in many cases are leading innovation in the sector. They often work in some of the hardest-to-reach areas, such as my own Dumfrieshire constituency, as voluntary groups and childminders who are there to serve many small rural and remote communities. They certainly do not feel well supported or valued at the moment. They feel that they are second to local authority provision, even though it is not available in the communities that they serve. They have worked hard during the pandemic as well, and in many cases are willing to provide the greatest flexibility in terms of available hours. That is not to say that we are not seeing good partnership working in some local authorities, as my colleague Brian Whittle pointed out. The challenge is making sure that that best practice becomes universal. It is not good enough for the Scottish Government to say that this is down to individual local authorities. This is a Scottish Government-led policy, and the Scottish Government, for that reason, must be willing to continue to drive improvement and best practice across the country. The success of this policy is just too important for it to get stuck in that chasm between local authorities and the Scottish Government, which has become all too common a recurrence when it comes to education policy. As I conclude, it is clear that 1140 hours continues to have broad support and the potential to be truly transformational. If it can meet the needs of our young people, their families and benefit our society, then it is a policy that this whole Parliament can be proud of. We would simply ask the minister to recognise that, despite the delayed introduction of the policy, we are still seeing many challenges and we are not there yet. That demands a watchful eye and a willingness to get a handle on what is happening on the ground to question where necessary. It also comes with a responsibility to be the embodiment of the partnership working that we all want to see, and that means treating all partners as equals in the process. We simply cannot afford to see the number and choice of settings reduced. In fact, in my very last line, in a vibrant and well-supported sector, we should be seeing an increase in the number of providers. We should see more people wanting to get involved, not less settings. That should be across all parts of the sector. I call on the minister to wind up if he could take us to five o'clock. I thank members for their contributions right across the chamber this afternoon. It has been a very interesting debate, and there has certainly been some very well-made points from all parties. As we have heard, all councils in Scotland have been offering 1140 years of funding ELC to all eligible children since August, making high-quality early learning childcare available to families and saving parents up to £4,900 per year for each eligible child. That is an enormous achievement and could not have happened without the dedication and determination of local authorities, of private and third sector providers and childminders to deliver. It is all the more remarkable that this has been achieved in a pandemic and the most challenging of circumstances. I would like to take the opportunity now to thank each and every person involved for their incredible response. The resilience and professionalism of people across the sector in the face of the pandemic has been admirable, and the care and nurtured that they have continued to show families has been outstanding. Mr Marra. For giving way, we on these benches absolutely share her tributes to the people who worked throughout the pandemic and the workforce. Does she recognise that pay and conditions for workers are absolutely critical to recognising the work that they have done? However, as Mr Whitfield pointed out, a section of our workforce who believe themselves to be under-rewarded and, frankly, disrespected at times. I will come on to some of those parts as I finish my closing speech, but, certainly, yes, they are a profession. They are early learning and childcare workers, and they are part of their education professionals across the country. I think that it is a responsibility of all of us to recognise the professionalism of that career choice that those people make. I have no doubt that their efforts have had a hugely positive impact on the lives of so many children and families during this period. By providing childcare for other key worker families and vulnerable children during lockdown, they enabled other critical services to respond to the pressures of the pandemic. Without them, Scotland's ability to respond to the pandemic would have been much reduced, and the Scottish Government is truly grateful to them. When public health guidance has permitted, I have had the opportunity to visit a number of early learning and childcare settings. Everywhere I have been, I have consistently been struck by the enthusiasm and the professionalism of the staff that I have met and the happiness of the children in their care. Since I was appointed Minister for Children and Young People in May, I have heard many stories of how families are benefiting from this ambitious expansion programme, such as parents who have greater freedom to work or study without the worry of the added cost of childcare. I have also heard about children who have tried new and exciting foods with their friends through the provision of free, nutritious meals through the expansion programme, leading to a more balanced and healthy diet, and new fun activities and experiences broadening their opportunities to learn and to play. During the pandemic, the outdoors has offered children the chance to play with their friends unhindered by health restrictions. It has also been a big part of the Covid-19 health guidance for ELC settings. I am therefore particularly pleased to have recently visited an outdoor childcare setting and observed firsthand the benefits of children playing, learning and having fun outdoors. We know that daily high-quality outdoor play experiences have a direct and positive impact on children's physical, cognitive, social, mental health and emotional development, and it