That well-known caring person, Michele Ballantyne (SCAUP) has been worrying about the staffing for the SNP’s expansion of Early Learning and Childcare to 1 140 hours by 2021. She asked on monday, in Holyrood, how many full-time- equivalent staff require to be recruited to deliver the expansion to 1,140 hours of funded childcare, and how this compares to the number in place.

The response was

Maree Todd: Local authorities estimate that an additional 8,244 full-timeequivalent staff will be required in total to deliver the expansion of Early Learning and Childcare to 1140 hours. The latest Improvement Service data, from September 2019 (and published in December 2019), shows that 4,310 full-time equivalent staff were already in post. That is over half the required staff in place one year before delivery.

Click to access WA20200316.pdf