THE Palace of Holyroodhouse will be holding a special activity day for families on the May Bank Holiday Monday.
This special activity day will celebrate the unicorn, the national animal of Scotland, which can be spotted in objects and in artworks all over the Palace.
All these activities are included with a Palace ticket and take place from 10:00–15:00 on Monday, 6 May.
Activities:
Unicorn hats craft activity where children can discover the tale of the unicorn and craft their own unicorn inspired hat to wear as they explore the Palace.
A fun mini challenge using unicorn hobby horses and jousting.
A special Unicorn family trail which will challenge families visiting to spot all the unicorns on walls and ceilings in the Palace and around the grounds.
On Sunday 5th May from 12 – 4pm at Granton harbour, the Royal Forth Yacht Club is hosting Discover Sailing: when yacht clubs such as the Royal Forth Yacht Club open up their clubhouse and harbour to the wider public for an experience of sailing.
RFYC members lend their boats, sailing expertise and time, and local organisations take a table to share their causes with the wider community too.
They are planning the usual variety of boats for people to try, organising the BBQ and hospitality.
They are grateful that the Community Action Team of the local Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will be joining them this year, alongside their usual friends such as St Andrews First Aid, MCSUK, BDMLR, and Scottish Coastal Clean Up.
If you have any questions at all about Discover Sailing, please contact:
Efforts to boost affordable housing supply by acquiring properties to bring into use for affordable housing and help reduce homelessness will be given an £80 million uplift over the next two years.
The funding, announced by First Minister Humza Yousaf on a visit to Hillcrest Housing Association’s Derby Street development in Dundee, will increase the Affordable Housing Supply Programme budget to nearly £600 million in 2024-2025.
Investment will help reduce the time spent in temporary accommodation, including by children, and will also accelerate discussions with COSLA in relation to the number of local authority void properties.
The First Minister, who faces a vote of confidence at Holyrood next week, said: “Housing is essential in our efforts to tackle child poverty and reduce inequality across Scotland, and it supports jobs and growth in the economy. Providing good quality, affordable housing is at the very core of what my Government is doing to make Scotland a better place.
“While there is a single person homeless in our country, it is simply not acceptable to have houses sitting empty – so I am determined that we remove the barriers, and provide the money that will enable councils to buy properties so they can become affordable homes again.
“This £80 million will build on the success of our National Acquisition Programme which I announced last year, which spent more than £60 million and delivered more than 1,000 affordable homes. This is one of a number of actions we are prioritising to help to reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation.
“We will also accelerate discussion with COSLA in relation to the number of empty council homes.”
MSPs have backed Stage 3 of the Children (Care and Justice) Bill, enshrining in law age-appropriate care and justice for vulnerable young people across the country.
As part of wider work to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in law and to Keep the Promise, the Bill contains a series of measures to improve children’s experiences of the care and justice systems, whether victims, witnesses or children who have caused harm.
It ensures children are kept out of prison, ending the placement of under 18s in Young Offenders Institutions, with secure accommodation being the normal place of detention instead.
The Bill also provides new reforms to support victims, including providing a clearer understanding of their right to request information from the Children’s Reporter and a new single point service for victims in the hearings system.
Further measures include:
strengthened referral arrangements between courts and children’s hearings
enhancements around secure and residential care, including secure transport
improved regulation for cross-border placements, to ensure that these happen only in exceptional cases where a move is in the child’s best interests
enabling secure care to support a young person past their 18th birthday, in appropriate circumstances
Minister for Children, Young People and Keeping the Promise Natalie Don said: “Scotland is taking a big step forward in embedding UNCRC principles and Keeping the Promise by passing this Bill.
“It contains wide ranging measures to ensure age-appropriate justice is delivered, ensuring children in Scotland are kept out of prison and supporting safe, proven care-based alternatives.
“The integrated, welfare-based, Kilbrandon ethos of our children’s hearings system is something Scotland can rightly take pride in and all children – whether in need, at risk or in trouble – deserve our concern and support. This Bill will help ensure they get it. It equally provides a robust package of support for victims and their families, strengthened during Stage 2 and Stage 3 of the Bill.
“This landmark Bill is proof of the progress Scotland is making to Keep the Promise by 2030 and will be transformational for the most vulnerable children and young people in the country.”
The Promise Scotland Chief Executive Fraser McKinlay said: “The Promise Scotland is pleased that the Children (Care and Justice) (Scotland) Bill has passed the final stage of parliamentary scrutiny. Effective implementation of the Bill will be critical. It must be accompanied by significant support for the workforce, along with adequate investment and resourcing.
“These important changes represent a significant step forward in Scotland’s efforts to Keep the Promise by 2030. It is clear that Scotland’s approach to care and protection must be based on early help and support alongside a more progressive, rights-based approach to youth justice that builds on the Kilbrandon principles, upholding children’s rights and increasing access to Scotland’s unique, welfare-based Children’s Hearings System.”
Children and Young People’s Centre for Justice Director Fiona Dyer said: “This is a momentous day for children in conflict with the law in Scotland.
