Funding for activities? It’s child’s play!

Community groups across Scotland working with parents and families of children under eight are being encouraged to apply for cash from the multi-million pound Communities and Families fund.

Now in its fourth and final year, the programme funded jointly by the Scottish Government and the Big Lottery Fund, has grants of between £250 and £10,000 available to projects that give Scottish children the best start in life.

Those applying will follow in the footsteps of the latest 37 groups sharing in grants worth £97,748. They range from projects encouraging outdoor play and physical activity through to health and wellbeing schemes for children and their parents.

Three Edinburgh-based projects are among the latest groups to receive funding. A grant of over £8700 will enable Leith’s Saheliya project to run a 30 week play project for children, while Carrick Knowe Parish Church will use their award of £9700 to support workshops and activities for families with young children. Oak Note Theatre received £9600 and they plan to put on shows and deliver workshops to early years and primary school children across Scotland

Big Lottery Fund Scotland Chair Maureen McGinn explained: “Over the last three years the Communities and Families fund has awarded over £4.4 million to 560 groups including playgroups and creches which put children and their needs at their heart of their work. As we enter the fourth and final year of the programme, we are keen to hear from groups across the country who have an idea for funding.

“We know that the demand is likely to be high for the funding available and so we would encourage groups to come and speak to us as early as possible. Full details of our simple application process can be found on our website www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/scotland and you can discuss your idea with us on 0300 123 7110.”

Fiona McLeod, Acting Minister for Children and Young People said: “Since its launch in 2012, the Communities and Families Fund has funded a wide range of activities to support children and families across Scotland. This joint venture with the Big Lottery Fund has been a resounding success by providing resources for groups working directly with children and families in communities. The Fund is now in its last year so I would encourage community groups to take this opportunity to apply for funding.”

One group receiving funding in the latest round of grants is Hawkhill Community Association in Clackmannanshire. The group will use its £9,978 award to deliver a free afternoon homework club for local children under eight years of age.

May Richmond, Community Centre Manager, Hawkhill Community Association, said: “This funding will make a tremendous difference. Put simply we would not be able to run the club without it. The children asked for the homework club. They will receive a 30-minute homework session, 30 minutes to have something to eat and 30 minutes of physical exercise. Everyone benefits from this as the children are better educated, the parents see the difference and teachers are commenting on the improvements.

“The Communities and Families application form was simple to complete and the questions were specific which made it easy to fill in. I’d certainly encourage other groups to apply for the funding available.”

The Communities and Families fund is open to a range of groups including voluntary and community organisations, statutory bodies or community councils. Money is available for a range of activities such as parenting support, including pre and post natal support; community play projects, food preparation and nutrition projects and community based family support activities.

Groups interesting in applying should visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/communitiesandfamiliesfund

or email enquiries.scotland@biglotteryfund.org.uk with their project ideas.

See below for the full list of May 2015 recipients:

280515 CCF grants for May release option 2

Blanket ban on ‘legal highs’

‘Sadly, too many have paid the ultimate price from taking these risky substances and this change will go a long way to stop further deaths’ – Maryon Stewart, Angelus Foundation

Action to protect young people from the dangers of so-called ‘legal highs’ and target those who profit from their trade was announced by the UK government today.

The Psychoactive Substances Bill will prohibit and disrupt the production, distribution, sale and supply of new psychoactive substances (NPS) in the UK. They are often sold online or on the high street.

The ban will extend to the sale of nitrous oxide for human use, known as ‘laughing gas’ or ‘hippy crack’, although its legitimate sale will not be affected.

Minister of State for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Victims, Mike Penning, said: “Young people who take these substances are taking exceptional risks with their health and those who profit from their sale have a complete disregard for the potential consequences. That’s why we are targeting the suppliers.

“The landmark bill will fundamentally change the way we tackle new psychoactive substances – and put an end to the game of cat and mouse in which new drugs appear on the market more quickly than government can identify and ban them.

“The blanket ban will give police and other law enforcement agencies greater powers to tackle the reckless trade in psychoactive substances, instead of having to take a substance-by-substance approach.”

