Researchers examined a pilot programme in Scotland that provided early positive pre-school experiences for vulnerable children. Parents in the programme showed improved parenting capacity compared with parents in the comparison group. Children in the pilot showed improved developmental outcomes: but comparison group children not in the pilot also showed improved outcomes.
Source: Lisa Woolfson and Julia King, Evaluation of the Extended Pre-school Provision for Vulnerable Two Year Olds Pilot Programme: Final Report, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Dec
The Scottish Government began consultation on proposals to encourage more young people to stay in learning after they turned 16. It proposed improvements to the way in which the most vulnerable young people – learning in a community setting or with a third sector provider – were supported. It also proposed refocusing the support available to young people in school, college, and work-based learning towards those most in need.
Source: 16+ Learning Choices: First step activity and financial support, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Consultation document | SG press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Nov
The Scottish Government announced that all school pupils in primary school years 1-3 (aged 5-7) would be entitled to free school meals following successful pilot schemes. The system would be rolled out from August 2010.
Source: Press release 2 October 2008, Scottish Government (0131 556 8400) | Jane MacLardie, Chris Martin, Lorraine Murray and Kate Sewel, Evaluation of the Free School Meals Trial for P1 to P3 Pupils, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: SG press release | Evaluation report | CPAG press release | UNISON press release | NASUWT press release | Voice press release | Scotsman report | BBC report | Telegraph report | Guardian report
Date: 2008-Oct
A report summarized qualitative research with parents, carers, and children in Scotland to explore their views and experiences of early interventions, early-years services, and support for families with young children. Families frequently did not know where to access information on what services were available to them. A significant proportion of parents and carers did not differentiate between the purposes of early education and the purposes of childcare. This can leave them dissatisfied with the hours provided by early education services. The cost of childcare could be prohibitive, and acted as a barrier to parents and carers returning to work.
Source: GEN with Illuminate UK, Perspectives on Early Years Services: Qualitative research with service users, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Sep
A literature review examined evidence on the impact of domestic abuse on children and young people.
Source: Cathy Humphreys, Claire Houghton and Jane Ellis, Literature Review: Better Outcomes for Children and Young People Experiencing Domestic Abuse – Directions for good practice, Scottish Government (0131 556 8400)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Aug
An article examined approaches to engaging excluded young people in decision-making settings, drawing on data from local partnerships to promote social inclusion in Scotland. Offering young people choice about how, when, and where they engaged was vital to increasing the opportunities for young people to influence decision-making.
Source: Suzi Macpherson, 'Reaching the top of the ladder? Locating the voices of excluded young people within the participation debate', Policy & Politics, Volume 36 Number 3
Links: Abstract
Date: 2008-Jul
The Scottish Government published a plan designed to tackle domestic abuse. It set out 13 priorities for action over the following three years focused on four main themes of protection, provision, prevention, and participation.
Source: National Domestic Abuse Delivery Plan for Children and Young People, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Plan | SG press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Jun
The police service inspectorate in Scotland recommended an overhaul of the way children were treated by the law. It said that children should only be detained in custody with permission from a high-ranking officer.
Source: Care of Detained and Arrested Children, HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland (web publication only)
Links: Report | SG press release
Date: 2008-Jun
The Scottish Government published a strategy designed to tackle the causes and effects of offending by young people, based on prevention, and on early and effective intervention.
Source: Preventing Offending by Young People: A framework for action, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Strategy | LTS press release
Date: 2008-Jun
The care services regulator in Scotland said that more than half of Scotland's 236 residential care services for young people needed to make improvements to their standards of practice.
Source: Protecting Children and Young People in Residential Care: Are we doing enough?, Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | SCRC press release | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-May
Researchers examined strategic approaches to the provision of parenting support and services in Scotland.
Source: Linda Hutton, Sarah MacQueen, Joe Curran and Bill Whyte, Support and Services for Parents: A review of practice development in Scotland, Scottish Government (0131 244 0894)
Links: Report | Summary | Literature review
Date: 2008-May
A report said that child poverty could be costing Scotland as much as £1.75 billion a year. Child poverty resulted in increased public spending across health, education, housing, social services, and youth justice.
Source: Donald Hirsch, Estimating the Cost of Child Poverty in Scotland: Approaches and evidence, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | SG press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Apr
The government and Scottish Executive responded to two reports by a committee of MPs on poverty and child poverty in Scotland.
