Work is underway to build brand new affordable homes in Bingham and Parkview in North East Edinburgh.
The Council-led developments – which will complete in Autumn 2021 – will be built by construction firm CCG (Scotland) Ltd. CCG has delivered a number of award-winning new homes for the Council at Leith Fort and in Greendykes and is also progressing a major development of affordable housing in Craigmillar, which received its first new tenants this summer.
Both new sites promise to provide modern and energy efficient homes for social rent as part of Edinburgh’s ambitious 20,000 affordable homes target. In addition to delivering new homes, CCG will provide apprenticeships, engage with local schools and colleges and provide community investment funds in Bingham and Parkview.
Construction is now underway in Bingham along Duddingston Row at the former home of Lismore Primary School. Work will also start at Parkview next month at Peffermill Road, the former site of the Parkview Care Home, bringing a derelict brownfield site back to life.
The homes will benefit from improved energy efficiency and a reduced carbon footprint, saving residents on fuel bills, and will have access to high quality green space. Included in the design is a mix of one, two and three bed flats, colonies and houses, with 70 homes across the two sites (40 in Bingham, 30 in Parkview).
Councillor Kate Campbell, Edinburgh’s Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “Every new social home counts because housing need is exceptional in Edinburgh – there’s nothing better than seeing council houses being built and knowing that it won’t be long until they become people’s homes.
“With so many families in need of a new home, and construction so important to our economic recovery from Covid-19, the homes and jobs being delivered by our ambitious house-building programme will make a real difference to people’s lives.
“But we have to keep delivering more. We have 3,500 new homes in design development right now, with 800 homes already under construction across the city. Soon, we’ll be setting out our investment plans for the next 10 years, to make sure that we continue to provide much needed homes, create jobs and support local communities with tangible benefits like apprenticeships, community hubs, parks and improved public spaces.”
Councillor Mandy Watt, Edinburgh’s Vice Housing and Economy Convener, added: “Everyone has the right to a safe, warm home. That’s why our strategy for the future is about investing more in our communities, upgrading our social housing and building thousands of new affordable homes in Edinburgh.
“And it’s not just about bricks and mortar – we’re seeing other benefits and improvements that we can bring to local areas. These developments in Bingham and Parkview will benefit lots of people in many different ways. They’ll help to regenerate the area and provide better public realm, better greenspace and funding for neighbourhood projects. They’ll benefit the long-term future of our environment too, thanks to their low carbon footprint and focus on energy efficiency.”
CCG Managing Director, David Wylie, said: “CCG’s commitment to providing quality, energy efficient homes is a philosophy shared by the City of Edinburgh Council. Our partnership has continued to deliver a lasting legacy across the region by not only supporting the supply of new affordable homes but also creating jobs, apprenticeships and localised investment.
“The commencement of Bingham and Parkview is another important milestone for us both and we look forward to working with the Council as we head into 2021 and beyond.”
The £9.5m investment will be funded by the Council with £4.1m in grant funding from the Scottish Government.
Leading Scottish care provider LOVE Care is organising an event in Edinburgh to boost recruitment into the care sector amid the economic and unemployment turmoil presented by Covid-19.
Taking place on Friday 2nd and Saturday 3rd of October at LOVE Gorgie Farm, the organisation seeks to attract a wide range of candidates, from those new to the sector to senior and experienced care workers, as well as social care students.
Based in Hamilton but active across Scotland, LOVE Care, part of social business the LOVE Group, offers a wide range of professional care services, tailored to individual service user needs and undertaken by highly trained carers.
Interested candidates can sign up to the event online that will take place at Edinburgh’s famous urban farm, which was acquired by the charitable arm of the LOVE Group earlier this year. The farm serves as the local base for the social business to run its professional training programmes in the social care and education fields.
Attendees will meet with senior staff, learn about the available positions and the selection process. Once hired, they will receive ongoing mentoring, training and development opportunities to provide them with an exciting and rewarding career path, with positions across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
In addition to Real Living Wage pay and fully funded qualifications, salaries are reviewed yearly, reaching up to £12 per hour after two years of employment. Those with previous experience can apply for more senior positions and higher salaries.
