The award by the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) has brought the total amount invested in projects across the UK to more than 270m. More than 555,000 places have been created since the programme began four years ago.
In England, NOF has awarded 232 grants totalling 24m, including Pounds 50,000 to help to build the Blue Tin Roof Activity Centre in Blackburn, Lancashire. The centre, which will be run by the company My Life - My Choice, is expected to open next month and will provide 80 places for children aged three to 18 who have learning difficulties, behavioural problems or special disabilities.
Andrea Brighouse, who has a disabled daughter and founded the company to provide childcare that took into account the needs of children who had disabilities, said she hoped the centre would offer 'a place where children with disabilities can chill out in the light therapy room, go wild in the soft play area, arouse senses in the tactile/sensory room or just hang out and have fun'.
Another grant recipient was the London borough of Tower Hamlets, which received more than 200,000 to establish 170 before- and after-school places at five primary schools, including one that will provide an early morning breakfast club for its pupils in partnership with the Healthy School Project. Helen Jenner, the borough's head of access and inclusion, said the new places would 'support parents in their return to work and form an important part of the council's strategy for the regeneration of Tower Hamlets'.
In Scotland, NOF has awarded 3.3m for 31 awards under the last set of grants.
The largest grant was of just under 677,000 to the Orkney Islands Council consortium bid, which will create 355 new places for children on the islands. Alan Clouston, assistant director of education and recreation services for the Council, said that over the next three years the money would 'enable the provision of quality out-of-school childcare being integrated with, and operating alongside, other activities of children across Orkney'.
The North Lanarkshire sitter service run by One Parent Families Scotland was awarded more than 141,300 so it could expand its existing provision of home-based childcare to families on low incomes in the region.The largest single grant of more than 87,000 went to the Hullabaloo Nursery in Ibrox, Glasgow, to create before- and after-school provision and holiday care. Nursery owner Xanthe Jay Chalmers said, 'This grant will mean we can offer our services to more children, allowing parents real choice when it comes to childcare.'
Last month NOF awarded grants of more than 400,000 to nine schemes in Northern Ireland under the building quality childcare programme to create new outdoor play areas.
NOFchair Baroness Pitkeathley described the programme's impact on childcare availability as 'truly staggering' and said it proved 'strategic use of lottery funding can create lasting benefits for families and communities'.
The NOFfunding scheme is to be replaced by the Sure Start Out of School programme, which aims to provide 89m for provision by 2006.
