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The Scottish Government monitors trends across the whole childcare sector, drawing on data published by the Care Inspectorate. In recent years the Scottish Government has published financial sustainability health checks and the Sustainable Rates Review, which considered issues relating to financial sustainability.

As part of the evidence gathering phase of the joint Scottish Government and COSLA Sustainable Rates Review, local authorities reported that “they had seen very little evidence of funded services in the private, third or childminding sectors reporting to them that they had been under financial duress or of services closing due to financial sustainability pressures”.

Under the Business Sustainability criteria in the National Standard for funded ELC, providers are required to demonstrate to the local authority that they are financially viable. If a service delivering funded ELC was at risk of closure due to financial difficulties, they would therefore be obliged to make their local authority aware.

The Scottish Government continues to work closely with the sector representative organisations and as part of this engagement we regularly receive updates from these organisations regarding pressures faced by their members. The representative organisations will often highlight any concerns in reports which draw on the responses from members to surveys (and these reports are usually available on the organisations’ website). For example, Early Years Scotland recently published a report highlighting the potential impact on providers as a result of the UK Government’s changes to Employer National Insurance Contributions.

An independent review of the Community Learning and Development (CLD) landscape was commissioned in December 2023.

Following the review, the Learning: For All. For Life. report was published in July 2024 which set out 20 recommendations varying in complexity and scope. The report can be accessed at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/learning-life-report-independent-review-community-learning-development-cld/.

In December 2024, the Scottish Government and CoSLA accepted the first recommendation of the report to set up a CLD Strategic Leadership Group (SLG). The SLG are collectively considering the remaining recommendations of the report, including those relating to youth work.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-38244 on 17 June 2025 All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/questions-and-answers.

Youth work falls within the scope of The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. This regulation, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision of Community Learning and Development in their areas.

As the regulatory requirements for Community Learning and Development are placed with education authorities, the Scottish Government does not collate information on youth centres.

The Scottish Government monitors trends across the whole childcare sector, drawing on data published by the Care Inspectorate. In recent years the Scottish Government has published financial sustainability health checks and the Sustainable Rates Review, which specifically considered the contribution of local authority sustainable rates to funded providers’ financial sustainability.

It is important to note that funded ELC is often delivered in a mixed economy model. The payments that providers receive from local authorities to deliver funded ELC therefore only form part of their total income. For example, the 2023 Financial Sustainability Health Check reported that public funding accounted for around 46% of overall income for private childcare services who delivered funded ELC.

The joint Scottish Government and COSLA Sustainable Rates Review identified a need to improve rates-setting processes to better support provider sustainability. As part of the evidence gathering phase of the review local authorities did however report that “they had seen very little evidence of funded services in the private, third or childminding sectors reporting to them that they had been under financial duress or of services closing due to financial sustainability pressures”.

The Scottish Government and COSLA are continuing to progress the reforms from the Sustainable Rates Review. This includes improving the data available to inform funded ELC rates-setting by contracting the Diffley Partnership to undertake a new funded ELC cost survey. The survey findings will inform future sustainable rates-setting and the Scottish Government and COSLA’s future financial planning.

Further information about support available to ELC providers, including the Nursery Rates Relief Scheme, which provides 100% relief on Non-Domestic Rates to eligible day nurseries in Scotland and is estimated to be worth around £11 million a year, is available on the Scottish Government website.

Youth work falls within the scope of The Requirements for Community Learning and Development (Scotland) Regulations 2013. This regulation, in effect, requires local authorities to identify need and plan provision of Community Learning and Development in their areas.

As the regulatory requirements for Community Learning and Development are placed with education authorities, the Scottish Government does not collate information on youth workers.

The Scottish Government monitors trends across the whole childcare sector, drawing on data published by the Care Inspectorate. In recent years the Scottish Government has published financial sustainability health checks and the Sustainable Rates Review, which have considered issues relating to the financial sustainability of the sector.

Under the Business Sustainability criteria in the National Standard for funded ELC, providers are required to demonstrate to the local authority that they are financially viable. If a service delivering funded ELC was at risk of closure due to financial difficulties, they would therefore be obliged to make their local authority aware.

The national funded ELC cost survey that is currently being carried out by the Diffley Partnership on behalf of the Scottish Government and COSLA will help to ensure that our long-term investment to support the setting of sustainable rates is informed by a robust and reliable evidence base. The findings will be shared with local authorities and the sector later in 2025.

The Care Inspectorate collects and publishes data on service cancellations and registrations (available here: Statistics and analysis).

Figure 8 of the Care Inspectorate’s 2023_Early_learning_and_Childcare_Statistics.pdf shows service cancellations for childminding services and day care of children services for the period 2014 to 2023.

The Scottish Government drew on Care Inspectorate data to inform the most recent Financial Sustainability Health Check, published in July 2023. This included an analysis of annual cancellations across the whole childcare sector for the period March 2019 to March 2023, and provided a more detailed breakdown of cancellations by type of provider for this period. This information is set out in Table 1.10 of the Section 1: Recent Trends in the Childcare Sector - Financial Sustainability Health Check of the Childcare Sector in Scotland: Analysis and Evidence - gov.scot.

A breakdown of cancellations by local authority area can be produced using data available from the Datastore.

The Scottish Government works closely with Local Authorities on the delivery of the renewal programme and use of the funding through the annual reporting process and the quarterly network meetings referenced in S6W-38037. As agreed with COSLA at the start of the funding programme in 2021, Local Authorities are not required to report any such issues.

A scoping exercise undertaken by COSLA in 2022, identified that there were 969 parks in need of immediate refurbishment and that 2,542 were in need of refurbishment within 1-5 years. The £60 million capital investment would support the renewal of all play parks in need of immediate renewal and around 1,000 of the play parks identified needing renewal over the funding commitment period.

Since funding began in 2021, the Scottish Government has chaired quarterly network meetings of Local Authority play park leads. The network allows Local Authorities to provide updates on how funding is being used and to share best practice and common issues.

Figures for 2024-25 are still being finalised, but reports so far show the following number of renewals per year since funding began: