Help for children

The aspirations of the Children and Young People Bill, which aims to make Scotland “the best place in the world” to grow up, are of course greatly welcomed. This is anticipated to be one of the most important pieces of legislation in the sector for more than a decade.

The legislation includes the extension of free nursery hours for young children, entitling three and four-year-olds to 600 hours of free early learning nursery education per year. That is an increase from the 475 hours of nursery care children currently receive each year without cost.

As a coalition working with those with care experience and complex needs we are particularly pleased to see more support for those young people leaving care.

Many members of this group are currently not getting the 
support they require to help them make a successful transition into adulthood.

All members of our coalition work with children who have 
additional support needs. They are the most vulnerable in our society and there are significant gaps in the delivery of the support services they urgently need.

We look forward to scrutinising the bill and working with the Scottish Parliament to plug these gaps and ensure that it delivers on the Scottish Government’s aspirations to indeed make Scotland the best place in the world to bring up children.

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition:

Sophie Dow

Mindroom

Tom McGhee

Spark of Genius

Duncan Dunlop

Who Cares? Scotland

Stuart Jacob

Falkland House School

Brian Durham

Young Foundations