Although the main theme of this event is recruitment, LOVE Care is also inviting experienced workers to share their experiences in the sector and their opinions on how the sector should improve. Their testimonies will be the base to shape ongoing discussions between the organisation and the Scottish Government on how the care sector should be transformed.
Lynn Bell, CEO of LOVE Care said: “This recruitment event comes against one of the greatest public health challenges in recent history combined with the economic uncertainty presented by the pandemic.
“We are looking for people with different levels of experience that are passionate and truly committed to improving other people’s lives. In return, we offer rewarding job opportunities, with one of the most competitive salary schemes in Scotland and support career progression through ongoing training and development to ensure career progression to managerial roles.
“Covid-19 has highlighted something we have always been vocal about and that is the essential role that social care workers play in taking care of the most vulnerable members of our society, and as such they deserve more gratitude and better working conditions.
“The event will have a dedicated area for attendees to share views on how the care sector should be transformed and help shape ongoing discussions with the Scottish Government on what needs to be done in this respect.
To comply with Covid-19 health measures and guarantee the safety of staff and visitors, interested attendees should sign up and select a timeslot prior to attending the event at www.lovecare.scot
‘Invisible Cities World Tour’ boxes feature a selection of location-themed products
Invisible Cities, a social enterprise that trains people who have previously experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own city, has launched an exciting new subscription box for would-be-adventurers!
Created in collaboration with Strawberry Lemonade Events and Party in the Post, each box is themed on one country and is delivered straight to your door every three months.
Month one sees a curated box that aims to ignite sentiments of Scotland, the birthplace of Invisible Cities.
For tiny travellers and eternal explorers, the first destination box includes:
Invisible Cities World Tour Passport, where pioneers can collect stamps for all the countries ‘travelled’ through the subscription box (Scotland will be the first stamp)
An activity book which includes a recipe card
A Unicorn Cookie Cutter
A colouring page and set of colouring pencils
A unique Scottish game
Exclusive story time with Paul (QR Code)
A Scottish postcard
With inclusivity, compassion and most importantly community at heart, for every box purchased Invisible Cities will be donating activity books and games to children in temporary accommodation as well as those currently living through tough situations.
Zakia Moulaoui Guery, Founder & CEO of Invisible Cities CIC said: “We believe everyone should learn in a fun and engaging way, no matter where they live, or what their circumstances.
“Through our boxes, we want to spark love for travelling in children and raise awareness of some of the issues countries are facing, whether that be homelessness or inequality. Each box is an adventure, it’s unchartered territory, it’s finding a second home – every child should get the opportunity to feel the excitement that brings.”
So, what do our voyagers think?
“We loved the story from Paul. We really need to do his tour in Edinburgh!“ – Nicola (mum).
“I’m really excited to be making cookies with my new cookie cutter. My favourite part of the box is the colouring sheet and I can’t wait to get my next box!” – Jessica (aged 8).
Each box will see games, gifts and unique items to collect, all themed around a new, must-visit country. Available for a one-off yearly subscription of £90 (for four boxes per year), or individually at £24.95, your round-the-world tour is just a hop, skip and a letter box away…
Community feeling remains strong in Scotland with more than three-quarters of adults (78% in 2019) reporting a very or fairly strong sense of belonging to their neighbourhood. This figure has remained at this level since 2012.
85% of adults agree they can rely on friends/relatives in their neighbourhood for support
90% of adults agree they would assist neighbours in an emergency
Most people feel safe in Scotland.
83% of adults feel very or fairly safe walking alone in their neighbourhood after dark – this figure remains similar to when the question was last asked in 2017. This figure varies depending on how people rate their neighbourhood. 61% of adults who rated their neighbourhood as a very poor place to live felt a bit or very unsafe walking alone after dark in their neighbourhood.
Satisfaction with housing is high.
Nine in ten households are very or fairly satisfied with their housing.
The proportion of younger households aged between 16 to 34 in owner occupation was 38% in 2019, an increase of approximately 50,000 since 2014.
Satisfaction with public services presents a mixed picture
Over seven out of ten adults (73%) were satisfied with schools and 68% with public transport in 2019, having increased from 71% and 65%, respectively, in 2018. Eight in ten adults (80%) were satisfied with local health services in 2019, a decrease from 81% in 2018. Satisfaction with local health services, schools and transport have decreased from peaks of 88%, 85% and 76%, respectively, in 2011.
