Month: November 2020

More good news as another Covid vaccine shows impressive results

 A new vaccine that protects against Covid-19 is nearly 95% effective, early data from US company Moderna shows.

The latest news follows last week’s breakthrough announcement from Pfizer, and, while testing is still to be done, it’s looking more and more likely that vaccines to help bring an end to the pandemic will be available over coming months.

This study, known as the COVE study, enrolled more than 30,000 participants in the U.S. and is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The primary endpoint of the Phase 3 COVE study is based on the analysis of COVID-19 cases confirmed and adjudicated starting two weeks following the second dose of vaccine. This first interim analysis was based on 95 cases, of which 90 cases of COVID-19 were observed in the placebo group versus 5 cases observed in the mRNA-1273 group, resulting in a point estimate of vaccine efficacy of 94.5% (p <0.0001).

Moderna says it is a “great day” and they plan to apply for approval to use the vaccine in the next few weeks.

“This is a pivotal moment in the development of our COVID-19 vaccine candidate. Since early January, we have chased this virus with the intent to protect as many people around the world as possible”, said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna.

“All along, we have known that each day matters. This positive interim analysis from our Phase 3 study has given us the first clinical validation that our vaccine can prevent COVID-19 disease, including severe disease.

“This milestone is only possible because of the hard work and sacrifices of so many. I want to thank the thousands of participants in our Phase 1, Phase 2 and Phase 3 studies, and the staff at our clinical trial sites who have been on the front lines of the fight against the virus.

“They are an inspiration to us all. I want to thank the NIH, particularly NIAID, for their scientific leadership including through years of foundational research on potential pandemic threats at the Vaccine Research Center that led to the discovery of the best way to make Spike protein antigens that are being used in our vaccine and others.

“I want to thank our partners at BARDA and Operation Warp Speed who have been instrumental to accelerating our progress to this point. Finally, I want to thank the Moderna team, our suppliers and our partners, for their tireless work across research, development and manufacturing of the vaccine.

“We look forward to the next milestones of submitting for an EUA in the U.S., and regulatory filings in countries around the world, while we continue to collect data on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine in the COVE study. We remain committed to and focused on doing our part to help end the COVID-19 pandemic.”

ELREC: United Against Bullying discussion event

Bullying is any form of discrimination or behaviour intended to hurt or harm the reputation of another. It can happen face to face or online. Any type of bullying is unacceptable.

The reasons for bullying behaviour can be complex. It can harm people physically or emotionally. Victims feel hurt, threatened, frightened and left out.

Even though the actual behaviour might not be repeated, the threat that it might can be sustained over time, typically by actions: looks, messages, confrontations, physical interventions, or the fear of these.

Event Timetable:

Introductions

What is bullying

Prejudice

Children’s rights

Staying safe online

How to deal with bullying

Where to ask for help

Coping with feelings

Hosted by: ELREC’s True Colours and No Hate Network projects.

ELREC is a charity committed to promoting equality and opportunity for all. We aim to support and empower people with protected characteristics and tackle discrimination and prejudice.

True Colours project is led by young people and works against discrimination and pre-judice based bullying. We deliver workshops for young people on topics related to discrimination and hate crime.

No Hate Network group work on social media and aim to tackle arguments fuelling hate speech.

Devolved nations call for joint effort to reach those in need

Letter urges UK-wide benefit strategy

The devolved administrations have united to call on the UK Government to ensure those who are entitled to financial support are receiving it.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has joined Ministers from Wales and Northern Ireland in writing to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, asking to work together to create a benefit take-up strategy.

The devolved nations have also asked the UK Government to make permanent the current £20 a week increase for Universal Credit (UC) and extend it to the benefits which will eventually be replaced by UC, such as Working Tax Credits. The uplift was introduced to help low-income families cope with the extra cost of the COVID-19 outbreak, and is to come to an end in April 2021.

Ms Somerville said: “It’s vital that we make every effort to ensure everyone is aware of and able to access the support available to them.

“Maximising benefit take-up is a moral obligation, especially in these uncertain times when there is clear evidence of increased need for support.

“The £20 uplift was needed before the pandemic, and so it is vital now. People must be given the certainty that it will be made permanent and that they are not facing a cliff edge in a matter of months when this support is pulled.”

The Welsh Government’s Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government Hannah Blythyn said: “The pandemic will cast a long shadow on those who are most in need and has reiterated the importance of a robust financial safety net for individuals and families, ensuring existing funding programmes have the maximum impact on the lives of those in poverty.

“Having a strategic UK approach will ensure that everyone can get the support they need during this difficult time.”

