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The Scottish Government values the key role that providers in the private and third sectors play in delivering the funded early learning and childcare entitlement, and we have provided the resources to ensure that the current entitlement of 600 hours per year is delivered in a way which is financially sustainable.

Whilst we cannot comment on the methodology underpinning the NDNA Annual Survey, research for the Scottish Government by Ipsos MORI in 2016 estimated that the average rate paid by local authorities would be insufficient to cover the costs of around 40% of private and voluntary setting currently delivering the funded ELC entitlement.

We also know from our Blueprint for 2020 consultation, which ran from October 2016 to January 2017, that a number of providers highlighted that a key barrier to offering the funded entitlement is that the hourly rate offered by local authorities doesn’t meet the costs of provision.

As highlighted in our Blueprint for 2020 Action Plan, which sets how the expansion to 1140 hours will be taken forward, the Scottish Government’s approach to delivering the expanded funded entitlement will be fundamentally provider neutral. This means that we will create a model which prioritises the settings that are best placed to deliver quality outcomes for children, and supporting our ambition to close the attainment gap, regardless of which sector they are provided by.

The Scottish Government values the key role that providers in the private and third sectors play in delivering the funded early learning and childcare entitlement, and we have provided the resources to ensure that the current entitlement of 600 hours per year is delivered in a way which is financially sustainable.

The value of any cross-subsidy is jointly determined by the costs faced by providers in the private and third sector delivering the funded entitlement and by the funding rate that they receive from the local authority to deliver this entitlement. Research for the Scottish Government by Ipsos MORI in 2016 estimated that the average rate paid by local authorities would be insufficient to cover the costs of around 40% of private and voluntary setting currently delivering the funded ELC entitlement. This implies that for these providers some element of cross subsidy may be necessary.

The Scottish Government has not produced an estimate of the overall value of any cross-subsidy.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information.

The Education (Scotland) Act 1980 places a statutory responsibility on all local authorities to manage and maintain the school estate and provide a safe school environment for all school users.

The number of schools operational in each year since 2007 are as follows:

The reason for decline in the total number of schools since 2007 is that many local authorities have chosen to rationalise their school estate. We have seen poor condition schools replaced with multi school campuses to enable local authorities to operate a more sustainable school estate.

It is the responsibility of individual local authorities to hold information about which schools have building certificates.

Following publication of the report on Phase 2 of the Enterprise and Skills Review on 22 June 2017, an Implementation Board has been established to lay the groundwork for the creation of the Strategic Board that will co-ordinate the activities of Scotland's skills and enterprise agencies.

The Implementation Board is chaired by Professor Lorne Crerar, and met for the first time on 28 June 2017. Further information on the Implementation Board, including a full list of membership, can be found at https://beta.gov.scot/groups/enterprise-and-skills-review-implementation-board/.

The reforms set out in Education Governance: Next Steps, including the regional improvement collaboratives, reflect evidence from the OECD, the International Council of Education Advisers and other international evidence as well as the messages we heard during the consultation process.

In developing regional improvement collaboratives, we took account of the views we heard on: the importance of collaboration; the desire for curriculum area specialist support and hands on improvement support; and the need to address inconsistency while maintaining a democratically accountable role for local authorities in the delivery of education.

We will work with local authorities and other partners in ensuring that the regional improvement collaboratives deliver on these expectations and are responsive to local circumstances.

In their report Improving Schools in Scotland: An OECD Perspective, the OECD called for a strengthened middle operating through networks and collaboratives amongst schools, including school clusters, and in and across local authorities. The reforms set out in Education Governance: Next Steps - Empowering Our Teachers, Parents and Communities to Deliver Excellence and Equity for our Children, strengthens the middle and supports collaborative working at all levels of our education system through the establishment of Regional Improvement Collaboratives. In addition to providing a framework for strengthening collaborative working across and between local authorities and national agencies, we will work with partners to ensure that Regional Improvement Collaboratives support our schools and education professionals in learning from and sharing best practice, in forming and developing collaborative networks and in pursuing partnership approaches, including within school clusters. School level collaboration and leadership will be further strengthened through the development new Executive Head and Cluster Leader roles.

I am confident that the programme of reform we have put in place, combined with the excellence of Scotland’s hard-working teachers, will enable our education system to realise our ambition of excellence and equity for all.

As we have set out in the June 2015 Scottish Government publication Education Governance: Next Steps, councils will remain democratically accountable for schools in their area and will continue to have a crucial role in providing a wide range of education services. Our governance reforms are based on international evidence about what works, including on the impact of empowered, high quality teaching and leadership on improving outcomes. These reforms are one element in the range of actions the Scottish Government is taking to close the attainment gap and delivery excellence and equity for our children and young people.

The Scottish Government has made clear its commitment to tackle teacher workload and bureaucracy in education. We will work with local authorities, national bodies and other partners including the professional associations to ensure that the impact of changes on workload and bureaucracy are considered as part of the implementation process. The devolution of power to the school level means that the traditional roles of national and local government will change. However, local government will remain democratically accountable for the provision of early learning and childcare and of schools.