Reach Advocacy garnered support on a visit to Holyrood. 

A charity advocacy group is celebrating support in the Scottish Parliament. 

Scotland’s only accredited grassroots advocacy training organisation, Reach Advocacy, visited the Scottish Parliament last month, speaking to several MSPs who all expressed their support for the work they do.

Since the visit, Fulton MacGregor MSP has submitted a parliamentary motion in support of the charity’s work. 

Derek McCabe, Reach chief executive, told MSPs how they support some of Scotland's most vulnerable communities, significantly saving the public purse, with every £1 spent on advocacy services potentially saving the NHS £7 and Local Authorities £5.

But Reach has struggled to win new and necessary funding for future delivery of this vital function from the Scottish Government.

Both the SNP’s Fulton MacGregor and Richard Leonard of Scottish Labour have given the charity their backing, with both able to help put together the event in Holyrood and gain support from parliamentary colleagues.

Derek McCabe, chief executive at Reach said: “Scotland is facing multiple crises, where many communities need advocacy support to help them get what they are entitled to and to empower them to understand their rights.

“At Reach Advocacy that is exactly what we do whilst at the same time we save the public purse significant sums of money. Yet it’s a constant struggle to keep going because of funding challenges, that’s why we are delighted to be recognised by Fulton McGregor with this motion as well as thankful to him and his fellow MSP Richard Leonard for their support, which recently included hosting an event in the Scottish Parliament for Reach.”