Recruitment Fair at Granton Campus next week

Edinburgh College will be hosting a Recruitment Fair at the Granton Campus next Wednesday (27 February) from 11am – 2pm in The Hub, and while the event is primarily geared toward students members of the local community are more than welcome to go along too.

It’s an opportunity to meet employers, get careers and volunteering advice and you also can get your CV checked over at the CV Clinic.

Interested? For further information contact Emma Hill at Jobzone, telephone 559 4869 or email jobzone@edinburghcollege.ac.uk

Granton gasometer to go?

National Grid has lodged another application to demolish the last remaining Granton gasometer, and company representatives will attend a public meeting organised by Granton and District Community Council to discuss the proposals next week.

The meeting will be held on Monday (25 February) from 7 – 9pm in Royston Wardieburn Community Centre. All welcome.

Do you care about the Granton gasometer? Is it an important reminder of Granton’s industrial heritage or a rusting, dangerous heap of scrap metal? Let us know!

101 – the new non-emergency number for the Police

101 is the new number to contact the police when it’s less urgent than 999.

The 101 non-emergency number will make it quicker and easier for you to contact the police when you don’t need an emergency response, for example to:

•speak to your local police officer
•report a crime that’s already happened, such as a theft or damage to property
•get crime prevention advice
•make us aware of any policing issues in your area

101 will replace our current non-emergency number/s and provides one easy-to-remember number to contact the police wherever you are in Scotland, or elsewhere in the UK.

The 101 non-emergency number is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It costs a flat rate of 15p per call from both landline and mobile networks, no matter how long you are on the phone or what time of day it is.

When you dial 101, the system will determine your location and connect you to the service centre covering your area.

By having one easy to remember number, 101 should make the police more accessible while reducing pressure on the 999 system.

Deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech-impaired callers can access the service via TextRelay on 1 800 1 101.

In an emergency always dial 999 – when a life is in danger, a crime is in progress or a suspect is nearby.

Frequently asked questions:

1. What is 101?

101 is the new number for you to call to contact the police when it’s less urgent than 999.

101 replaces our (insert current non-emergency number(s) for your force) number and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

2. What should 101 be used for?

You should call 101 if you want to talk to your local police officer, get crime prevention advice, or report a crime that does not need an emergency response, for example:

•if your car has been stolen
•your property has been damaged
•you suspect drug use or dealing
•you want to report a minor traffic collision, or
•you want to give the police information about crime in your area

3. Why is 101 being introduced?

101 is being launched to improve public access to the police by giving you a single, easy-to-remember phone number, for when it’s less urgent than 999.

4. How does 101 work?

When you call 101, you’ll hear a recorded message announcing that you’re being connected to your local police service centre. The system will determine your location and connect you to a call handler in the service centre for your local area. This ensures staff with local knowledge answer and deal with your call in a way that best meets your needs and the needs of your community.

If you are calling from the boundary between Scotland and England then you may be offered a choice of force to be connected to. If the system cannot locate where you are calling from, then you’ll be connected by the operator to the appropriate service centre, where the call will be handled in the normal manner.

Calls to 101 will be prioritised in the same way as calls to existing non-emergency numbers.

5. If I am deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or have a speech impairment, can I call 101?

If you are deaf, deafened, hard of hearing or speech-impaired then you can access the service via TextRelay on 1 800 1 101.

6. If English isn’t my first language, can I still call 101?

Service centre operators have access to professional interpreters who can quickly translate if you cannot speak, or have difficulty speaking, English.

7. How much does it cost to call 101?

Calls to 101 will cost 15p, no matter how long the call, what time of day it is made or whether it is from a landline or mobile phone.

8. Why is there a charge for calls to 101?

There has always been a cost associated with non-emergency calls. Introducing 101 allows this cost to be standardised across the country and in many cases the single, flat rate charge of 15p replaces previous higher charges. The police do not make any money from calls to 101.

9. Does 101 replace existing direct dial numbers?

If you want to speak to someone specific – for example your community officer – and you have their individual contact details, their direct dial number is still the best number to contact them on.

10. Does 101 replace 999?

No. 101 is the number to use to contact the police in situations that do not need an immediate response. 999 is still the number to call when an immediate response is needed – when a crime is in progress, when someone suspected of a crime is nearby, when a life is in danger or when violence is being used or threatened.

