THE CITY

OF EDINBURGH

COUNCIL

Councillor Marilyne MacLaren Councillor for Meadows/Morningside

12 September 2011

Kezia Dugdale MSP Scottish Parliament Edinburgh EH991SP

MM/RW

Dear Ms Dugdale ediation.servic

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Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding, my support assistant left her job in late August and hasn't been replaced, and unfortunately the Department's response wasn't forwarded to you. Thank you therefore for reminding me about this issue. The following family mediation services are funded by CEC. Children and Families has a contract for 70,522 with Family Mediation Lothian. The focus of their work is largely managing family breakdown to minimise damage, including resolving access issues and ensuring adherence to court orders about access. An interesting issue raised by our commissioning staff is that there is no funding from the court for picking up work that flows from court orders. The Cyrenians run the Amber Project (currently with SACRO, though their involvement is coming to an end). The funding for this 52,696 comes out of a wider contract for Homelessness Prevention of 138,000 with funding provided by the Department of Services for Communities. Amber works primarily to achieve improved relationships between young people and their families - thereby addressing issues that can lead to homelessness. I hope this is what you are looking for. Yours sincerely

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Councillor Marilyne MacLaren CONVENER OF EDUCATION, CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

City Chambers High Street Edinburgh EH1 1YJ Tel 0131529 3174 Fax 01315297494 E-matJ:mari/yne.mac/aren@edinburgh.gov.uk

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