Over half of all adults (53%) were satisfied with all three services in 2019, similar to the previous year but down from a peak of almost two-thirds (66%) in 2011.
There is increased internet access. The proportion of households with internet access was at a record high of 88% in 2019, with 97% of users accessing it at home. Internet use amongst older adults aged 60+ has since 2007 increased from 29% to 66%.
Most people can access satisfactory outdoor space such as parks, woods, rivers, coasts but people living in more deprived areas are less likely to live within a five minute walk. Most adults (66%) lived within a five minute walk of their nearest area of green or blue space in 2019, around the same proportion since 2016. A smaller proportion of adults in deprived areas lived within a five minute walk of their nearest green or blue space compared to adults in the least deprived areas (62% compared to 67%). 73% of adults were very or fairly satisfied with their nearest area of green or blue space.
The trend of declining religious belonging continued in 2019, with 56% of adults reporting that they did not belong to any religion. This coincided with a sharp decrease since 2009 in the proportion of people who report that they belong to the Church of Scotland, from 34% to 20% of adults.
The Scottish Household Survey also published all 2019 statistical data on the interactive dashboard Data Explorer, containing comparable SHS data from 1999 to 2019. For the first time the Data Explorer releases both national and local data on the same day.
The Scottish Household Survey has been designed to provide reliable and up-to-date information on the composition, characteristics, attitudes and behaviour of Scottish households and individuals since 1999.
This year marks two decades of the Marine Conservation Society surveying and cleaning Edinburgh’s Cramond beach, with volunteers showing up year after year to support the charity’s efforts.
The Marine Conservation Society’s annual Great British Beach Clean is a crucial event that helps the charity keep track of plastic pollution, monitor the condition of coastal areas, and campaign for important policy changes. The work done by volunteers along Cramond beach, and the data collected, has contributed to a number of successful campaigns and policy changes to stop litter at source.
This year, the Marine Conservation Society needs more people than ever to organise their own small, private and local beach cleans. The Great British Beach Clean starts this week, running from 18th – 25th of September.
Cllr Lesley Macinnes, Environment Convener, said: “Our waste teams are all working really hard throughout Edinburgh to keep the city clean so we really appreciate seeing local people getting involved in these events and taking ownership of and responsibility for the environment they live in.
“Our staff will be supporting the event and making sure they have the equipment they need to be safe and we’ll dispose of the waste collected. We’ve noticed people have been dropping masks and gloves in the street as well as other litter, which can end up on our beautiful beaches, so please everyone, bin your litter or take it home with you.”
Max Coleman, Chair of Edinburgh Biodiversity Partnership: “Edinburgh’s shoreline provides a wonderful opportunity for contact with nature. As the problems of marine litter are now widely understood I hope record numbers of people will get involved with the Great British Beach Clean this September.”
Cramond’s coastal area is vulnerable to a build-up of plastic waste and debris given its position along the coastal causeway to Cramond Island. Commonly collected items have included thousands of wet wipes, plastic bottles, disposable barbecues and dog waste bags.
Over the last 20 years of beach cleaning and surveying at Cramond, over 1,200 dedicated volunteers have removed 197 bags of litter weighing over 950kg. This year, with the events running for a full week, even more litter can be collected and surveyed.
Calum Duncan, Head of Conservation Scotland at the Marine Conservation Society:“Whilst the ongoing tide of rubbish and plastic could be demoralising, over the years there has been a huge swell in public support for our projects. To see the public pushing for, and enthusiastic about, transformative change has instead been inspiring and motivating.
“As a result of the data collected by our incredible volunteers we have helped secure Scotland’s carrier bag charge, a ban on plastic-stemmed cotton buds, Scotland’s Marine Litter Strategy and the Deposit Return Scheme for cans and bottles due in 2022.”
To become a Beachwatch Organiser please visit the website here.
Find information on the Source to Sea Litter Quest here.
For more information or to contact the Marine Conservation Society please visit www.mcsuk.org
Please find attached a zoom invitation to a meeting looking at Community Wealth Building.
