Helping the Family in Scotland
		Publisher The Scottish Office, 1999

Introduction

by Henry McLeish MP

As we progress to the new millennium with a new Scottish Parliament, the Government wish to ensure that support for the family meets the needs of family life today. This leaflet points to the things the Government are doing to strengthen family life in Scotland.

The Government have introduced measures to help parents throughout Britain find work and look after their families. There are many ways in which both lone parents and married couples can be helped.

In addition to help with jobs and childcare, the legal framework must be right. The consultation paper Improving Scottish Family Law asks the public how they think some aspects of family law might be improved. The topics discussed in the paper fall within the responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament. It will be able to deal in great detail with the issues that matter to Scottish families.

The family remains the basic setting for bringing up children. Children are our future and supporting the family is one of the ways we can offer them the best possible start in life.

Henry McLeish MP Minister for Home Affairs, Devolution and Local Government March 1999

Support for children and families

Expansion of affordable childcare

Good quality childcare has much to offer both parents and children. Along with other family-friendly policies, it can help parents get access to work, education and training. For children it can provide an enjoyable and stimulating experience, and aid their personal and social development. The Green Paper Meeting the Childcare Challenge1 set out a long term vision of good quality affordable childcare in every neighbourhood. The Government is giving an extra £91 million to childcare in Scotland. £49 million of this will support the general development and expansion of childcare. £42 million will help support families with very young children, working with parents to support the child's position within the family.

Expanded pre-school education

Universal provision of quality pre-school education for every child from the term after their third birthday is a key part of the drive to raise standards in Education, to promote social inclusion and take forward the national childcare strategy. The first goal was to have a quality part time pre-school place available for every child in their pre-school year by the winter of 1998/99. The second goal is to extend this commitment to three year olds by 2002. The Government has allocated £138m for this. There will be places for 60% of three year olds in the 1999/2000 school year.

Children in need and other children

Local authorities and voluntary organisations provide a wide range of invaluable services for vulnerable children and their families.

Family centres can provide parenting skills and help keep families together. The Scottish Office is finding out what more needs to be done in this area. Provision of these centres is set to expand along with childcare generally.

1 See the section 6 on Child Care Tax Credit to help families pay for this. Copies may be obtained from The Stationery Office Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ (Tel 0131 228 4181)

Families at work

Family friendly policies

Family-friendly employment policies have a key role in helping men and women balance the demands of paid work and family life. The Government is ensuring rights to paid holidays minimum rest periods protection from long working hours improved arrangements for maternity and parental leave. equal pay for part-time workers. greater provision of childcare

All these help working parents to spend time bringing up their children. Employers are also being encouraged to review and adopt family friendly practices that suit the needs both of the business and employees.

National Minimum Wage (NMW)

A National Minimum Wage set at a general level of £3.60 will come into force from April 1999. The NMW will benefit 157,000 workers in Scotland. It will help the Government's other policies to ensure greater fairness in the workplace. The Department of Trade & Industry will be issuing detailed guidance. An information help-line is available for enquiries (Tel 0845 4580630).

The New Deal for Lone Parents

Research has shown that many lone parents want to work. The Government want to help these people gain employment.

The New Deal for Lone Parents Personal Adviser service in Scotland was launched in October 1998. 92,000 lone parents in Scotland now have access to personalised advice and training to help them into work. The initiative offers advice on searching and preparing for jobs and on finding suitable childcare. The Employment Service will invite every eligible lone parent in Scotland to find out what help is available. For the first time ever in Scotland, all lone parents can get access to a service which can give them a real chance to move off benefits and achieve an independent working life.

Families and money

The tax and benefits systems are being changed to provide help for those families that need it most. Giving a child the best start in life takes more than money, but it is difficult to do without it. Yet in Britain today nearly three million children are growing up in households where no-one works. Ending the scourge of child poverty remains a top priority for this Government. Universal Child Benefit from birth to age 16 will be retained and will be uprated at least in line with prices.

Many people who can work, and who want to work, are discouraged from doing so by the low rewards for working more, or even for taking a job at all. People are reluctant to take work that does not pay. This poverty trap frustrates people's ambitions to provide for themselves and their families.

That is why the Government are introducing from October 1999 a new Working Families Tax Credit for working families with children, which will replace Family Credit. A childcare tax credit within the Working Families Tax Credit will offer those in work more help with the costs of childcare, which for many parents are a barrier to work. The Working Families Tax Credit will: Support the family. Every family where the main wage earner works at least 16 hours and earns less than £90 a week will get at least £77.60 a week on top of their earnings in Tax Credit and Child Benefit. Provide a guaranteed minimum income for working families Reduce the net tax burden on working families. Families earning below £220 a week will not pay net income tax. Give help to lone parents with child care costs. The childcare tax credit will cover up to 70 per cent of the eligible costs of approved childcare up to a maximum subsidy of £70 a week for families with one child and £105 for families with two or more children.

