Best Start - strategic early learning and school age childcare plan 2022 to 2026: island communities impact assessment screening

Step One – Develop A Clear Understanding Of Your Objectives

• What are the objectives of the policy, strategy or service?
• What are the intended impacts/ outcomes and how do these potentially differ across the islands?

In October 2022, the Scottish Government will publish Best Start: Strategic early learning and school age childcare plan for Scotland, 2022-26 (the Plan).

The Plan will set out our vision for early learning and school age childcare over the rest of this Parliament. It will be a high-level document, providing a framework tying together our vision, our strategic priorities, and the outcomes that these intend to deliver. We have been working closely with our partners in the sector, our analysts and academic experts to ensure that our approach is informed by the latest evidence and learning.

The four strategic priorities are:

1. Realising the benefits of the expansion to 1140 hours of funded Early Learning and Childcare for children and families.

2. Progressing the expansion of our childcare offer, including building a future system of school age childcare and a new early learning and childcare offer for one and two year olds.

3. Ensuring that the delivery of our priorities is supported by a sustainable, diverse, and thriving sector and profession.

4. Ensuring that our ambitions are underpinned by fair funding and outcomes frameworks, robust data, and organisations that work together to regulate services and support quality improvement.

While the Plan will set out how we intend to work with children, families and our partners in the sector, the Plan will not in itself set out any changes to policy. Nor will it set out detailed delivery or implementation plans for our childcare policies or programmes.

Any further developments of policy or implementation plans in pursuit of the four strategic priorities in the Plan will be subject to their own processes of consultation with stakeholders. Equalities impacts will be considered as part of this, with formal programme-specific or policy-specific ICIAs developed where necessary.