The meeting will be hosted by Lesley Hinds, Chair of North Edinburgh Arts, with guest speaker Councillor Joe Cullinane, Leader of North Ayrshire Council. Please find attached a link to North Ayrshire’s Community Wealth Building strategy for information prior to the discussion.
I this is of interest, and that you will be able to join the discussion on the 22nd. No registration is needed, simply use the link in the attachment, however it would be useful if you can reply to me in advance if you are going to attend to give me an idea of numbers.
Yours sincerely
Kate Wimpress / Director
North Edinburgh Arts, 15a Pennywell Court, EH4 4TZ
NEA North Edinburgh Arts is inviting you to a Community Wealth Building meeting, by Zoom.
The latest quarterly Scottish Government Workforce Information statistics have been published by Scotland’s Chief Statistician. These statistics cover the numbers of workers, staff sickness rates, and the diversity of staff up to the most recent quarter ending June 2020.
The statistics show that:
At the end of June 2020 there were 7,119 full time equivalent (FTE) directly employed staff, an increase of 627 on last year’s figure of 6,492 at the end of June 2019. The percentage of directly employed staff in permanent (98%) and temporary (2%) categories remained the same as last year.
There was an 8.3% increase in the number (headcount) of contingent (non-directly employed) workers. An increase of 111 workers, from 1332 at the end of June 2019 to 1443 at the end of June 2020.
The staff sickness level was 7.4 average working days lost (AWDL) per staff year in the 12 month period ending June 2020, compared with 7.7 AWDL for the same period last year. This equates to a loss of 3.3% of working days in the 12 month period ending June 2020
Just over half (53.6%) of the workforce were female, compared to 46.4% male. The proportion of female staff is similar to the same period last year (52.7% in June 2019).
At the end of June 2020, the majority of staff were aged between 30 and 59, broken down as follows: 16-29 (17.4%), 30-39 (24.3%), 40-49 (27.0%), 50-59 (25.0%), 60 or over (6.2%).
The proportion of directly employed staff providing diversity information on sexual orientation, disability and religion or belief has increased since the same period last year.
Responding to yesterday’s Labour Market Statistics, Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “These figures are continuing to show the effect of the pandemic on jobs in Scotland, and the impact on individuals and families across the country. The UK Government has done everything possible to support people through this difficult time.
“Through the furlough scheme, the UK Government has supported more than 930,000 Scottish jobs, a third of the workforce, and we are taking decisive action though our ambitious Plan for Jobs.
“We have launched the £2 billion Kick Start scheme to create thousands of high quality jobs for young people, are doubling the number of work coaches to help people find work and are bringing in a £1,000 job retention bonus to help employers bring back as many furloughed workers as possible.”
The UK Government has loaned £2.3 billion to 65,000 Scottish businesses, put in place VAT cuts for hospitality and tourism businesses, and 6.3 million discounted meals were eaten at 8,543 establishments across Scotland as part of the Eat Out to Help Out Scheme in August.
Most people are happy with their neighbourhood, feel a strong sense of belonging and think their local heritage is well cared for, according to the latest Scottish Household Survey.
Concern about the environment has continued to grow, particularly among young people – the survey found that last year 69% of 16 to 24-year-olds agreed climate change was an immediate and urgent problem, up from 38% in 2013.
Meanwhile, more people were online than ever before, including older people, with 66% of over-60s now using the internet. However, the most common cultural activity was reading, with 62% of adults having read in the year before the survey was undertaken.
94% of adults said their neighbourhood was a good or fairly good place to live, while 78% said they felt a strong sense of belonging there
satisfaction with local schools rose to 73% from 71% in 2018, while satisfaction with public transport increased from 65% to 68%
86% of adults agreed that it was important for Scotland’s heritage to be well looked after, with 69% agreeing that the heritage of their local area was already well cared for
90% were culturally engaged, either by attending or visiting a cultural event or place, or by participating in a cultural activity
Communities Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “I am pleased so many people have a strong sense of belonging to their neighbourhood, which contributes towards making Scotland a warm and friendly nation where everyone is welcome.
