Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare – Reinstatement of 1140 statutory duty - Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)

Scope of this ICIA

The ELC expansion policy was fully impact assessed in 2019 through an Equalities Impact Assessment,^[3] a Children Rights and Wellbeing Impact Assessment,^[4] a Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment^[5] and a Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment.^[6] These impact assessments and their recent updates remain relevant and valid for the whole of Scotland, including island communities.

The duty to carry out a specific Island Communities Impact Assessment came into force on 23 December 2020, and this impact assessment will therefore consider the impact of the implementation of the ELC expansion policy from August 2021 on island communities in particular.

Methodology

This assessment sought to understand the impact of the policy to reinstate the legislative requirement for all local authorities to deliver 1140 hours of funded ELC from August 2021 on island communities, and whether those impacts significantly differ from the impact in other communities (including other island communities).

Data sources utilised in this process in this process included:

• Care Inspectorate – Early Learning and Childcare Statistics 2018^[7]
• Scottish Government ELC census^[8] which provides information on funded ELC. This includes data on the number of registrations for funded ELC, with information available on numbers by age, disability and additional support needs. Additionally, data on teachers, graduates and staff working towards graduate level qualifications working in funded ELC is provided.

Consultation

The legislative duty to provide 1140 hours of funded ELC sits with local authorities, who must make this minimum amount of ELC available for all eligible children from 1 August 2021.

As part of this impact assessment, the Scottish Government consulted with Early Years teams in each of the 6 Scottish island authorities, namely Argyll and Bute, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, Highland, North Ayrshire, Orkney and Shetland, to gather responses to the following questions:

1. Will island communities face any particular island specific challenges as a result of the reinstatement of the duty to provide 1140 hours of funded ELC by August 2021?

2. Will island communities face particular challenges in recruiting staff for ELC settings?

3. Is there anything else the Scottish Government should be aware of in relation to the reinstatement of the 1140 duty in relation to island communities?

The Scottish Government also consulted with the 1140 expansion policy delivery assurance leads for each island authority, who have an extensive background in working with the individual local authorities on their implementation of the 1140 expansion.