11. What happens if I call 101 but it is an emergency situation?

If you call 101 and it is deemed to be an emergency, or during the call your situation becomes an emergency, service centre staff are fully trained to deal with all emergency and non-emergency situations.

Always dial 999 when an immediate response is needed – when a crime is in progress, when someone suspected of a crime is nearby, when a life is in danger or when violence is being used or threatened.

12. Is 101 available outside of Scotland?

Yes, 101 is a national service that is also available across England and Wales.

13. What are the benefits of 101?

•101 provides one easy-to-remember number to contact the police anywhere in Scotland
•For the first time there will be a single flat rate charge
•The cost of the call will be transparent to the public and, in many cases, cheaper than current non-emergency numbers
•101 can potentially reduce pressure on the 999 system, allowing the police to prioritise the most urgent calls for help.

Dates set for Centipede photo exhibition

12.12.12 was a particularly special date, and it’s a day in history that has been captured for ever thanks to the Muirhouse Centipede Project. Muirhouse folk were encouraged to get out and about with their cameras on that memorable date, capturing images on four seasonal themes. Reverend Linda Dunbar of Muirhouse St. Andrews’s explains what happens next:

“We received a good number of entries of photographs taken during the 24 hours of 12/12/12 that captured something of the Advent themes of Love, Joy, Hope and Peace. The submissions are going on display in the North Edinburgh Arts Centre from 26 February – 3 March, Muirhouse Millennium Centre 4-10 March, Muirhouse Library 11-17 March (to be confirmed) before ending up at Muirhouse St Andrew’s Parish Church on the 18 March where they will find a permanent home.

The official launch of the touring display will be on

Tuesday 26 February at 11am in North Edinburgh Arts Centre

with free coffee and scones on offer too! The winners of the children’s and adults’ entries will be on display – it would be great to see folk there.”

Funding for Leith community group

Leith-based community project Saheliya has been awarded almost £43,000 after Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) secured funds from the Scottish Government’s Community Fund.

Saheliya will receive £42,482.00 over the next two years to provide learning activities to improve language and communications skills to over 90 ethnic minority women living in the North Edinburgh area. A number of PoLHA’s tenants use the service.

Mary Hastie Business Development Co-ordinator at Saheliya, said: “This funding is vitally important and allows us to reach out to women and young girls who are disengaged and feel disempowered and give them a voice. This money will allow us to provide vulnerable women with the confidence and skills needed to access additional services to support and encourage integration within the wider community.”

Keith Anderson, Chief Executive at PoLHA, said: “We are committed to supporting communities and creating a sense of purpose and belonging for our tenants. Saheliya is a fantastic initiative and I am delighted we have been able to support them through access to the Scottish Government’s Community Fund.”

Community Creche meeting planned

MESSAGE FROM MARILYN KEILLOH, STEPPING STONES NORTH EDINBURGH

As you will be aware I have been part of a small steering group that has been overseeing a community crèche pilot based at Pilton Community Health Project.

This pilot has been in two parts. Towards the end of last year, we offered free crèche spaces for one designated session per week for six weeks. Since January we have been offering a limited number of free spaces during crèche sessions at PCHP. The funding for the pilot is now coming to an end and we would like to invite interested parties to come along to a meeting on

MONDAY 4 MARCH 10.30am at Pilton Community Health Project

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss how the pilot went and any formal evaluation that might now need to be undertaken. We would also like to gauge whether there is a need in this area for a service such as this to continue and if so what the next and any future developments should be.

If you can’t come along to the meeting but would like to give some feedback or indeed find out more about the pilot please get in touch with me.

Marilyn Keilloh

Stepping Stones (North Edinburgh)

10 Wardieburn Road, Edinburgh EH5 1LY

Telephone 0131 551 1632

Email: info@steppingstonesnorthedinburgh.co.uk

Let’s do the Time Swap!

In another first for North Edinburgh, North Edinburgh Time Bank will be holding a Time Swap event at North Edinburgh Arts on Tuesday 26 February from 1 – 3pm. Time Bank Broker Julie Smith explains what it’s all about:

‘If you can spend a bit of time now and then helping someone in the community, you can earn a time credit. You can exchange that for help you need, or you can donate it to someone else who needs it.

