Moray SNP News

LOCHHEAD JOINS ELGIN YOUTH CAFE MEMBERS FOR NEWS OF FUNDS BOOST

SNP MSP for Moray, Richard Lochhead, met with youngsters at Elgin Youth Café and Asda’s Community Life Champion, Claire Miller, from the company’s Elgin store. Asda has awarded Elgin Youth Development Group a £2,000 grant to contribute to the cost of the Confidence in Life project for young people aged 16-25 in Elgin Youth Café, which is a project that aims to increase their employability, skills and self-confidence.

The money comes from Asda who donate the money they take in from the single-use carrier bag charge, which was introduced in Scotland last year by Richard Lochhead in his capacity as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment in the Scottish Government.

Asda donate half of the funds they take in to Social Investment Scotland to provide loan finance to charities and social enterprises and the other half to Foundation Scotland to be distributed to small grants to local groups.  Customers and colleagues have the opportunity to nominate projects and good causes in their local community that would benefit from grants of up to £2,000 and it is through this scheme that the award has been made to Elgin Youth Development Group.

Commenting after the award, Mr Lochhead said:

“It was great to join Elgin Youth Café members as they received a funds boost from Asda.  Elgin Youth Development Group, who run the Youth Café, have received funds to help with the costs of the Confidence in Life project which is a fantastic scheme for people aged 16-25 years old to build on their employability, skills and self-confidence.  The project is targeted at young people who are not in employment, education or training and is a very worthwhile initiative.

“The charge for plastic bags was introduced by the Scottish Government last year and it is really great to see it benefitting local groups here in Moray as well as achieving its original goal of cutting plastic bag use with statistics showing that the four major supermarkets have reported reductions of over 80%.  This double boost is having a very positive and visible impact in our communities through a significant reduction in litter, which is always a bug bear, and through the valuable financial support like that received by the Elgin Youth Development Group”