Almost 284,000 boxes have been given to families expecting a new baby since 2017, with almost 50,000 of those delivered in the NHS Lothian area.
In the last six years the flagship Baby Box policy was set up and constantly highlighted by the SNP.
The Baby Box is given to everyone in Scotland expecting a baby with no means testing carried out, and proposed as one of the measures to tackle deprivation and inequality. The main findings were that more than 90% of expectant families use the box and 97% rated the contents as good or fairly good.
The box is designed to ensure every child has an equal start filled with essentials like clothes, blankets, bibs and books, and can also be used as a bed for newborns using the mattress supplied. Full details of the box and its contents are on the Parent Club website here.
SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor said: “I welcome these new figures which show that 283,118 Baby Boxes have been delivered to families across Scotland – supporting households with the costs of raising a child from before it’s even born.
“We know that raising a child is an expensive endeavour, and these jam-packed baby boxes from The Scottish Government will help to ensure that each child born in Scotland is given an equal start in life.
“From expanding free funded early learning years care, to the Scottish Child Payment and Best Starts Grant, the SNP is committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for children to grow up.”
The scheme was assessed in 2021 when Ipsos MORI Scotland conducted an evaluation on behalf of The Scottish Government.
ENGLAND
In 2022 a Newcastle-based charity the Children’s Foundation set up a £1 million appeal to extend their baby box service in Newcastle and Gateshead to every new parent in the North East of England. This was not the first as around nine other schemes began in NHS regions in England since 2016, but it continues to deliver the boxes which are estimated to cost around £250 each. Feedback from charities such as Barnardo’s has been clearly supportive: “The box has so much to offer. Parents are shocked at how much they get in the baby box to get them started with baby care. Everything about it is positive.”
Sean Soulsby, the charity’s chief executive, said at the time that they were inspired by the Scottish example. He said: “We looked carefully at examples from places like Finland and Scotland – and thought how could we really promote the best start in life. The focus was on things that would help every parent, because no-one teaches you how to be a parent.
“It’s two-pronged, it focuses on things which aid child development and on helping to build parental confidence. The idea is that when the baby arrives it’s a box full of all these essential things.
“We want to remind parents in the North East that they are cared for and doing a good job. At the moment we’re just starting it so we are working with the most deprived parts of the North East, but we want it to be universal.”
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