“Of course, this survey predates the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, but that sense of community spirit was vital during lockdown when we were all required to work together to help suppress the spread of the virus.
“The rise in digital connectivity will also have been hugely beneficial under lockdown, with more people than ever able to use the internet to buy essential supplies, keep in touch with friends or take part in cultural activities.
“As we set out in our Programme for Government, we are determined that our recovery from the crisis will be a green one. I share the concerns of so many people that climate change is an urgent problem, and through the 2019 Climate Change Act the Scottish Government enshrined in law its commitment to a just transition to net zero – in which wellbeing, fair work and social justice are prioritised and no-one is left behind.”
The Scottish Household Survey is the largest social survey of people across Scotland, giving them an opportunity to provide information to government on their experiences, views, attitudes and behaviours.
The survey has run since the outset of devolution in 1999. It provides robust data on a wide range of different topics, including housing, neighbourhoods, sport and physical activity, internet use/digital engagement, views on local services, culture, the environment, and volunteering, at both national and local authority level.
This year 10,580 households took part in the survey.
Comparable survey data from 1999 to 2019 has been published on an interactive Data Explorer. For the first time national and local data has been published on the same day.
Police are appealing for information after a 14-year-old boy was robbed at knifepoint in Blackhall.
The incident happened just after 9pm on Monday, 14 September, when the teenager was walking through a wooded area to the south of Ravelston Park, near to Blackhall Lawn Tennis Club.
There was a group of youths around a small campfire and three boys approached him. One suspect threatened the victim with a knife and took his mobile phone. Fortunately the victim wasn’t physically injured.
The first suspect is described as around 16-years-old, around 5ft 10in tall, skinny build, clean shaven with short brown hair and his right ear pierced. He was wearing a dark bomber jacket and camouflage pattern tracksuit bottoms.
The second suspect is described as around the same age and height, stocky build, clean shaven with ear length ginger hair. He was also wearing a dark bomber jacket.
The third suspect is described as around the same age and height, medium build with dark hair.
Detective Sergeant Mark McGraw, of Corstorphine CID, said: “We’re appealing to anyone who has any information about this incident or witnessed it to contact us.
“It appears it was completely unprovoked and we’re asking for the public’s help to identify those involved. Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 3667 of 14 September.”
Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Tuesday 15 September):
Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us again today.
I will start with the usual run through of the daily statistics with apologies in advance. Parts of my briefing today are a little bit technical because it’s about how we report figures and while it might seem a bit difficult to follow today, what I’m going to report to you, particularly around people in hospital, is in the interest of making these figures more accurate and more transparent as we go into the next phase of tackling the pandemic.
But I can report firstly today, that the total number of positive cases reported yesterday was 267. This represents 3.6% of people newly tested.
101 of those cases were in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, 59 were in in Lanarkshire, 53 were in Lothian and 13 were in Ayrshire and Arran.
The remaining 41 were spread amongst the other seven mainland health board areas.
However to be clear, and this is the point I want to stress today, these, as indeed our daily figures always are, are test results that were reported yesterday.
Because of the backlog in the UK wide system that I referred to yesterday, this figure will include – a bit more than it normally would – results from swabs taken over the past few days.
We hope that the backlog of the past few days will have worked its way through the system shortly.
And just to be clear, to reassure you, for the purposes of our trend analysis, tests are looked at by day of the sample, not just by date of reporting, to ensure that we are tracking the increase in cases accurately. From that analysis of course, right now unfortunately, we do know that cases are rising .
Now as I said yesterday, I do have a concern about the capacity constraints right now within the UK wide system – for Scotland in recent days, just to be clear, this has not been an issue of access to testing slots, regional testing centres or mobile testing units but instead it’s been one of access to sufficient lighthouse laboratory processing.
And it has been this that has led to a backlog in the system and longer turnaround times for tests than we want to be the case.
Now as this is a UK wide system, we are not able to resolve this on our own. And the issues are impacted by demand elsewhere in the UK.
To that end, I had a conference call, a constructive conference call, last night with Matt Hancock, UK Health Secretary and Dido Harding, who is head of the UK testing system, to seek firstly assurances that Scotland is and will continue to get fair access to the UK wide laboratory capacity and also to discuss how we can resolve these issues. I hope to see improvement in next few days, but of course I will continue to provide updates.
