Expansion of Early Learning and Childcare – Reinstatement of 1140 statutory duty - Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

10. Enforcement, sanctions and monitoring

10.1 Education authorities (i.e. local authorities) have a statutory duty to provide the 'mandatory amount' of ELC to eligible children within their local area. From 1 August 2021 they will be required to provide 1140 hours of funded ELC to eligible children in their local area.

10.2 To improve the quality of data held on the ELC sector and monitor the impacts of the expansion of ELC, the Scottish Government is developing the ELC Data Transformation Project. This is a long-term data development project that will improve the robustness of ELC census data and expand the analysis that will be possible to support research, planning, management and monitoring of ELC provision.

10.3 The Scottish Study of Early Learning and Childcare has been designed to evaluate whether the ELC expansion to 1140 hours has achieved its objectives by measuring outcomes for children, parents and families. Baseline data was collected during 2018 and 2019 from a sample of children and parents accessing 600 hours of funded ELC. The same data will be collected from a sample of those accessing 1140 hours, allowing for an assessment of the extent to which the expansion's long-term outcomes have been achieved.

10.4 Annual statistics compiled by the Care Inspectorate and Education Scotland will also provide information on quality evaluations of ELC settings across Scotland.