Projects across Scotland have been awarded funding as part of the
Scottish Government’s Digital Inclusion Programme aimed at
helping people to access online support services, initially in
mental health and housing services.
The thirteen projects, which bid to be one of the ‘Digital
Pioneers’, will develop, test and implement programmes to help
people access the services they need online to support their
health and wellbeing.
The £600,000 first phase of the programme is being delivered in
partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary
Organisations. It will benefit more than 1,500 people by building
skills and confidence, as well as devices to support access to
digital services in mental health and housing.
It is expected that following the programme, which will run for
two years, a shared understanding and learning of how best to
support digital inclusion in mental health and housing will be
created.
Cabinet Secretary for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care said:
“Supporting people to feel more digitally confident so they can
access the services they need online is absolutely vital and it
is one of our long-standing commitments.
“This programme will see models tested that will help so many
people gain the skills they need to improve their own health and
know how to access the support that is available to them.”
Background
The Digital Inclusion Programme launched in March 2023, is led by
the Digital Health and Care directorate and delivered in
partnership with the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations
and Connecting Scotland. The programme, backed by £2 million of
funding, focuses on two areas: digital inclusion in Mental Health
(supporting people with a mental health condition (s)) and
digital inclusion in Housing (supporting customers or tenants in
social housing, the private rented sector or owner-occupied
housing who are most at risk of digital exclusion).
List of organisations awarded funding with overview of their
project.
|
Organisation
|
Amount
|
Project Overview
|
Anticipated number of direct
beneficiaries
|
|
Aberdeen Foyer
|
£54,867
|
Aberdeen Foyers Housing Digital Support project will work
with young people in Aberdeenshire at risk of
experiencing homelessness. Funding will allow them to
expand their current services to provide devices,
connectivity and digital inclusion support to improve
access to supports and services and to reduce isolation.
The project will support 22 staff and volunteers and 75
young people.
|
75
|
|
Blackwood Homes and Care
|
£55,000
|
Blackwoods Digital Buddies project will work with older
people in supported living accomodation, in rural areas
in Scotland. Funding will allow them to expand their
current digital inclusion model across newly acquired
supported living accomodation. The project will provide
digital training to upskill 76 staff and volunteers and
provide connectivity, devices and digital skills support
to 130 older residents.
|
130
|
|
Simon Community Scotland
|
£54,982
|
Simon Community Scotland's Get Connected Housing project
will work with people experiencing homelessness. Funding
will allow them to embed their existing digital inclusion
approach within their Housing First & Housing Support
Services within Edinburgh. The project will provide
devices, connectivity and one to one digital support to
work with people transitioning from homelessness and
temporary accommodation to sustained tenancies. The
project will work with 65 staff and 130 participants to
build digital skills and confidence and improve access to
services.
|
130
|
|
Prospect Community Housing Limited
|
£31,310
|
Prospect Community Housing's Link Up project works with
people with a disability or long term health condition in
Wester Hailes. Funding will allow them to continue to
work in partnership with WHALE arts to deliver digital
drop-ins and one to one support to improve digital skills
and confidence. The project will support 5 staff and
volunteers and 70 participants.
|
70
|
|
Shettleston Housing Association Limited
|
£54,980
|
Shettleston Housing Association's Shettleston Does
Digital project works with older adults who are not in
work or are retired. Funding will allow them to expand
their existing digital inclusion work in partnership with
Fuse Youth Cafe to deliver digital drop-ins and digital
skills training to improve digital confidence and
increase access to services and support. The project will
work with 10 staff and volunteers and 160 participants
|
160
|
|
Link living
|
£50,268
|
Link Living's Digital support service supports young
people and people with moderate to severe mental health
conditions across Edinburgh to improve digital skills.
Funding will allow them to continue delivery of their
Digital Support Service providing connectivity, devices
and one to one support to improve digital skills and
confidence. The project will support 1 staff member and
130 participants
|
130
|
|
Queens Cross Housing Association Limited
|
£42,753
|
Queens Cross Housing Association's Digital Spaces in
Community Places works with mutiple digitally excluded
groups across communities in Glasgow. Funding will allow
them to continue delivering digital sessions inlcuding
coding for young people, digital cafes for older people
and structured course content across 4 community
facilities in Glasgow.The project will work with 50 staff
and volunteers and 190 participants to build digital
skills, confidence and increase access to support
services.
|
190
|
|
Carr Gomm
|
£54,677
|
Carr Gomm's Connected Lives project builds on the
learning from their previous Digital Inclusion Research
Project (DIRP). Funding will allow them to expand their
digital inclusion support across Glasgow's Integrated
Services and enhance support through establishing a safe,
online peer network to facilitate improved wellbeing
through meaningful community connections. The
project will support 40 staff and 60 service users to
build their digital skills and confidence.
|
60
|
|
Saheliya
|
£54,773
|
Saheliya Digital Pioneers project works with marginalised
New Scots women in Edinburgh and Glasgow to increase
their digital skills and confidence. Funding will allow
them to continue to deliver digital inclusion and
language sessions to improve skills and confidence to
access further supports and services to improve mental
health and wellbeing. The project will support will
support 10 staff and 72 New Scots women.
|
72
|
|
Moray Wellbeing Hub
|
£54,982
|
Moray Wellbeing Hub's Digital Mental Health Capacity
Building project aims to establish a digital mental
health hub in to improve digital skills and access to
services in Moray. Funding will allow them to build on
current work with Health and Social Care Partnership
Moray to offer online and in person digital support to
improve digital skills and confidence and social
connections. The project will work with 30 staff and 300
participants to reduce digital exclusion.
|
300
|
|
Scottish Association for Mental Health
|
£51,270
|
The Scottish Association for Mental Health's Enduring
Digital Accessibility project works with people in
supported living settings to enhance their digital skills
and confidence. Funding will allow them to expand and
formalise their existing digital inclusion activities in
Edinburgh, Perth and Glasgow and increase access to
online supports and services. The project will also
enhance staff and participants access with their care
management system to improve peoples engagement within
their individual care plans. The project will
support 25 staff and 100 people in supported living
settings.
|
100
|
|
Cyrenians
|
£36,244
|
Cyrenians Digital Inclusion project works with people
facing long term unemployment, transitioning from
hospital care and living in residential care. Funding
will allow them to expand their current digital inclusion
activities and provide a digital hub at their Farm, one
to one support and indepth digital skills support in
Edinburgh and West Lothian. The project will support 37
people.
|
37
|
|
Just Bee Productions
|
£54,229
|
Just Bee's Just Breath project works with people to
reduce mental health inequalities, assessments and
waiting times to access services. Funding will allow them
to deliver a variety of digital inclusion activities with
people in crisis to improve their digital skills and
confidence to access services and supports to support
their mental Health. The project will support 4 staff and
80 participants experiencing moderate to severe
mental health conditions.
|
