Meeting of the Parliament 14 January 2026
Absolutely, and that is what the extra time programme is about. It supports Scotland’s most deprived communities and is targeted at primary school children who are most at risk of living in poverty. It also contributes to our national mission to end child poverty and will help to reduce inequalities in access to activities for families living in poverty.
The programme provides activities that wrap around the school day, which therefore offers parents and carers the opportunity to access and sustain work, training and education, enabling them to improve their household income and helping to reduce poverty. It also provides children with great opportunities to take part in activities around the school day and in the holidays, improving their confidence, their health and their fitness, and—crucially—getting them off their devices and supporting their educational outcomes.
The initiative has been funded by the Scottish Government since October 2023. Initially, it supported 25 clubs and trusts to deliver before-school, after-school and holiday clubs to more than 2,500 primary school children from low-income families. In May 2025, we invested £5.5 million in the programme, with the aim of expanding delivery to all local authority areas in Scotland and supporting up to 5,000 children and their families who are most at risk of living in poverty.
During yesterday’s budget, we announced that we will maintain that £5.5 million investment for next year. That recognises the success of the programme. Furthermore, we are investing an additional £2.5 million to deliver a wider after-school activities offer for primary school children, improving outcomes for children and supporting parents around the school day and helping them to sustain employment.
Those are just two examples of the way in which football clubs are supporting their communities. We want to support the unique reach of football and football clubs in Scottish society in order to positively impact physical and mental health and to improve the wellbeing of our communities. In yesterday’s budget, we announced £2 million for football to support those outcomes as part of a summer of sport package.
I know that time is running on but, before I finish, I want to pick up on a couple of points that were raised in the debate.
George Adam mentioned the issue of alcohol at football matches. We are always open to discussions with football authorities, but there are no plans at this time to remove the existing general restrictions on alcohol at football matches. Members will be aware of the concerns around public order, which were mentioned by John Mason, but there are also public health concerns. I am the minister responsible for drugs and alcohol policy as well as sport. Each year, we lose 1,200 people—far too many—to deaths that are directly related to alcohol. The public health advice would be to narrow access, not to increase access. I am always keen to listen to discussions about the constructive evidence-based approach that our football authorities are taking, but the issue is challenging.