The government has already taken a range of action against so-called ‘legal highs’, including banning more than 500 new drugs and creating the Forensic Early Warning System to detect substances not seen before in the UK. There is also ongoing work to enhance the response to prevention, treatment and information sharing.

Last year the government established an expert panel on New Psychoactive Substances to look at ways of further enhancing the enforcement response. Having carefully considered the evidence, ministers decided to act on the panel’s recommendation to explore the feasibility of a blanket ban and are now introducing this new legislation.

Under the Bill:

it will be an offence to produce, supply, offer to supply, possess with intent to supply, import or export psychoactive substances; that is, any substance intended for human consumption that is capable of producing a psychoactive effect. The maximum sentence will be seven years’ imprisonment.
all of the UK will be affected by the blanket ban and law enforcement powers would be extended to all NPS supply from UK websites, so they can be shut down.
substances, such as alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, food and medical products, will be excluded from the scope of the offence, as will controlled drugs, which will continue to be regulated by the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
there will be powers to seize and destroy NPS and powers to search persons, premises and vehicles, as well as to enter and search premises by warrant if necessary.
similar to the legislation introduced in Ireland, it will also capture substances that, although not new, are psychoactive, have been used as intoxicants for many years and are not harm free.
there will be provision for civil sanctions – prohibition notices and prohibition orders – to enable the police and local authorities to adopt a proportionate response to the supply of NPS in appropriate cases.

In 2013, there were 120 deaths involving NPS in England, Scotland and Wales.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for New Psychoactive Substances, Commander Simon Bray said: “When people buy dangerous drugs they will generally have little idea how potent the drug is or what it may contain. Sadly we have seen too many people losing their lives or becoming seriously ill after taking so-called “legal highs” under the impression that they are safe.

“A blanket ban on new psychoactive substances (NPS) will make it simpler for law enforcement to deal with those drugs which are potentially unsafe but which may not yet be controlled.”

Founder of the Angelus Foundation, Maryon Stewart, said: “Angelus very much welcomes these important legal changes on restricting the supply of so called ‘legal highs’ or new psychoactive substances.

“We expect the law to impact very significantly on the high street trade. The open sale of NPS has led to dangerous experimentation with many young people being badly affected by their unpredictable effects and some ending up in hospital.

“Sadly, too many have paid the ultimate price from taking these risky substances and this change will go a long way to stop further deaths.

“No law can offer the perfect solution to protect people from drugs; it is equally vital we all concentrate our efforts of making the public, young people in particular, more aware of the harms of these substances in schools, at university and during festivals.”

Holyrood set to rock!

A nation-wide competition to find the best new musical talent in Scotland, whilst encouraging young people to use their vote in the 2016 Holyrood election, was been launched in the Scottish Parliament yesterday.

Presiding Officer, the Rt. Hon Tricia Marwick MSP was joined by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and the other Holyrood party leaders to announce details of the competition. David Hershaw and Sandie Forbes from Fife-based contemporary folk band The Dandylions were also on hand to lend their support and to encourage bands from across Scotland to apply.

Taking place throughout October, the competition will comprise eight regional heats. Forming part of the Rocktober Festival of events, the heats will take place in community spaces and venues in constituencies across Scotland. The final, Holyrood Rocks, will be staged at the Scottish Parliament on Saturday 31 October.

A panel of MSPs and industry experts will be invited to select one act from their regional heat to go through to the final and the winning act will be given the opportunity to record with an XFM producer at their studios in London’s Leicester Square.

Presiding Officer, Rt. Hon Tricia Marwick MSP said: “This competition is an exciting and innovative way to support musical talent whilst also encouraging the participation of young people in the political process.

“MSPs from across the political spectrum are delighted to be involved and I look forward to welcoming the best of Scotland’s emerging musical talent to Holyrood this October.”

The competition is organised in association with the Scottish Political and Cultural Partnership (SPCP) and also aims to raise awareness of the career opportunities available in Scotland across the creative industries and to emphasise the importance of these industries to the economy.

Fraser Paterson of The Scottish Political and Cultural Partnership commented:
“We’re delighted to have the full backing of the Scottish Parliament for what promises to be a fantastic project. We can’t wait to take Holyrood Rocks across the country, hearing the views of Scotland’s young people and encouraging them to make their voice heard.”

