Early years charities share £6.8m

Twenty four children’s charities in Scotland are to benefit from a £6.8 million fund aimed at supporting vulnerable families early on.

Scottish minister for children and young people, Angela Constance, has named the 24 charities that will receive a share of the £6.8m Early Years Early Action fund delivered by Inspiring Scotland in partnership with the Scottish government.

In March, national voluntary organisations in Scotland were invited to bid for a share of the £6.8m fund, designed to improve early years services encompassing parenting, play, childcare, child and maternal health and family support.

The 24 charities running 28 projects that will benefit from the funding include: Action for Children, The Care and Learning Alliance, Barnardo’s Scotland, Grounds for Learning, Quarriers, the Scottish Childminding Association, Stepping Stones for Families, Circle -which provides support to marginalised families and children – and the Scottish Pre-School Play Association.

Social-care charity Quarriers will use the money to extend their nursery and family centre in Easterhouse, Glasgow, doubling the nursery’s capacity for babies and under-threes, and to increase the outreach and centre-based family support.

Grounds for Learning, the Scottish programme of the UK charity Learning through Landscapes, will use the funding to deliver free play sessions in four areas across Glasgow, Stirling and Lanarkshire and support the community to improve their local play spaces.

The Scottish minister for children and early years said, ‘This investment of £6.8m in early years and earlier intervention is very good news with hundreds of children and families set to benefit.

‘Early support and preventative spending for vulnerable children and families in Scotland helps us tackle problems before they turn into crisis situations, all of which is hugely beneficial for children and young people, as well as society as a whole. For every £1 spent in early intervention in the early years, the taxpayer saves £9 in future. This investment is across almost the whole of Scotland supporting parents, children and local communities and I’d like to thank Inspiring Scotland for the key role it has played in helping to deliver this hugely important initiative.’