“It marks the culmination of years of hard work and campaigning from many across the sector, including from children and young people themselves, to rightly recognise all children under 18 in the care and justice systems as children, in need of care and support.
“Nearly all children who harm have also been the victim of significant harm themselves and this Bill guarantees a compassionate, trauma-informed, and rights-respecting approach to ensure they are given the support needed to prevent future offending.”
· Childline has seen a five percent increase in counselling sessions on emotional abuse.
· Being shouted at or verbally abused accounted for more than half of the sessions (52%)
· NSPCC believeseveryone can play their part in protecting children from abuse and neglect, and calls for the public to get involved in Childhood Day on the 7th of June.
· Lidl GB has been named as retail sponsor for the third year in a row and is encouraging customers and colleagues to get involved in activities across the country.
Today, the NSPCC is releasing new data which reveals over the last year its Childline service has seen a 5 per cent increase in the number of counselling sessions it has delivered to children across the UK experiencing emotional abuse.
From April 2023 to March 2024 the service’s trained counsellors delivered 2,879 sessions on this issue.
In 52% of sessions, where the main concern was emotional abuse, being shouted at or verbally abused was the top sub concern.
Being criticised, humiliated and called names was the second most common sub concern.
The children’s charity is releasing these figures as it rallies communities to come together to play their part in helping to keep children safe by supporting the charity’s annual Childhood Day on the 7th of June.
Lidl GB has been named as retail sponsor for the event for the third year in a row and is encouraging customers and colleagues to get involved in activities across the country to help raise money.
People can get involved by donating, volunteering at a collection point or taking on the charity’s Childhood Day Mile.
All the funds raised will go towards helping the NSPCC deliver vital services, like Childline which supports children at risk.
Being isolated or ignored, not being allowed to have friends and receiving blame for things they had not done were amongst the main things that children mentioned to the service’s trained counsellors. On average, eight children a day are contacting the service about emotional abuse.
Fundraising activities already planned in Scotland include a beach clean at Broughty Ferry on the 28th of May and bucket collections in Edinburgh Waverley on 30th of May, St Nicholas Street, Aberdeen, on the 31st of May, and Glasgow Central on the 6th of June.
NSPCC fundraisers also hope to capture the generosity of music fans with collections outside Murrayfield on the 8th of June just before Taylor Swift’s concert in Edinburgh and also before a Foo Fighters concert at Hampden Park in Glasgow on the 17th of June.
Fiona Milne, Fundraiser for NSPCC Scotland, said: “The Childhood Mile is a fantastic way to raise money for the NSPCC and help us support children and keep them safe.
“Across Scotland, we will be out in force with our collection buckets, so if you have any spare change please give generously, or if you can give a couple of hours of your time, we would love you to join us.
“Fundraising drives like this are vital in allowing us to continue our work keeping children safe from abuse and neglect.”
A 17-year old from Scotland* told a Childline counsellor: “I live with my dad and most days it’s like treading on eggshells, I don’t know what mood he’ll be in.
“Like, the other day, he shouted at me for no reason, and called me stupid and hopeless. It hurts even more cos none my siblings get treated like this, it’s just me! Physically, I’m safe but mentally I feel like I’m dying inside. I don’t know what to do.”
Another young person that called Childline said: “I love my dad, he does not shout or swear or call me horrible names like mum. I feel way safer at his house, I don’t at mum’s – she’s really scary.
“Just yesterday, she screamed at my sister to ‘shut the F up!’ I honestly want to leave my house and run and run and never look back – but I can’t. What do I do?”
At the NSPCC, we know that emotional abuse can sometimes be difficult to spot as there are not always obvious signs.
Despite this, it is an issue that is impacting many children and young people.
Last year, 99,630 children were identified through Child in Need assessments as experiencing emotional abuse and this was the highest number of assessments for all types of abuse and neglect.
At the NSPCC, we know that over time and without the right support, emotional abuse can have long lasting effects on a child’s social, emotional, and physical health.
That is why it is essential that services like Childline are here for those children who need help and do not know where to turn.
Sir Peter Wanless, NSPCC CEO, said: “Half a million children a year suffer abuse in the UK. That means 7 children in a classroom experience abuse before they turn 18. This can’t go on and it doesn’t have to.
“It’s devastating to hear that contacts to Childline on emotional abuse are on the increase. We must remember that these are not children who are being overly sensitive or dislike being disciplined, they are being psychologically abused by the people who are there to protect them.
“For the past 140 years, the NSPCC has been working tirelessly to prevent abuse, change the law and support children at risk, but the charity knows that strong communities are at the heart of keeping children safe.
“That is why the charity is encouraging everyone to play their part and support Childhood Day. £4 raised could help a Childline counsellor answer a call to a child in need of help.”
Lidl GB is sponsoring the NSPCC’s Childhood Day for a third year as retail sponsor. Lidl GB has been partnered with the NSPCC for 7 years and is currently supporting young people with their mental health by raising money for Childline. Lidl GB will be helping to raise awareness of Childhood Day, as well as holding their own activities with their colleagues and customers across Great Britain to help raise vital funds.
