| Response
from Scottish Pre-school Play Association
May 2005
Background
SPPA is Scotland’s largest voluntary sector provider of direct
support services to community led childcare organisations, covering
the length and breadth of the country, delivering essential support
and guidance services to providers of pre-school education and childcare
services, including all-day care groups, playgroups, parent and toddler
groups and under-fives groups in Scotland.
SPPA is a registered charity.
SPPA has a 40 year track record of working with children and families,
encompassing many of the most disadvantaged groups in the country, including
families on low income, ethnic minority families, lone parent families
and families affected by social or rural isolation. SPPA works closely
with parents, early years providers, regulators, local authorities and
Childcare Partnerships, as well as training providers and other early
years umbrella organisations. It provides input to national and local
consultations, working groups and policy forums.
Big Lottery Themes and
Outcomes
SPPA welcomes the Executive’s commitment in Scotland to use the
Big Lottery Fund in Scotland to fund voluntary organisations but it
would be concerned if there was to be a breach of the principle of additionality.
SPPA holds strongly the view that Big Lottery funding should not be
used to fund services that should be provided through mainstream government
expenditure. We welcome the commitment that between 60%-70% of Big Lottery
funding will be used to deliver services via community and voluntary
organisations.
SPPA supports the need for a delivery framework that is open, flexible
and accessible to the widest possible range of voluntary organisations
and communities, and which will encourage and maximise the potential
to create services that are relevant and meaningful to the communities
in which they are based. We would welcome a demand led funding approach.
We would welcome a shift to funding streams that are broad enough to
allow applicants to achieve a number of changes or outcomes through
their Big Lottery funding. The framework must be receptive to partnership
working arrangements, both at strategic policy and delivery levels,
and to new and innovative policy ideas and practice. It must value and
encourage voluntary and community representation and participation at
all levels. It should include elements for research and evaluation to
ascertain the differences being made to people’s lives and communities
because of the work undertaken, for models of good practice to emerge
and to be shared in the wider community, and to enable service providers
to argue more cogently for sustained funding, based on the evidence
they have collected.
The three UK wide core strands are welcomed and the hoped for outcomes,
in Scotland, are relevant. They allow for broad interpretation and appear
sufficiently flexible to enable service developments to be creative
in achieving the outcomes and to engender a significant role for the
voluntary sector in the delivery of the outcomes.
SPPA particularly welcomes the inclusion of good quality, accessible
childcare and play provision in the potential funding streams as a priority
under outcome one. This priority also has a resonance with the other
three outcome areas. Achievements here will undoubtedly have positive
implications for a number of other priority areas, both in outcome one
and across the other three.
SPPA is long established as a pioneer and developer of good quality,
child care and play experiences for young children and families in local
communities and in diverse circumstances. Its is involved in a range
of initiatives in this area, for example, community based, voluntary
managed playgroups, toddler groups and under fives groups, family centres,
wrap around care, working with families, supporting parents and voluntary
managers, children’s health and well being, adult learning and
skills development and partnership working. It also leads Sure Start
Scotland projects in parts of the country. As our name implies SPPA
values the right of children to play and recognises the importance of
play in children’s care, learning and development. It recognises
the skills and learning that parents and others gain through their involvement
in providing services for children in the community.
Many SPPA pre-school education groups, playgroups and toddler groups
operate in church halls and community centres. Most are parent run.
The groups make the best of the available facilities but they could
be better. Our views centre on the need, for increased support to parents
and voluntary management committees, for better quality play, care and
learning spaces, both indoors and outdoors, for children’s gardens
and for stimulating environmental landscapes. We recognise, however,
that the enhancement of play, care and learning space for groups needs
careful negotiation and partnership with planners, churches, community
councils and other organisations.
SPPA also recommends that funding be made available for community playgroup/kindergarten
type activity and service provision which embraces the great outdoors.
This would model and/or incorporate the Scandinavian ideas of childhood
creativity, positive risk taking and freedom to play, explore, learn
and develop while engaging with the natural environment.
SPPA is acutely aware that despite a robust UK economy that Scotland
still has a high level of
• child poverty
• welfare dependency
• inequality and social exclusion
• poor health and well being
• educational underachievement
The voluntary sector, including SPPA, can play a key role in helping
to combat these. The Big Lottery Funding framework must be seen as opening
doors to opportunities to projects which support early interventions
and preventative actions and complement a Scottish vision for integrated
coherent services focused on children, families and community.
Margaret Brunton
Senior Development Officer
SPPA
Scottish Pre-school Play Association
45 Finnieston Street
Glasgow
G3 8JU
Tel: 0141 221 4148
email: margaret.brunton@sppa.org.uk
Post script:
SPPA has read the response to the consultation from the Scottish Council
for Voluntary Organisations. As a member of the Council, SPPA agrees
with their response and fully allies itself to the points made.
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