I also, and this takes me into the slightly technical bit of the briefing, I want to provide some context before providing today’s update for the number of people in hospital with Covid.
Now, if you cast your mind back a couple of weeks now I think if you are one of the regular viewers of this briefing, I indicated then we were looking at how we report on numbers of people in hospital.
Under that measure, the one we have been using up until now, lots of people are classified as being Covid patients, even if they have recovered from Covid and are now being treated for a condition that is unrelated to it.
That old measure was providing accurate information at the peak the epidemic of this first phase back in the year when there were 1,500 Covid patients in hospital.
But as the pandemic has progressed, we have been reporting a higher number of hospital cases than is probably justified and that’s the issue I alluded to a couple of weeks ago.
For example in late August, Scotland officially accounted for almost one third of the hospital patients with Covid in the UK – despite having one twelfth of the UK’s population, and a relatively low incidence of the virus at that stage.
To try to ensure we are no longer counting patients who no longer really have Covid, we are from now, and I’ll report under the new measurement today, but then regularly from tomorrow, we’re moving to a new definition.
From now on, we will only count patients who first test positive for Covid during their current stay in hospital, or in the two weeks before their admission.
In addition, we will stop classifying them as Covid patients, for statistical purposes after 28 days in hospital – or 28 days after the date of their positive test, whichever is later.
This new measure will be an improvement on the old one – but it is important for me to point out that it will not be absolutely perfect.
The effects of Covid sometimes require hospital stays of longer than 28 days, and so a small number of patients with Covid may not be captured by the measure I’ve just outlined there
I have therefore asked Public Health Scotland to develop analysis about patients who unfortunately end up spending longer in hospital.
But overall, this new measure will give us a better picture both of the current situation in hospitals, and crucially, given the phase of the pandemic we are going into, it will be more sensitive to the changes in hospital admissions caused by new cases. So it will enable us to more accurately reflect and report any increase in hospital admissions over the next period.
So, under the old measure, I would be telling you, and I am going to tell you, that 262 patients are in hospital. That is two fewer than yesterday.
But that is the last time I’m going to give you that old measure, instead I’m going to move to the new and more accurate measure and I will use that solely from tomorrow onwards and under that measure, as of today there are 48 patients in hospital under that more narrow but more accurate measurement and we will be able to track it better now the increase in hospital admissions from here on in.
And using the new definition, I can report, there are six people are in intensive care. Under the old definition I would have been reporting seven in intensive care so clearly the change in measurement doesn’t have the same impact towards numbers in intensive care as it does on broader hospital numbers. .
And finally, in terms of my daily statistics update, I regret to have to report that in the past 24 hours, one additional death has been registered of a patient who first tested positive over the previous 28 days.
That means that the total number of deaths, under this daily measurement, is now 2,500.
That total serves again to remind us of the impact of this virus and why we can never, ever be complacent about the risks it poses and I want again to pass on my condolences to everybody who has lost a loved one – including of course everyone who is grieving as a result of the death that was registered yesterday.
There are a couple of other issues I want to address before Jason Leitch and I take questions from the media as normal.
The first is just to report here, we made this public last night but I thought it was worth reporting, that we had a meeting yesterday as I indicated earlier yesterday we would, to discuss the current position in Greater Glasgow and Clyde
And the good news is, that early indications suggest that the restrictions in place in Glasgow City, East and West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire might be helping to slow down the increase in new cases. So that at this stage is positive.
But the number of new cases in these parts of Greater Glasgow and Clyde remains very high and is still increasing, all be it, we think, at a slower rate than would’ve been the case without these restrictions being in place. So taking all of that into account and the local authorities for these areas were present at the meeting yesterday. We agreed that the existing restrictions should remain in place for a further week and then they will be reviewed again at that stage.
That means people in these areas, Glasgow City, East or West Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire should not visit other households at all.
Those same restrictions now also apply as of last Friday, in North and South Lanarkshire,
In all of these seven local authority areas, you should not host someone in your home – unless it is for essential care purposes. And you should not visit someone else in their home – again unless it’s for care purposes or delivery of shopping to a venerable or elderly person and that is regardless of where they live. So I live in Glasgow City, I can’t have people in my home but equally I can’t go and visit my parents for example, who live in Ayrshire and Arran which is not one of these affected areas.