Entries are welcome from unsigned acts whose members are all over 16 years of age. There is no upper age limit.

Visit www.scottish.parliament.uk/holyroodrocks for the most up to date information on the Roctober Festival and Holyrood Rocks events and also for information on how to apply to take part.

Happy birthday, trams?

Years late, £ millions over budget and there’s an ongoing public enquiry – but on Sunday (31 May) Edinburgh trams will celebrate their first year of operation. A Happy Birthday? Edinburgh Trams Director and General manager Tom Norris certainly thinks so …

In terms of our business there has been much noise about our performance. Our annual report will be out shortly for the year to end December 2014. On top of this we are releasing further data to give a view of the first full year. So what does it say?

Where did that year go? As I reflect on where we were in May 2014 and the amount of change our business has gone through since then, it is unrecognisable.

We carried 10% more passengers than expected in the first full year. 4.92m in year one.
Our passenger revenue was 3% ahead of target.
Passenger satisfaction was 95%.
In May last year we were totally focussed on the 31st of May go-live date and were in the midst of intensive staff training, testing, commissioning, press engagements and promoting our service. The whole organisation was geared towards this start day with a cautious eye on the One Direction concert at Murrayfield in our first week.

There was a whirlwind of media and external activity as we approached go live and it really seemed that the whole of the UK was looking on as everyone at Edinburgh Trams made their final preparations for that all important first day of service. My last engagement being STV news broadcasting live from the depot on the eve of our first day. As I finished what was a relatively challenging interview, I was hit with a realisation that there was nothing more I could do and it was over to the team to start passenger service.

I arrived at the depot at 0330 and after a quick briefing final preparations were put in place. A number of our key stakeholders were at the depot to be ready for the first tram. It was clear from our tram stop cameras that people started arriving at the Gyle Tram stop a long time before the first 0500 tram was due to arrive. The atmosphere on the first tram, and indeed throughout our first few weeks was electric.

The following year has passed incredibly quickly and I’m delighted to be able to say that it appears both Edinburgh residents and visitors to the city have really embraced our service. We’ve serviced major concerts, international rugby and European football events matches at Murrayfield. We felt truly involved in the summer festival season with festival goers and even performers using our services.

But that said, this year hasn’t been without challenges. Trams have broken down, systems have failed and incidents have occurred. In the scheme of things the disruption has been few and far between. We are very proud to report service reliability of 99% and passenger satisfaction of 95%. Our fare evasion rate is incredibly low. All of these measures can be benchmarked against other operators, and we come out very well indeed. That’s down to a team of committed staff working day and night across Edinburgh Trams, our sister company Lothian Buses, Siemens, CAF, our partners at the City of in Edinburgh Council, as well as and other contractors who support our services.

It’s really at this point I should give a nod to my team. The sheer amount of change our business has experienced over the past two years is more than most would experience in many years. On top of this all of the measures we have for the business are all in the right place. The team have been flexible, committed and it has been a real privilege to lead them over the past two and a half years. My team are superstars and as much as I can reflect and enjoy looking back on our first year, it’s been our people who’ve made it all come together. I simply couldn’t have asked any more. Well done and thank you.

We’re hugely passenger focussed and our staff have delivered exceptional passenger satisfaction scores. But we won’t rest here. There are many changes underway, timetable enhancements to speed up services where possible, relaxing some of the more overzealous rules for our passengers and continuing to build our passenger base by delighting more and more people. We do listen, and we do react. One of the catalysts for changing the rules on food and drink on our services was a letter that stuck with me that I received from a customer who had been feeding his child an oatcake and had been asked to stop. There is no criticism of our staff here, they were following the rules that had been set down. But the reality was that this rule just wasn’t aligned with our customer expectations and harmed the overall experience. That’s why it was changed. We listen to our customers and we act.

So year one of Edinburgh Trams is over. It has been an absolute honour and privilege to lead this team into passenger service and a highlight of my career. From me, a huge thank you out to our customers, our staff and our supporters.

#tramiversary