How it is addressing the child care needs of lone parents seeking to attend college or university.

From this year, lone parents in full-time higher education will be able to claim a grant of £1,000 per year to help them meet their formal child care costs. This is the first ever child care grant for students in higher education in Scotland and is expected to benefit 3,500 lone parent students each year. These students will continue to be eligible to receive the existing Dependants' Grant and the new School Meals Grant, also being introduced this year.In addition, as part of the new package of student support introduced for full-time higher education students this year, new mature students will be able to access a discretionary grant of up to £2,000 from the Mature Students' Bursary Fund through their college or university. Priority for payments from the fund will be given to students who have formal child care needs, particularly those who are lone parents.£7.5 million has also been allocated over the next three years to widen child care provision in Scottish further education colleges to meet locally-identified needs, particularly those of lone parents. This is expected to help between 3,000 and 5,000 full- and part-time students annually and to ensure that further education is genuinely accessible to all. This funding is in addition to the existing £3 million per annum support for the study-related child care costs of FE students.