This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Stephen committed to all children in Scotland
03/11/2000
Children are the absolute priority. That was the message from Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs, Nicol Stephen when he addressed Children in Scotland's annual conference in Dunblane today.
The Minister unveiled a significant boost in funding for the voluntary sector at the conference which was entitled, "Spend, spend, spend? Children, Young people and money."
Addressing the two-day conference, Mr Stephen said:
"The Scottish Executive is committed to ensuring children have the best start in life. We believe this requires better integrated services for children and young people. We need to make all our organisations child conscious so that children are at the centre of policy-making.
"The Child Strategy Statement emphasises the need to take into account the needs and wishes of children in policy developments of any type that affect them. Children should be at the centre."
Mr Stephen stressed the importance of good training for new workers in children's services. He also outlined the establishment of an Action Team to encourage joined up working in the sector. He said:
"An Action Team will be made up of secondees from organisations involved in service delivery including the voluntary sector. The aim is to produce an Action Plan setting out practices and approaches which facilitate better integrated services."
Concluding his speech the Minister unveiled extra funding for the voluntary sector. He said:
"Executive funding to national voluntary organisations working with children and young people currently stands at just over £2 million. This will increase by £1 million per year for the next three years - an increase of nearly 50%. We want this additional funding to be directed to some of the many organisations that are doing excellent work without the benefit of funding from the Executive.
"The Scottish Executive wants every child to have the best start in life. We are ready to put in the resources to achieve this. But resources alone are not enough. We must all work together to ensure that we achieve maximum possible impact."
BACKGROUND
1. Children in Scotland is a national agency for voluntary, statutory and professional organisations working with children and their families in Scotland.
2. The funding which is increasing, is under schemes which support core costs. Organisations may receive other funding from the Executive for project work.
News Release: SE2843/2000
3 Nov 2000