If you’re quite handy, if you can help with housework, get shopping when someone’s not well, have a cup of tea and a chat with someone, give them a lift, teach a new skill like knitting or photography – or you want to learn how to work that new camera, or you need a hand painting, or fixing something – drop in.

Would you like to join a knitting group? Photography group? Singing? Timebank is a way of getting together and sharing interests and skills. Do you have something else you’d like to do? Tell other people and they can join in!

Times are tough and we all need somebody to lean on. Timebank is a way of meeting other people in your neighbourhood and helping each other when we need it. Phone me on 07807 002 591 if you need more info. Otherwise, see you on the 26th!’

Email: north.timebank@volunteeredinburgh.org.uk

Website: www.edinburghtimebank.org.uk

Residents more satisfied with council services

The major annual survey of Edinburgh residents has shown record levels of satisfaction with local services, continuing a steady trend over the last five years. The most improved services include recycling, street cleaning, parks, pavement maintenance and community safety. However, the results also highlight areas for further work, including refuse collection, dog fouling and public engagement.

Overall, 86% of Edinburgh residents are satisfied with the way the Council is managing neighbourhoods, a 19% rise on 2008. At a local level, improvements can be seen in all neighbourhoods, particularly the South West, Forth, Leith and Portobello and Craigmillar. While Forth and Pentlands generally fall below the city average, these have seen a significant increase in satisfaction since the previous survey.

Council Leader Cllr Andrew Burns said: “We know how much importance our residents place on us getting the basics right and I’m delighted to see these improvements, especially for the thousands of staff who work hard all year round to deliver high-quality services to the people of this city. What’s even more impressive is that this has been achieved against a backdrop of real pressure on public finances and the need to make efficiencies throughout the Council”

The survey also shows that satisfaction with how the Council manages the city overall has increased to 72% from a low of 35% in 2009. Commenting on the figure, Cllr Burns added: “This measure has varied a lot in the last five years and the most recent change is so large we should be cautious about drawing conclusions based on this year’s result alone. It may be that the progress with the tram project is a factor. Our strong leadership and commitment to listening could equally have helped. Either way, it’s something we need to understand better.

“Overall, while the results are encouraging there can be no room for complacency. We are ambitious for the city and there is much work yet to be done, so we simply need to continue delivering the pledges we made to Edinburgh residents and look for that to be reflected in future surveys.”

The public’s top five priorities for improvement included road improvements and safety, street cleaning and refuse collection, activities for children/young people, tackling dog fouling, and more shopping facilities and entertainment.

Deputy Council Leader Cllr Steve Cardownie said: “Our recent budget clearly shows we have listened to residents, with an extra £12m going into doubling the budget for fixing potholes and pavements, as well as investment in other facilities and services that the public value. The continued improvements also underline the fact that we have been responding to concerns, but we will make sure that we also tackle the areas where the survey shows we need to do more. That’s essential for the people who live and work here, but also for maintaining our reputation as a world-class capital city.”

Other findings in the Edinburgh Peoples Survey 2012 include:

•Improved performance of the whole Council compared to previous years. As well as overall management of the city, there were increases in delivering value for money and displaying sound financial management.
•Edinburgh continues to be highly regarded as a place to live with 97% expressing satisfaction, continuing a year-on-year increase since 2010. Satisfaction with neighbourhoods as place to live has also stayed very high at 94%, up by 8% since 2008.
•High levels of satisfaction with nursery, primary and secondary schools (excluding those who stated ‘don’t know’).
•Improved satisfaction with the way the Council communicates with customers and “puts customers first”.
•Satisfaction has reduced in refuse collection (to 78%) and dog fouling (to 48%).
•Road maintenance continues to have a lower satisfaction score than other services (56%), staying about the same over the five-year period.
•Reduced feeling of ability to have a say on local issues and services.

More detailed analysis will be carried out to understand the reasons underlying the changes in satisfaction, and the research will also be used by managers and staff to develop action plans for maintaining high performance and addressing areas for improvement.

