With the number of children in care in Scotland reaching a 25-year high, Labour's Children and Early Years spokesperson Karen Whitefield has called on the Scottish Government to ensure the right level of investment is in place to give these young people a bright future.

Ms Whitefield said:

"It is vital that every child in care experiences good quality corporate parenting. But with council budgets under pressure it is not something that is easy to sustain.

"The government and local authorities must show a real commitment to looked-after children. We need a guarantee that services will not slip down the list of priorities for public spending at this time.

"The rise in the number of young people going onto education, training or jobs reflects the investment by the previous Labour administration, but clearly more work needs to be done to continue to improve the prospects of our children in care.

"Adam Ingram has today said that the government has launched measures to improve the education attainment of young people in care - what are these measures? Last week it was simply circulating the evaluation of the previous administration's funded pilots. The SNP's inaction and lack of investment simply isn't good enough. Unless they back up their warm words with money, too many children and young people will continue to be failed by the system."

26 November 2008