Mainstream Scottish nursery additional support needs data: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
Information below presented in a table broken down per local district :
1. The number of additional support need staff employed in mainstream Scottish nurseries.
2. The number of Scottish nurseries that cater for pupils who require additional support.
3. The number of pupils with additional support needs attending a mainstream nurseries.
Response
This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested for part 1 and some of part 3. Further information provided below.
1. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested under part 1 as we do not collect this information.
2. As a response to part 2:
- Under the Additional Support for Learning Act 2004, education authorities are responsible for identifying and meeting the additional support needs (ASN) of children in Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) settings.
- The Equality Act 2010 is clear that settings must not discriminate in offering a service. This applies both to funded ELC and to privately purchased ELC. In line with the National Standard, settings must comply with the duties under the Equality Act 2010.
- On that basis, all settings should be able to cater for children with ASN. In the September 2024 ELC Census there were 2,575 centres providing funded ELC. At 31 December 2023, Care Inspectorate statistics show that there were 3,444 daycare of children settings, excluding childminders, of which 2,527 were listed as nurseries.
3. Responding to part 3, the report on the 2024 ELC Census, published on 10 December 2024, found that there were 17,580 child registrations with an identified ASN (19% of child registrations). We do not hold this information broken down by mainstream and specialist settings.
I enclose a copy of the information for parts 2 and 3 in tables ( separately under tabs named part 2 and part 3) broken down by Local Authority, as requested.
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Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
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Edinburgh
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