Latest Updates

Big Lottery has just announced a £3 million grant to a social prescribing project covering Northern Ireland and Scotland, Scope asks if its money well spent.

The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) has just released a comprehensive report on the problems faced by local children right now. It deserves close attention.

This week a government minister made an astonishing admission that should prompt debate about how we punish offenders for minor crimes.

Over 100 people with learning disabilities die unnecessarily in UK hospitals every month. This needs to change.

Most health experts in England were scratching their heads this week at Theresa May’s much trumpeted £20 billion anniversary present to the NHS.

The media has been all over Home Truths, the Commissioner for Older People in Northern Ireland’s  investigation into Dunmurry Manor care home this week.

Northern Ireland could be world leaders in health and social care, according to Professor Rafael Bengoa - author of a key report on the need for reform in NI – with good management at the heart of change.

It is sadly ironic that we appear to know more about the outer limits of the solar system than the inner workings of the mind.

Welfare Reform faces plenty of controversies, but the Department for Communities has taken a more sympathetic approach than is seen in GB. Scope speaks to Law Centre NI about their DfC funded guide to avoiding sanctions.

The Community Foundation’s Philanthropy Fortnight was a success – and the organisation says the more we talk about donations, the more we will see.

New legislation designed to encourage more street parties in Northern Ireland appears to have had the opposite effect, Scope investigates.

A major report from Welfare Conditionality, released this week, slammed the sanctions programme that is a key strut of Universal Credit. Scope takes a look.

NIACRO has just secured €763,280 in European Union Peace IV funding to tackle hate crime in Northern Ireland.  

A large project mapping the environment for philanthropy around the world says the UK suffers in comparison with its European peers.

It's Deaf Awareness Week, and Scope spoke with Action on Hearing Loss about a vital service which helps older people feeling lonely and desperate - a service searching for more funding and volunteers.

An experiment with citizens’ income has been enthusiastically branded a failure before any results are in. The truth is less straightforward – and unclear. Regardless, creative thinking needs support, not scorn.

An influential think tank has just produced a policy paper designed to tackle the looming intergenerational crisis which endangers young people, children and those yet to be born.

The Building Change Trust (BCT) is due to wind up in December after ten years, during which it has distributed more than £12 million, Scope reports.

A lack of vision and direction means parents, providers and their staff, employers, the local economy – and, above all, children – are all missing out.­

Northern Ireland - like much of the world - is becoming more secular. However, this means different things to different people, which makes the process more difficult.