Healthy Living Centres (HLCs) threatened with closure were today thrown a funding lifeline.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing Nicola Sturgeon announced today that the Scottish Government is establishing a Healthy Living Centres Transition Fund of £2.5 million to provide support to centres at risk of closure due to funding shortfalls as a result of their Big Lottery funding coming to an end.
This transitional funding will be provided as one-off support to help Healthy Living Centres through a period of uncertainty for their future, where the end of funding from the Big Lottery Fund has coincided with significant changes affecting Health Boards and Local Authorities, the principal supporters of most centres.
Making the announcement during a visit to the Gorbals Healthy Living Network in Glasgow, Ms Sturgeon said:
"I have agreed to set up this transition fund in recognition of the valuable and unique contribution that Healthy Living Centres make to addressing health issues in some of our most deprived communities.
"I recognise that many of these centres across Scotland have faced a period of uncertainty in recent months and I hope that today's funding announcement will bring an end to this.
"Centres like The Gorbals Healthy Living Network have a key role in achieving our vision of a healthier Scotland, particularly through tackling obesity, poor diet and health inequalities.
"I want to take this opportunity to congratulate these centres for the work they have already done and urge them to continue their efforts to ensure that these centres keep making a difference to the health and wellbeing of individuals.
"In a number of areas, steps are being taken by NHS Boards and other community partners to support the continuation of community health initiatives and I want to encourage these organisations to continue this work to make HLCs sustainable for the future."
Funding will be distributed to HLCs through local NHS boards and will be provided only to those centres which have good prospects for achieving sustainability beyond the transition funding, continue to have the support of their local partners and can deliver activities that meet local needs.
The support will be available during the period from now until the end of 2008-09 and is intended for core costs of running the HLCs only.
When the Scottish Government published its Better Health, Better Care Action Plan in December last year, it undertook to strengthen the relationship between the Third Sector and the NHS in Scotland. As part of this the Government will undertake a review of the Third Sector and how better the NHS can support it.
Healthy Living Centres were established with £34.5 million from the New Opportunities Fund (now the Big Lottery Fund) between 1999 and 2002.
The aim of Healthy Living Centres is to promote good health and reduce health inequalities in Scotland's most disadvantaged communities. A total of 46 HLCs have been funded across the Scotland. Six of these have closed.
Funding was provided for five years to each Healthy Living Centre. A condition of the original funding was that the proposal was to have a sustainability plan or exit strategy for beyond the funding period.
The funding announced today is in addition to wider investment of £93.6 million in the third sector announced in the Scottish budget. This is aimed at developing the capacity and sustainability of the Third Sector, including a £30 million Scottish Investment Fund to develop assets, capability and people in third sector organisations.