is our vision that children in Scotland will spend at least some or most of their time outdoors, or as much of their time outdoors, as they do indoors, as part of their ELC experience. To support that, we are working with practitioners to develop strong communities of practice, enabling those high-quality outdoor experiences to become the norm. Our national standard of ELC enshrines daily access to outdoor play and learning opportunities for all children. I could return to some of the points that were raised by members across the chamber during the debate. As I said in my introduction, I think that there have been some very interesting and illuminating points made by members across the chamber. I am certainly happy to meet Mr Rennie. It is always a pleasure to spend time in his company and to discuss the capacity in nurseries. The issue of deferral of school was raised by several members across the chamber. I would like to have just complimented Mr Rennie gently to remind him that the pilot for deferrals was voted on by this Parliament. I think that the Liberal Democrats were the only party that voted against that deferral, but I am sure that, if that is not correct, he will correct me. Gillian Martin references how key the ELC workers have been essential in allowing families to work, whether that be going out to work during the pandemic or working from home. In my speech earlier, I spoke about outdoor education and that I was fortunate enough to go to a forest out of school care service in Fulton MacGregor's constituency, and I certainly enjoyed experiencing that. Brian Whittle gave us a very considerate contribution and spoke about the importance of working with COSLA. We have worked closely with COSLA during this and will continue to do so. Christine Grahame gave us an interesting contribution about Cucumbers, but there is anecdotal evidence about the importance of learning in early learning centres. I will check the OR just to make sure that the Tories were talking about advocating for national pay bargaining across the country. It is important to recognise that this is the first full year of delivery of a major programme. We have much to celebrate in reaching this milestone of funded ELC for all eligible children, but there is more that we need to do. I will come to you in a second, Mr Whittle, if that is all right. We will continue to work closely with local government to embed the benefits of the expansion as more families come forward, ensuring that children's social and developmental outcomes improve and that parents and carers have more opportunities to work, train or study and that family wellbeing improves. We will also work with local authorities to increase awareness of the offer of funded ELC for eligible two-year-olds, but I am not unrealistic about the continuing challenges to providers in the private and third sector. We will be acting on the findings of the financial sustainability health check that we published in August, working with the sector to build on the substantial targeted financial support of up to £25 million made available to the sector since March 2020. It will pause there if Mr Whittle still wants to intervene. I thank the minister for taking the intervention. I wonder if she could address the tension that is between the constraints in the private sector and the pay that they are able to offer versus that of the public sector, where they do not need to take into account rates and capital costs and therefore the drain from the private sector into the public sector. How will she address that particular issue? If you could begin to start winding up as well. Of course. We recognise the on-going sustainability challenges and part of the work that will come out of the financial health sustainability report will look at that, workforce, sustainability of the sector and about the training requirements for the sector, because we all want that to succeed. I am therefore greatly encouraged by the breadth and depth of contributions from across the chamber today. The engagement demonstrates and underlines the importance that all parties place on early learning and childcare and its role in securing the best possible outcomes for Scotland's children and their families. I ask that members continue to support the Scottish Government in this work. Many thanks indeed minister. That concludes the debate on early learning and childcare, 1140 hours and beyond. It is now time to move on to the next item of business. The next item of business is consideration of legislative consent motion 1884 on police crime, sentencing and courts bill, UK legislation. I ask Keith Brown to move the motion. Thank you. The question on this motion will be put at decision time. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 1925 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, setting out a business programme, and I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you very much. No member has asked to speak against the motion, and therefore I call on George Adam not to respond. The question will be put on that motion 1925. Are we all agreed? Excellent. The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of eight parliamentary bureau motions, and I ask George Adam again on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau to move motions 1926 to 1933 on approvals of SSIs. What you said, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you. The question on these motions will be put at decision time, to which we now happily come. There are two questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is that motion 1884 in the name of Keith Brown on police, crime, sentencing and courts bill, UK legislation, be agreed. Are we all agreed? Yes. That is agreed. Thank you. And the next item of business, the question is motion one. Oh, no. Final decision is a question that motions 1926 to 1933, in the name of George Adam, be agreed. A single question will be put. Are we all agreed? Yes. Thankfully, yes. Thank you. We are all agreed, and that concludes decision time. Thank you very much indeed. There will be a short break before we move to the next item of business.