The second issue I want to cover today relates to the Test and Protect service.
We are aware that some fake callers are pretending to work for Test and Protect , and are trying to con people by claiming that payment is needed for a test.
Sadly, this reminds us that there are always a small number of people, a tiny minority , but never the less they’re there, who will try to exploit any situation they can to defraud people. And it is truly and utterly despicable particularly at this time of crisis that we are living though.
But in light of it, I wanted to take the opportunity today to remind you and ask you to remind others that you know, that Covid tests are free, and will always be free for those who need them.
Nobody from Test and Protect will ever ask you for financial information –they will never ask you for your bank or credit card details – and they will never try to sell you anything.
The only thing Test and Protect staff will ask you about, is where you’ve been and details of the people you have been in contact with.
Genuine contact tracers will often also first send you a text to let you know that you will shortly receive a call from NHS Scotland.
Callers will always introduce themselves and state the reason for their call. They will know your name. They will ask you for details of people you have come into contact with, in a relevant time period. They will tell you that you will receive further information by e-mail or post.
And they will always call from the same number – 0800 030 8012 – and they will give you the option of calling back on that number if you need to verify the service.
There is a lot of useful information about this on the Coronavirus sections of the Trading Standards Scotland website, and the Advice Direct Scotland website.
You can report any concerns about calls you have received to Advice Direct Scotland. And if you are unfortunate enough to have been the victim of a scam, or an attempted scam, you should contact the police on 101.
Fundamentally, if a person claiming to be a contact tracer is asking about things that aren’t necessary – in particular your bank details or computer passwords – then put the phone down straight away because they are not a legitimate contact tracer .
As I mentioned earlier, if you do get phoned by a legitimate contact tracer you have the option of phoning them back – on 0800 030 8012 – if you want to verify the call.
Genuine contact tracers will only ever ask about your movements, and details of the people you have been in contact with. This is a small minority of people, hopefully it won’t happen to any of you watching, but I thought it was important to take the opportunity to stress what will and will not be asked of you if you do get one of these calls, so that together we can make sure these people who attempt theses scams, these despicable people don’t get anywhere in Scotland.
The final point I want to make just to round off, is to remind you of the new rules which came into force yesterday, and of our other important public health guidance.
As you should all know, unless you live in one of the areas I’ve already spoken about where stricter restrictions are in place, no more than six people can now meet up together – and those six people can come from no more than two households.
Children under the age of 12, do not count as part of the total of six, but they do count towards the total for households. I said on Friday I would look at further advice on whether we could give greater flexibility for children and I hope to give the outcome of that later this week.
That rule – six people and two households – applies indoors and outdoors: in homes, pubs and restaurants, and in outdoor spaces such as parks and private gardens.
So please make sure that you are not breaching those limits.
This step – limiting the number of people and households you interact with – is a tough one and it’s really not an easy one or a welcome one at all. But it is a really vital step in helping us to keep the virus under control by limiting the interactions that we know are most likely to cause it to spread.
Please also, if you haven’t already done so, download the Protect Scotland app if you can. I know that last time I looked this morning 950,000 of you have already done that, but we want as many people as possible to do so.
It is very quick and easy to do. It’s a simple but very powerful way of all of us as individuals helping the country collectively.
And as always, and this will be my final comment, remember all the other things and we all need to do to try to minimise the risk of Covid spreading and all of that of course is encapsulated in FACTS. The five golden rules to try to minimise the spread.
• Face coverings should be worn in enclosed spaces • Avoid crowded places. • Clean your hands and hard surfaces regularly. • keep Two metres away from other households • and Self isolate, and book a test, if you have symptoms.
So thank you for bearing with me though what I know was a bit of a technical briefing today. Occasionally they will be like this because we are trying as we are go through the pandemic to make sure that we are reporting information in a clear, accurate and as transparent way as possible.
As we go through different phases sometimes that means changing definitions that we have used previously and so explaining that takes a bit of time and hopefully over the next period, these things will become much clearer for all of us.
