United Indian Support Rally

Dozens of organisations came together on Saturday – a day before Indian Republic Day – to congratulate and show their support to the Indian Government on enacting the Citizens Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 (India), writes PUNEET DWIVEDI.

The Citizenship Amendment Act 2019 coming into force is the beginning of a new dawn in the lives of those who feared religious persecution in theocratic countries of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

Neil Lal , Rajdeep Sarkar from Glasgow, Abhay Kumar and Puneet Dwivedi from Edinburgh were the key organisers of this support rally outside the Indian Consulate in Rutland Square, Edinburgh.

Around 200 people from various age groups, ethnicity and faiths participated in the Rally. The drafted a letter and collected 295 signatures (100 signature collected before the rally, who can’t participate) for a letter to be written to All MPs , MSP and MEPs of Scotland.

Dr Amjad Mirza, one of the activists originally for Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoJK) said “CAA is wonderful initiative by Indian Government” and,being a resident of PoK, he welcomes this Act.

He added that since the Talibanization of Pakistan, there is systematic persecution of people in Sindh and other parts. He said: “Hindu Temples in Mirpur as well as in Pok has been destroyed and converted into residential houses. Gurudwaras been attacked in Pakistan. So all these minorities find a natural home in India, and can now be given proper citizenship and considered part of India. “

Puneet Dwivedi, vice president of Hindu Forum Britain (the largest Umbrella body of British Hindus) displayed a copy of the CAA Gazette and FAQs released by Govt of India, and said: “There was been lot of misinformation campaign in India as well as here in UK about the Citizenship Amendment Act.

“People have not read the bill and started protesting against it. The Citizenship Bill is wonderful initiative and give dignity to the refugees already in India till 2014.

“There have been few protest in Scotland against the Act stating this act is against a faith, however when challenged where does the act mention anything against any faith? No one was able to point out. The Indian Citizens, be it of any faith, will not be impacted by this Act.

“The protest in Assam to some extend was legitimate however the rest of India the protest being hijacked by misinformation campaigners. Even for Assam and North East , if you read point 12 of the FAQ released by Govt it says – “The CAA protects the interests of the tribals and indigenous people of the North-Eastern region by excluding areas under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution and areas covered by the Inner line Permit system.”

Neil Lal said this is historic moment for Scotland: “For the first time Indian Diaspora and people of Indian origin have shown their unity. There are people from Glasgow, Dundee, Edinburgh and some from Aberdeen as well on this chilly Saturday afternoon.

“We are standing united with Indian Government and PM Mr Modi for passing this Act which gives shelters to all the minorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh where the minorities have declined drastically. We are here to congratulate the Indian Government and their representative Consul General of India Mr Hitesh Rajpal.

Rajdeep Sarkar from Scotland Friends of India said he wanted to thank everyone taking out time to support this important gathering to show our support.

Abhay Kumar said he was very delighted to be part of this show of unity adding that we need to fight against misinformation campaign in Scotland and rest of UK to malign India’s image.

The gathering was very peaceful and tea and snacks were served. The rally ended with everyone standing up to sing India’s national anthem.

Video Footage of Dr Amzad Mirza https://youtu.be/FaV5Ebia7RQ

Who Cares? Tory concern over hard to fill job vacancies

The Care Inspectorate and Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) published new figures on the levels of staff vacancies in Scotland’s social care services yesterday.

Edinburgh has the highest percentage, 57%, of services reporting that vacancies are hard to fill and almost half of posts unfilled 49%.

West Lothian, Midlothian and Edinburgh have all shown an increase in the number of vacancy rates with East Lothian dropping slightly to 32%.

Latest figures show West Lothian had 78 vacancies, 35%, Midlothian had 47 vacancies, 40%, and Edinburgh had the highest number of vacancies in Scotland 334, 49%.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “This report highlights the ongoing challenges of recruitment in Social Care and is another example of SNP Ministers’ terrible record on workforce planning.

“The continued high rate of vacancies for social care makes if very difficult to see improvement to services.

“Issues such as delayed discharge in hospitals and shortages in adult care homes are not going to be fixed until recruitment of staff is resolved.

“Edinburgh and the Lothians have particularly high vacancies for Social Care staff and have higher than average services struggling to fill posts.”

The report comes as the Scottish Government launches a new campaign to promote careers in adult social care ‘There’s More To Care Than Caring’.

The staff vacancies report provides a national overview of vacancy levels and recruitment difficulties reported by care services registered with the Care Inspectorate. It also includes data on the actual number of vacancies services have, which is held by the SSSC.

In the past year, 38% of services reported having vacancies, which is unchanged from the previous year.

However, care homes for adults, care homes for older people, housing support services, care at home services, nurse agencies and residential special schools all had a proportion of services with vacancies significantly above the national average for all care services.

Daycare of children and adoption services were significantly below the national average for all care services reporting vacancies.

