New mentoring scheme for lone parents launched

The Scottish Executive has announced a new campaign for lone
parents to help them access education, training, employment and
childcare, writes Maggie Wood.

The Lone Parent Mentoring Service will provide face-to-face
advice and guidance to lone parents living in Glasgow. A telephone
support service will be provided for others throughout Scotland,
initially targeting the Scottish Borders and Aberdeenshire in a bid
to help lone parents in more rural areas.

The Scottish Executive is allocating £97,000 to the new
service, which will be run by One Parent Families Scotland and One
Plus to help the estimated 150,000 single parents.

A campaign will be launched in the autumn to recruit mentoring
workers to promote the new service to lone parents

Communities minister Margaret Curran said: “Helping lone
parents work and access affordable child care are key parts of the
executive’s commitment to tackling child poverty. The aim of
this new service is to support loan parents making the transition
into training, education and employment.”