First Minister Humza Yousaf will use his first programme for government to announce a “package” of childcare measures.
The announcement will come as Scotland’s leader sets out his government’s legislative agenda for the next parliamentary year on Tuesday.
During a visit to a school and nursery in Dundee ahead of the speech in Holyrood, Mr Yousaf said the announcement would help tackle poverty and boost the economy by bringing people back into the workforce.
The announcement, he said, would include support for breakfast and after school clubs, potential further expansion of free childcare and support for staff, including those in the private, voluntary and independent (PVI) sector, which has raised concerns of the impact on staffing since the Scottish government launched its 1,140 hours per year free childcare project.
“We’re looking at areas around what we can do in relation to the pathfinder projects that we have that help provide that all year round, school age childcare, from breakfast clubs to after school clubs,” he said.
“We’ll be looking at what we can do in relation to further expansion to two-year-olds- and what more can be done in supporting staff in the PVI sector in particular.”
But the first minister – who has previously been chastised by Holyrood’s presiding officer after details of government announcements were released to the press before being made in parliament – was reticent over details about other parts of the Programme for Government.
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However, he did commit to taking action to protect people living in the private rented sector.
Speaking to LBC, Mr Yousaf was asked about loopholes in the government’s rent freeze which allows prices to rise between tenancies at a much higher rate than the maximum of 6% currently allowed by the legislation.
“There will be some detail around what we can do to protect those in the private rented sector,” he said.
“We know it’s a significant challenge right across the country, but we know there’s particular areas that face that challenge, perhaps, more than others, so there’ll be some information in the programme for government about our plans for over the next 12 months.”
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But asked if there were plans to increase the Scottish Child Payment from £25 per week to £30 per week – something Mr Yousaf said he would consider during the SNP leadership race earlier this year – as well as on plans for taxation and the relationship with business, he appeared keen to give nothing away.
Reports over the weekend suggest a pilot in the public sector could be among his plans, with the first minister saying there was “a really strong evidence base” for the move and he would like to gather more evidence, adding “the public sector would naturally be one of the areas to look at”.
