Current status: Answered by Natalie Don-Innes on 27 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government how much funding has been allocated specifically to support the implementation of The Promise in each financial year since it was made.
To keep The Promise requires a whole systems approach to connect the different strands of policy work, new and ongoing commitments and financial programmes across Government that can impact on the lives of care experienced children, young people and their families.
In March 2022 we published our Scottish Government Promise Implementation Plan (https://www.gov.scot/publications/keeping-promise-implementation-plan/documents/) setting out the actions we are taking across Directorates to keep The Promise by 2030. In September 2024 we published an update to the Plan - https://www.gov.scot/publications/keeping-promise-children-young-people-families-update-progress-2024/ - which summarises the work that has been underway since March 2022. This captures work across 26 Directorates of Scottish Government and activities which are both universal and targeted in nature. All of which make a contribution to Scotland’s work to keep The Promise. Given the wide scope of activity which is taking place across the Scottish Government and local government to keep The Promise it would not be possible to provide a total figure for all of that work.
The following table below covers spend on Promise-related activity from within the Directorate for Children and Families who hold lead responsibility for The Promise - including where budgets have now been baselined within the Local Government Settlement. These figures include spend in relation to the funding of The Promise Scotland, the Promise Partnership Fund, Whole Family Wellbeing Funding, Scottish Recommended Allowance for Foster and Kinship Carers and other Promise related spend managed within the Directorate.
Funding | 2020-21(£m) | 2021-22(£m) | 2022-23(£m) | 2023-24(£m) | Total(£m) |
10.54 | 23.78 | 47.15 | 81.92 | 163.39 |