Additional investment for neurodevelopmental support
Children, young people and their families will benefit from £3.4 million of additional investment to improve access to neurodevelopmental support. This brings investment in neurodevelopmental supports and services this year to more than £5 million, providing earlier help for families and ensuring people can access support that meets their needs. More than £1 million is […]
Delivering Additional Support for Learning
A national review into the provision of Additional Support for Learning (ASL) will be led by former Chief Inspector of Education in Scotland Janie McManus. Announcing the appointment to Parliament, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said Ms McManus will lead an expert group to examine how to strengthen delivery, including provision in schools and how policy […]
A Budget to Tackle Child Poverty
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has said the draft Scottish Budget 2026-27 is a “landmark intervention” in the Scottish Government’s drive to tackle the root causes of child poverty and increase living standards. Around £8 billion has been earmarked for the social justice portfolio, boosting support for vulnerable people and low-income families. This includes plans to: Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville met parents in receipt of any of the Five […]
Expansion of Breakfast Clubs
New funding will allow every primary pupil in Scotland to access a breakfast club, the First Minister has said. The Scottish Budget will provide an additional £15 million in 2026-27 to expand breakfast club provision and help schools, councils and third sector partners prepare for the introduction of universal breakfast club services by August 2027. […]
£10m Emergency Support for Families
More support will be available to families and households to help cover the cost of life’s essentials and to deal with emergencies. First Minister John Swinney has confirmed that £10 million originally earmarked in 2025-26 to support the two-child limit mitigation payment in Scotland will be reallocated to tackling child poverty. The majority of the […]
CAMHS Waiting Times Standard Met for a Year
Progress on waiting times for children and young people waiting for specialist mental health care has been maintained for a year, according to the latest statistics. New figures from Public Health Scotland show that between July and September, 91.5% of children and young people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral to Child and Adolescent […]
Scotland is Determined to End Child Poverty
First Minister John Swinney heard from partners in the third sector, local government and academia to inform the Scottish Government’s work to end child poverty. Speaking after the meeting in Glasgow, the First Minister said that eradicating child poverty remained his government’s top priority – and called on the UK Chancellor to take equally urgent […]
Supporting Families with School Attendance
A national TV, radio and multi-media campaign that aims to improve school attendance by supporting parents, carers, and teachers to make school a positive experience for all children has been launched. The £320,000 national school attendance campaign will run for four weeks across TV, radio, static ads including posters, and digital mediums between 30 October […]
Charity Declares ‘Fuel Poverty Emergency’
ALIenergy is calling on the UK Government to introduce a social energy tariff ahead of the energy price cap rising by 2%, for millions of people in Scotland. The most recent fuel poverty statistics from the Scottish House Condition Survey and Scottish Government (2023) displayed that overall fuel poverty in Scotland is 34%, up from 31% […]
Support for Transgender Young People
The guidance to help schools in Scotland support transgender children and young people has been updated. The refreshed guidance takes account of recent court decisions while also providing greater clarity for schools on provision of toilet facilities and support for pupils. The Education Secretary met with COSLA, ADES, and teaching unions throughout the summer as […]
Easing Teaching Workload
Proposals to help alleviate workload pressures faced by teachers have been announced by the Scottish Government. Work is underway with councils and teaching unions to create a plan to reduce class contact time for teachers, which is supported by increased funding for councils of £186.5 million to restore teacher numbers to 2023 levels. In addition, […]
Thousands of Young People to Benefit from Free School Meals Expansion
The Scottish Government is expanding its Free School Meals programme to cover an additional 6000 high school pupils in a trial project beginning in August. This trial phase of the free school meals programme will see S1 to S3 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment, who attend selected schools in eight local authority […]