Question reference: S5W-28850
- Asked by: Mary Fee, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 4 May 2020
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Current status: Answered by Clare Haughey on 19 May 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what support it has offered to third sector and voluntary organisations dealing with the mental health of children and young people during the COVID-19 outbreak, and what further support it can offer.
Answer
We have committed £350 million of additional funding to support councils, charities and others that help people most at risk during the pandemic, this includes those organisations who provide mental health support to children, young people and their families. Fifty million pounds has been allocated directly to local authorities and an additional £30 million has been provided to councils for locally coordinated responses to food insecurity including supporting over 150,000 children to access Free School Meals.
In addition to this, On 3 May, we announced a new funding package to support the population’s mental health, with a focus on children, young people and families. This investment included:
- £768,000 for a relationships helpline to be delivered by The Spark counselling service
- £105,000 to support Young Scot to develop enhanced digital content and resources on mental health for children and young people
- £205,000 to support 47,000 autistic people across Scotland. This consists of funding to increase capacity at the Scottish Autism Helpline, and help for the National Autistic Society to keep people in touch online during lockdown.
Furthermore we are providing up to £1 million through The Perinatal and Infant Mental Health fund which opened on the 5 May to support third sector organisations that support new parents and families with services such as peer support, parenting support and perinatal counselling services.