At 31 December 2018, the rate of WTE vacancies for all services in Scotland was 5.5%, down from 5.9% in 2017. This was higher than the overall vacancy rate across all establishments in Scotland of 3.1%.

Lorraine Gray, Chief Executive of the SSSC said: “A vital consideration when looking at vacancies in care services is making sure that social care attracts people with the right values, skills and experience to work in the sector.

“We’ve worked with Scottish Government on the adult social care recruitment campaign, launched today, which aims not only to encourage more people to consider a career in care but also emphasises the values you need.

“The social service workforce is growing, there are more than 200,000 people working in the sector, which is almost 8% of all employment in Scotland, so there are lots of opportunities and different types of roles.

“It’s a fulfilling and rewarding career which gives you the opportunity to work towards qualifications as part of a professional workforce making a positive difference to people’s lives.”

Peter Macleod, chief executive of the Care Inspectorate said: “We know that an effective and stable staff team is important for providing the world class care everyone wants to see.

“It allows trusting relationships to be developed between people providing and experiencing care, often supporting positive experiences and outcomes.

“The Care Inspectorate recognises that recruitment and retention into some parts of the social care sector remains a challenge, and we collect significant data about the places and parts of the sector where recruitment problems are more challenging.

“This report has been prepared to provide a national overview of the vacancy levels and recruitment difficulties reported by care services in their Care Inspectorate annual returns.

“We know, of course, that numbers do not tell the whole story. The skills, experiences, and values of social care staff are just as critical as the right number of staff being employed.

“However, going forward we expect to see more innovative solutions embraced by care providers and commissioners, as well as increased partnership working between social care services, local authorities and other key partners to ensure that the underlying issues around filling problem vacancies can be addressed.”

Every care service is asked to complete an annual return every year to provide statistical and other information. The vacancy questions are asked for every care service type apart from childminders, who are typically sole providers.

Staff vacancies in care services 2018

Inside Story: Report raises health concern over home air pollution

There is growing evidence that respiratory problems among children may be exacerbated by indoor air pollution in homes, schools and nurseries, according to a joint report by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of Physicians.

The report, informed by a RCPCH commissioned systematic review of 221 studies, presents evidence linking indoor air pollution to a range of childhood health problems including asthma, wheezing, conjunctivitis, dermatitis, and eczema.

Sources of indoor air pollution include smoking, damp, the burning of fossil fuels and wood, dust, chemicals from building materials and furnishings, aerosol sprays, and cleaning products.

The authors warn that indoor air quality tends to be poorer in low quality housing where ventilation may be inadequate or insufficient.

The report recommends that local authorities should have the power to require improvements where air quality fails to meet minimum standards in local authority schools and houses. This should be extended, according to the authors, beyond damp and mould (where powers already exist) to include other pollutants.

The report recommends:

Legally binding performance standards for indoor air quality to include ventilation rates, maximum concentration levels for specific pollutants, labelling of materials, and testing of appliances
Air quality tests when local authority construction is complete and before the building is signed off
Compliance tests after construction stages and assessment of buildings once occupied – this may require ring-fenced resources for local authorities to take enforcement action

The report recommends local authorities should follow the NICE guidelines for ‘Indoor air quality at home’. It warns “exposure to indoor air pollution from cookers, damp, cleaning products and fires can irritate the lungs and exacerbate asthma symptoms.”

It encourages people to ensure rooms are well ventilated by opening windows or using extractor fans, especially when cooking, drying clothes inside, or using sprays, solvents, and paints.

Professor Jonathan Grigg, Paediatric Respiratory Consultant from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said: “We’re finally paying attention to the quality of our outdoor air and this is long overdue.

“It’s harder to get population level data on the quality of indoor air but the evidence in this report paints a worrying picture. Children in the UK spend most of their time indoors, with just 68 minutes spent outside on an average day. Too many of our homes and schools are damp and poorly ventilated – this is adversely affecting the health of children.”

The report says local authorities should provide free indoor air testing for residents. It recommends a national fund to support improvements for low income residents who report issues with ventilation and air quality.

Professor Stephen Holgate, Special Advisor for the Royal College of Physicians said: “Poorer households have fewer choices about where to live and where to go to school. More than three million families live in poor quality housing in the UK.

“Most will not have enough money to make improvements and have no option but to make do with damp, under-ventilated environments. We need to offer support at local authority level – likewise with schools. If we ask our children to spend their childhood days in unhealthy spaces, then we’re storing up problems for future health.”

The report ‘The Inside Story: Health effects of indoor air quality on children and young people’ makes further recommendations:

A cross-governmental committee to co-ordinate working in health, environment, education and homes for indoor air quality
Advice for the public about the risks of, and how to prevent, poor indoor air quality
Investment in high quality research and evidence to support decision making.

The Inside Story: Health effects of indoor air quality on children and young people is jointly published by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Royal College of Physicians (RCP).

It is funded by Allergy UK, Airtopia, Asthma UK, British Heart Foundation, British Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Dyson, and the Greater London Authority.