By Brian Allison, local government reporter

GRANTS TOTALLING almost £2.5 million to more than 30 voluntary bodies were approved by Dundee City Council’s social work and health committee last night.

The organisations provide a wide range of social services from which people of all ages benefit.

Payments ranging from £3000 to more than £200,000 have been approved by the council for the current financial year.

The groups involved are a mixture of organisations in Dundee and Tayside and national bodies with a presence in the city.

In total the package amounts to just under £2.447 million.

Two organisations—the Dundee Society for Blind and Partially Sighted People and Barnardo’s Family Support Team and Side by Side project—will receive in excess of £200,000 each.

Six–figure grants also go to Alzheimer Scotland (£188,000), Dundee Association for Mental Health (£128,000), Barnardo’s Playschemes (£124,000), Barnardo’s SPACE project to support primary aged children (£106,000), Carolina House (£105,000), Aberlour Trust outreach services (£105,000) and Jean Drummond day care centre (£104,000).

Among the other organisations being funded are the Dundee Drugs and Aids project, One Parent Families Scotland, the Princess Royal Trust, the Tayside Association for the Deaf, the Tayside Council on Alcohol, the Women’s Rape and Sexual Abuse centre and Childcare @ Home Dundee.

In a report, social work director Alan Baird said all the organisations being funded have service level agreements with the council.

“The specification and monitoring requirements for these organisations are stringent and, as a minimum, each agreement will be reassessed each year to determine the appropriate level of funding for the next year,” he said.

“A rolling programme of detailed reviews is under way.

“These are conducted in partnership with NHS Tayside, where they contribute to the funding.”