Families in trouble

Domestic Violence

Successive crime surveys have confirmed that domestic abuse threatens the safety of women and children through the actions of those they live with or who are related to them.

The Scottish Office has recently published an Action Plan on Preventing Violence Against Women2 and highlighted domestic abuse in recent publicity campaigns. The Government give a high priority to dealing with the consequences of violent behaviour.

Children who offend

Families have responsibilities where children offend. If a child is referred to a children's hearing, those with parental responsibilities must attend the hearing which considers what is best for the child. They are actively involved in the discussions and the decision-making process and are expected to play a part in any supervision requirement.

A new pilot project will study how best to assist young children (aged 8 - 14) to deal with problems in their lives which might lead to offending. The project will seek ways to help the families of such children to deal with their difficulties.

Drug misuse in Scotland is a major threat to family life. An enhanced drugs strategy framework will build on the anti-drug measures already taken.

Health Problems

The White Paper Towards a Healthier Scotland3 was published in February 1999. It sets out a strategy for improving the health of the population generally and for tackling health inequalities. The White Paper focuses on action to improve the health of children and young people.

National Helplines

There is a growing number of Scottish helplines to assist parents and families with information or advice in times of difficulty. Many are run by national voluntary organisations such as Children 1st, ChildLine, Stepfamily Scotland, Gingerbread (for single parents). There are also national helplines about special educational needs and childcare provision. Details of telephone numbers etc are publicised separately by individual organisations.

2 Copies of Preventing Violence Against Women can be obtained from 0131 244 5001

3 Copies of Towards a Healthier Scotland can be obtained from: The Stationery Office Bookshop, 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ (Tel 0131 228 4181)

Parents and children

Parental responsibilities and rights

The Government think that it is generally best for children to be brought up by both parents in a stable family environment.

The Children (Scotland) Act 1995 says that where the parents are (or have been) married to each other then they both have parental responsibilities and rights, unless these have been taken away by a court. To help families in Scotland understand the law, The Scottish Office has published: You Matter, telling older children about their rights Your Children Matter, telling people about parental responsibilities and rights

You can get copies free of charge from 0131 244 3581

Unmarried Fathers

About 40% of children are now born to unmarried parents. Although many unmarried fathers jointly register births, it is not generally known that this does not give them parental responsibilities and rights recognised by law. The consultation paper Improving Scottish Family Law asks if unmarried fathers should generally receive parental responsibilities and rights, and sets out some options to achieve this.

Stepfamilies

The structures of families are changing because of divorce and re-marriage. Improving Scottish Family Law asks about how step-parents can share parental responsibilities and rights with the child's natural parents.

Grounds for divorce

When a couple decide to divorce, it is best that this can be done without any accusations and acrimony which would make it more difficult to make the best arrangements for the children. Some couples use divorce grounds of behaviour or adultery in order to obtain a divorce quickly. Although this can increase acrimony, it is especially prevalent in divorces when there are children in the family.

One way to take the heat out of divorce would be to reduce the period which couples have to wait to qualify for divorce purely on grounds of separation. In Improving Scottish Family Law the Government asks for comment on proposals to do this yet which will still allow time for them to consider whether reconciliation is possible.

Helping families when relationships break down

Family breakdown is damaging to children. The Government believe that where families need help to stay together this should be provided. Counselling has proved its worth in helping reconciliation.

When a relationship breaks down altogether, couples often need help to settle matters. Mediation can make the whole process of divorce or parting less painful, particularly where children are involved.

The Scottish Office provides financial support amounting to over £650,000 for a number of voluntary organisations in both these fields. Improving Scottish Family Law asks how the Government's support may be targeted better to assist people with family problems.

Getting in touch

The Government published a consultation paper Improving Scottish Family Law in March 1999. It is based on recommendations by the Scottish Law Commission and asks about some of the topics in this leaflet, as well as other more technical points.

Copies of Improving Scottish Family Law can be obtained free of charge from:

Scottish Office Home Department, Broomhouse Drive, EDINBURGH EH11 3XD Tel 0131 244 3581 Fax 0131 244 2195

All the publications mentioned are also available on The Scottish Office website www.scotland.gov.uk

Contact the above address to get copies of this leaflet free of charge.

The information contained on this WWW site is Crown Copyright but may be reproduced without formal permission or charge for personal or in-house use. © 1999