Number and rate (per 100 children) of children registered to attend early learning and childcare services
Data file for Early Learning and Childcare: Children Registered
The Care Inspectorate registers daycare of children services and childminders, which this report will collectively refer to as early learning and childcare services. For the purposes of this report, this includes daycare services only provided for school-aged children such as out of school care services and holiday play schemes. Comprehensive definitions of the terms used can be accessed in the statistical reports published on the [Care Inspectorate website](http://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/statistics-and-analysis#Childcare)
The National Records of Scotland [mid-year population estimates](https://statistics.gov.scot/resource?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fstatistics.gov.scot%2Fdata%2Fpopulation-estimates-current-geographic-boundaries) have been used to calculate rates.
Where a daycare of children service did not submit an annual return, but did submit a return in either of the previous two years, the information submitted in the most recent historic annual return was used to impute the missing data. Where a service has not provided any information in either of the two previous years or where a service was newly registered, missing data has been estimated. To estimate missing data, we have considered the following variables: service size; service location (local authority area and level of deprivation) and service category (nursery, playgroup and so on). We then estimated the missing data using average values from services based on the above criteria.
Number and rate of children registered with early learning and childcare services as at 31 December. Creche services are not included in these totals. Children are counted once for each service they attend. All figures are rounded to the nearest 10 to express the uncertainty inherent in these estimates. For this reason, totals may not exactly equal the sum of their parts. Full publication and supporting tables are available from the [Care Inspectorate website](http://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/statistics-and-analysis#Childcare). We have also created early learning and childcare local profiles based on this data to assist local authority planning for the expansion of early learning and childcare in Scotland. These can be downloaded from the [Care Inspectorate website](http://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/statistics-and-analysis/early-learning-and-childcare-profiles).
Early Learning and Childcare: Children Registered