Labour's education and Leisure, Arts and Communities spokespeople on Dundee City Council, Councillor Laurie Bidwell and Councillor Richard McCready raised their concerns that there will be budget cuts to an award winning scheme. The Peer Education Project recently won a Gold Award in the tackling health inequalities and improving health category at the COSLA Excellence Awards. Funding changes pushed through by the SNP-led Administration will result in a budget gap of £37,000.
Councillor Richard McCready said,
"I have been fortunate enough to visit the Peer education Project on a number of occasions and I have always been very impressed by the work that it carries out. I was delighted when I heard that the project had won a Gold Award from COSLA recently. This is a very impressive project and it provides excellent value for money for the City Council. I know that it makes a real difference to the lives of young people. I am concerned that there have been cuts which result in a budget gap in £37,000. Along with my colleague Laurie Bidwell, I will be writing to the Director of Leisure and Communities seeking reassurance about the ability of this project to maintain its current high standards."
Councillor Laurie Bidwell said,
"I have also seen at first hand the excellent work of the Peer Education Project in the city's Primary and Secondary Schools. For example, peer educators from Craigie High School, have been working with pupils in P7 in their former primary schools to help make the transfer to Secondary School more positive. The beauty of peer education is that it not only benefits the young people who receive the peer education but the peer educators gain in confidence and self esteem as well. This is a win-win. Unfortunately the capacity of this project to maintain its current levels of activity will be undermined by the cuts imposed by the SNP Administration. This will be disheartening to the staff of the programme whose work has deservedly just received national recognition. These cuts will obviously put on hold plans to involve more schools in the Peer Education programme."