Source: Poverty in Scotland and Child Poverty in Scotland: Responses by the Government and the Scottish Executive to the Committee's Second and Third Reports, Second Special Report (Session 2007-08), HC 525, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Response | MPs third report | MPs second report
Date: 2008-Apr
A pilot scheme in Scotland, which involved developing new qualifications to give pupils skills for life and for the workplace, was found to have been well received by schools, colleges, teachers, and pupils; and to have raised the status of vocational learning.
Source: Thomas Spielhofer and Matthew Walker, Evaluation of Skills for Work Pilot Courses: Final Report, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report | Summary | SG press release
Date: 2008-Mar
The watchdog in Scotland for the rights of children and young people said that vulnerable children were leaving care when they were too young, ending up homeless and potentially vulnerable to drug/alcohol problems and unemployment. Eight times as many young people left care at 16 as at 18, despite law and policy strongly advising that they should be encouraged to stay in care until they were 18.
Source: Sweet 16? The age of leaving care in Scotland, Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (0131 558 3733)
Links: Report | Summary | Herald report | BBC report | Community Care report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report used data from the 'Growing up in Scotland' study to explore the contribution of specific measures of advantage and disadvantage in relation to a number of specific health-related behaviours for parents and children. The data demonstrated clear inter-relationships between age of mother at the sample child's birth, family type (eg being in a couple family or being a lone parent), socio-economic classification, household income, and area deprivation.
Source: Paul Bradshaw and Claudia Martin with Sarah Cunningham-Burley, Exploring the Experience and Outcomes for Advantaged and Disadvantaged Families, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Mar
A report, which drew on data from the first sweep of the 'Growing Up in Scotland' study, examined the extent to which parents with young children had access to, and drew upon, informal sources of support with parenting. Mothers with no qualifications and those from low-income households were more likely to agree that seeking help from professionals would result in interference, and to express difficulty with seeking help or advice, than mothers with qualifications and those from higher-income households.
Source: Paul Bradshaw with Lynn Jamieson and Fran Wasoff, Use of Informal Support by Families with Young Children, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report
Date: 2008-Mar
An article examined the differences between schools in rates of reported heterosexual sexual experience among young people aged 15-16 (based on a study in Scotland). Schools had less influence than socio-economic factors such as deprived neighbourhoods.
Source: Marion Henderson, Isabella Butcher, Daniel Wight, Lisa Williamson and Gillian Raab, 'What explains between-school differences in rates of sexual experience?', BMC Public Health, Volume 8
Links: Abstract | SPHSU press release
Date: 2008-Feb
A report summarized the early results of a longitudinal study, launched in 2005, which aimed to track a group of children and their families in Scotland from the early years through childhood and beyond.
Source: Paul Bradshaw et al., Growing Up In Scotland: Year 2 – Results from the second year of a study following the lives of Scotland's children, Scottish Government, available from Blackwell's Bookshop (0131 622 8283)
Links: Report | Findings (1) | Findings (2) | Findings (3) | Findings (4)
Date: 2008-Feb
A report by a committee of MPs said that an estimated 250,000 children in Scotland were living in poverty. More needed to be done to meet the target of halving child poverty by 2010. The report highlighted the complexity of the benefits system, and said that the poorest children were not being helped by means-tested benefits such as tax credits. However, greater progress had been made in tackling poverty in Scotland than in the rest of the United Kingdom.
Source: Child Poverty in Scotland, Third Report (Session 2007-08), HC 277, House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee, TSO (0870 600 5522)
Links: Report | Liberal Democrats press release | BBC report
Date: 2008-Feb
A report presented some of the main initial findings of a focus on Scotland's families in the second survey of the Millennium Cohort Study. A further report concluded that the lower apparent poverty rate suggested by the initial analysis was an 'artefact of the data', explicable by differences in the characteristics of the MCS families concerned.
Source: Shirley Dex (ed.), Millennium Cohort Study: A User Guide Focussing on Families in Scotland, Scottish Government (web publication only) | Shirley Dex (ed.), Millennium Cohort Study: Exploration of Some Distinctive Results for Scotland, Scottish Government (web publication only)
Links: Report (1) | Report (2)
Date: 2008-Jan