Mark Newbold, Lidl GB Senior CSR Manager, said:“We’re proud to be backing Childhood Day for the third year in a row, rallying our colleagues and customers in support of such a vital cause – protecting young people.
“No child facing abuse or feelings of isolation should ever have to struggle alone. Childline is a lifeline for so many young people, and we hope that through our partnership with the NSPCC and continued support with raising funds, children who need somewhere to turn can get help quickly.”
To find out more on how to get involved in Childhood Day this year including taking part Childhood Day Mile or volunteering at a collection point visit:
A toolkit for people working with families with infants at risk of food insecurity is promoting cash first responses to allow them to safely, responsively and appropriately feed their babies and helping towards reducing the need for food banks.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville and Public Health Minister Jenni Minto visited Cranhill Development Trust’s Baby and Toddler group in Glasgow yesterday to see the help on offer to families with infants who may be facing financial pressure.
They met with local families attending the group to hear about the impact of cross-Government support for families in the cost of living crisis.
Social Justice Secretary @S_A_Somerville and Public Health Minister @jenni_minto visited @CranhillDT Baby and Toddler Group to hear how cash-first responses are helping ensure no baby in Scotland is left without the food they need to grow and thrive.
Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “All children have the right to the best possible health and an adequate standard of living, which includes appropriate nutrition to meet their developmental needs. These resources are aimed at ensuring that no baby in Scotland is left without the food they need to grow and thrive.
“We continue to allocate around £3 billion each year to a range of actions which help to tackle poverty and mitigate the impacts of the cost of living crisis on households.
“We will do all we can to reduce child poverty while mitigating UK Government austerity – but we could go much further if policies made at Westminster were not actively working against us.”
People in Scotland have received more than £30 million via two Scottish Government benefits to help them deal with increased energy costs this winter, new statistics have shown.
Winter Heating Payment supports households on low incomes, including older people, disabled people and families with children under five.
Child Winter Heating Payment helps families of the most severely disabled children and young people.
The official figures show more than 400,000 Winter Heating Payments of £55.05 were issued between November last year and the end of March. More than 30,000 Child Winter Heating Payments of £235.70 were made in the same spell.
Winter Heating Payment replaced the UK Government’s Cold Weather Payment in 2023. Most people getting it receive more money on average than via Cold Weather Payment.
People receive Winter Heating Payment whatever the weather, unlike Cold Weather Payment when the temperature needs to drop to a specific level.
Child Winter Payment, introduced in 2020, is not available anywhere else in the UK. There is also no cap on the number of children who can get it in the same family.
Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said: “The £30.2 million paid over the course of winter provides support to those who need it most. It is being paid quickly and effectively to help mitigate the worst of the cost of living crisis.
“Winter Heating Payment guarantees those who qualify will get a payment every year – in contrast to the UK Government approach which needs the weather to be under a certain temperature for a sustained spell.
“Both Winter Heating Payment and Child Winter Heating Payment have recently been increased in line with inflation which means we will be getting more money into people’s pockets in 2024/25. I am pleased that we are getting the vast majority of these payments to people in good time.
“I urge anyone who is struggling during the cost-of-living crisis to visit the Scottish Government’s Cost of Living website for support and advice.”
Over 23 years since the body of a baby boy was tragically discovered in Niddrie, a memorial dedicated to him will be returned to the community at an unveiling ceremony on Friday (26 April).
Despite an investigation in 2001, and follow ups over the years, attempts to identify the newborn and his parents have been unsuccessful, initiating a huge response from the local community.
He was laid to rest in Mortonhall Cemetery, with residents coming together to hold a funeral for him. Over 400 people were in attendance to remember the baby they named ‘Craig Millar.’
Fundraising also took place to erect a memorial in the place he was found, which was lovingly maintained by the community.
When construction began on the new Castlebrae Community Campus at the site of Craig’s discovery, the memorial had to be removed. It has since been renovated and stored by William Purves Funeral Directors free of charge.
The memorial will be re-installed by the funeral directors on Friday 26 April, before being unveiled to the public at 2pm in its new location.
It follows a survey, conducted by the Council, which found the majority of residents wanted the memorial to be relocated outside of school grounds.
The new location, next to the football pitches at Harewood Road, is easily accessible and just a short distance from the original site.
Plans are also in place for a memorial garden at the original location as part of the landscaping design of Castlebrae Community Campus.
Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, Councillor Jane Meagher, said: “Over two decades on, it’s clear to see that the community still care deeply for baby Craig. This tragedy is such a large part of Craigmillar’s history that it’s fitting the residents are there to see the memorial returned.
“Residents made sure the memorial was never without fresh flowers or messages of love and it was always immaculately maintained. I’m pleased we could respect the wishes of the community and return it to a new location, where it can be easily accessed by people who want to pay their respects.”
Andrew Purves, Director at William Purves Funeral Directors, commented: “As an Edinburgh-based funeral director, we understand that this memorial stone is very dear to this community.
“The memorial is a special tribute to the little boy who will always have a place in the hearts of the Craigmillar community.
“It has been our honour to take good care of baby Craig’s memorial and are now pleased to be able to install it in its permanent home.”