One area that’s been highlighted for improvement is refuse collection and recycling. The introduction of fortnightly bin collections proved unpopular when introduced last year, and the council acknowledges there are still issues to be resolved. Local resident Frank emailed a picture of his bin (below) yesterday, saying: ‘I live in Granton Terrace and the bin men have left half the buckets in the street because they say they are overfilled. We received a phone call from them saying we can take our excess rubbish to a Recycling Centre. Do you think that would be a good idea, taking rubbish bags on the bus to Seafield?”

So the council is making progress, but there’s still room for improvement in service delivery. But then, you’re never going to be able to please all of the people all of the time, are you?

Do you think council services have improved in your neighbourhood? Let us know!

Welcome news as unemployment down in Scotland

Scotland’s jobless total fell by 13,000 to 206,000 between October and December, according to official figures published by the Office of national Statistics (ONS) today. The total number of employed in Scotland now stands at 2,461,000. ONS figures showed that the Scottish unemployment rate was 7.7%, marginally below the UK average of 7.8%. UK unemployment fell by a total of 14,000 to 2.5 million.

The number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance in Scotland fell by 600 from December to 137,000 in January – down 5200 on the January 2012 figure. The ONS figures also showed that youth unemployment in Scotland fell by 28,000, or 5.9%, over the last year.

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said: “The government continues to work hard to reduce unemployment by laying the foundations for a stronger, more balanced economy.”

Scotland’s headline employment rate (for those aged 16 to 64) rose by 0.1 percentage points over the three month period to 70.7 per cent, while the claimant count in Scotland fell by 600 over the month of January 2013 – the third consecutive monthly fall.

At Holyrood, government ministers particularly welcomed a significant fall in youth unemployment, which has fallen by has fallen by 28,000 over the last year. The youth unemployment rate fell by 5.9 percentage points – the largest annual fall since the series began in 2006, and the rate is at its lowest since November to January 2011.

Finance Secretary John Swinney said: “This is the third set of monthly unemployment figures in a row that have shown a fall. What’s more, the fall in youth unemployment is particularly encouraging. Scotland has lower youth unemployment, higher youth employment and lower youth inactivity than the UK. This month’s release sees the largest annual drop in the youth unemployment rate since the data series began in 2006.

“Unemployment fell by 14,000 across the UK as a whole with Scotland accounting for 13,000 of this net fall. But we must not be complacent – too many people are still looking for work, and the Scottish Government is taking action to address this by maintaining the most competitive business environment anywhere in the UK and investing in our infrastructure.

“The budget passed last month includes a tax relief package for business worth over £540m this year and bring forward a further £385 million package of economic stimulus. But with the full economic and fiscal powers of independence the Scottish Government could do even more to strengthen our economy and create jobs.”

Youth Employment Minister Angela Constance said: “Today’s figures are the clearest demonstration yet that the Scottish Government’s action on youth employment is helping to support more young people into jobs. It is fantastic that we have achieved an historic high in the number of school leavers going into work, education or training. A record 89.9 per cent of our young people are rightly securing opportunities after school. However – one young person not in training or employment is one too many. The biggest fall in youth unemployment since 2006 is something that the public, private and third sectors can be very pleased with, but our work must continue.”

Public warned over Gumtree scam

Police in Edinburgh are investigating a series of robberies and assaults on people selling electronics online. Two of the thefts involved computers and a third involved a mobile phone – which had been advertised on the Gumtree website – and the robberies took place after sellers agreed to meet potential buyers in McDonald’s car park on Telford Road.

The most recent incident happened on Monday (18 February) when a 24-year-old man was threatened and robbed of an Apple computer he was attempting to sell. The other two incidents happened on Sunday 20 January and Monday 21 January.

Inspector Mark Rennie, from Lothian and Borders Police, said: “While no victims were injured, all were understandably distressed as a result of their respective ordeals, and we are carrying out inquiries in order to establish whether these incidents are linked. At the same time we are warning anyone conducting any transaction over Gumtree, or any similar website, to take precautions to ensure their safety.”

Lothian and Borders Police have issued advice for anyone who sells goods online, including to meet in a well-lit public place and get full contact details for any potential buyer you agree to meet.

Anyone with any information about these crimes should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131, or alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.