Our plan for Scotland: supporting families
(By Liam Furby)

Nicola Sturgeon has set out the Scottish Government’s plans for the next year.

Here’s just some of the action the SNP Scottish Government is taking to support Scotland’s families.

 

• We will expand free early learning and childcare, taking further steps towards doubling provision by 2020. New ways to support low-income families with upfront childcare costs will be piloted too.

 

• Families of all newborn babies in Scotland will benefit from a baby box with essential items for a child’s first weeks.

 

• From Spring next year, all pregnant women will have access to free vitamins.

 

• We will take forward our plans to deliver 50,000 homes over the next five years – 35,000 of them housing association or council homes – and continue to help people purchase a home through our shared equity programmes.

 

• With new social security powers we will bring together Healthy Start food vouchers and Maternity Grants into a new expanded Best Start Grant. This will provide additional support for low income families during the early years of their children.

 

• Scotland leads the way on access to IVF treatment, and we will provide an additional £2 million to expand access further. From September 2016 access is extended to couples with children in the home, where one partner does not have a biological child.

 

• We are implementing our plans to reduce the poverty-related education attainment gap, backed up by the £750 million Attainment Scotland Fund, including £100 million, which will go directly to schools.

 

• We will introduce a new Child Poverty Bill to re-introduce statutory income targets abolished by the Tory UK government.

 

• We are increasing the child allowance in the Council Tax Reduction Scheme by 25 per cent. This will  benefit 77,000 households, including 140,000 children, by an average of £173.

 

• We will protect low-income families from cost of living increases by raising the Personal Allowance to £12,750 by the end of the Parliament.

 

• We will abolish the Bedroom Tax at the first available opportunity.

ARTICLE SOURCE: http://www.snp.org/our_plan_for_scotland_supporting_families