Plea by Scottish charities for more government funds goes unheeded

The new Scottish deputy communities minister Des McNulty has warned voluntary organisations that their calls for more central funding will fall on deaf ears.
 
The voluntary sector has warned that a financial squeeze within certain councils has forced severe funding cuts to providers delivering services. Some providers gave up contracts because cuts made it difficult to deliver the highest quality services, and have called for the Scottish executive to find more money if its future plans for reforming social services are to be delivered.
 
However, speaking at the association of voluntary sector organisations, Community Care Providers Scotland’s annual conference yesterday, McNulty said there would be a slow down in executive funding in the future.
 
He added: “There won’t be more money in broad terms. The largesse of recent years is almost at an end. That will involve us making hard choices and recognising government can’t do everything.”
 
And McNulty hinted that in the future funding could be linked to how prepared providers are to engage in reforming how they work, with greater emphasis put on collabotive working with other parts of the public sector and value for money.