The Scottish Government published its first Benefit Take-up Strategy in October 2019, and will publish the next one by October 2021.

The Welsh Government has outlined steps it will take to maximise the incomes of families living in poverty in its Child Poverty Income Maximisation Action Plan.

Northern Ireland’s benefit take-up initiative Make the Call has generated over £260 million in additional annual benefits for its residents since 2005.

It aims to ensure that every individual and household is receiving all the social security benefits and other supports and services to which they are entitled. The most recent results for 2019/20 show that this has benefited just under 10,000 people who are now better off by an average of £88 per person per week.

The Department for Work and Pensions has no published approach to promoting UK benefits or supporting people to access the money which they are due.

Many people need to be in receipt of a DWP benefit in order to claim other benefits – for example the Scottish Child Payment, where eligibility is reliant on receipt of UC, or Pension Credit which means people can claim a Council Tax reduction, or those over 75 qualify for a free TV licence. So it is vital people are aware of what they are entitled to.

The letter can be read in full here:

Joint-Ministerial-letter-Secretary-of-State-DWP-Benefit-Take-upDownload

As part of their Benefit Take-up Report – published 11 March 2020 – the Scottish Parliament’s Social Security Committee recommended that the UK Government develops a strategy that aims to maximise take-up of reserved benefits across the UK.

A report by the National Association of Welfare Rights Advisors, published in September, showed a 40% reduction in claims for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) being made during the pandemic. Almost 90% of those surveyed have never seen a take-up advert for PIP.

Independent Age has called for ‘an ambitious action plan detailing how the UK government will work to increase the uptake of Pension Credit over the next five years’. More details here.

This follows research which concluded that if Pension Credit take-up was lifted from 61 per cent to 100 per cent, then almost 450,000 pensioners could be lifted out of poverty, reducing pensioner poverty to its lowest ever level, and resulting in substantial savings to the NHS and social care systems over the long term. 

Rachel’s degree project gets international exposure

Sustainable living app showcased at Global Grad Show

Edinburgh Napier product design graduate Rachel Naysmith has won international recognition for a project which rewards good environmental deeds and helps combat climate anxiety.

M.O.S.S. – My Own Sustainable Self – has been selected for the Global Grad Show, an initiative by the Art Dubai Group which showcases 100 potentially world-changing ideas.

The newly-opened exhibition, normally in Dubai but being held online this year, attracted 1,600 applications from 270 universities in 60 countries.

Rachel’s work, and that of three Glasgow-based students, features alongside ideas like a diabetes monitoring earring, a London Underground air pollution solution, an alternative to Styrofoam made of food waste, a Sudden Infant Death Syndrome prevention device and a skin patch that monitors nutrition data.

Rachel, 23, of Insch, Aberdeenshire, developed M.O.S.S. as her major project on her way to a first class B Des (Hons) Edinburgh Napier degree and the 2020 Class Medal, and she was encouraged to enter the Global Grad Show after her work was spotted on Instagram.

The project appears at the interactive online show under the category, “Coping in a complex world: Supporting mental health in challenging online and offline environments”.

M.O.S.S. recognises that people doing their best to follow environmentally-friendly lifestyles can easily become disheartened and feel their personal initiatives count for little when set against the catastrophes which play out on the news.

However, the app-based project keeps motivation levels high by providing targets and allowing users to keep tabs on their own sustainable efforts, and it rewards the achievement of goals with a M.O.S.S. panel housing a mini ecosystem which can be attached to the outside of any building.

“A one metre squared area of moss produces the same amount of oxygen as 78 trees,” said Rachel. “You are not only provided with a visual representation of your efforts but you also help purify the air, reducing air pollution one M.O.S.S. panel at a time.”

She added: “I am very proud of the project and also proud to be one of the first four graduates from Scotland to be represented on this international platform.”

Global Grad Show was launched in 2015 as an exhibition of impact-driven designs from 10 universities, but has grown quickly.

Tadeu Baldani Caravieri, director of Global Grad Show, said: “The diversity of the community of young talented researchers we bring together at Global Grad Show has many facets: they span across six continents, institutions from Ivy League to regional colleges and disciplines from bioengineering through to architecture.

“They do have however, a reassuring common denominator: they investigate problems, social and environmental, that matter for everyone.

“Today we present 100 projects that are, in essence, alternatives and remedies put forward by our global community of graduates whose ambition is to create a future-ready world.”

Rising COVID infection levels highlight concerns over school safety

The EIS has highlighted that the growing number of pupils and teachers infected with COVID-19 is creating increased concern over the effectiveness of COVID mitigations in schools and the safety of pupils, staff and the wider community.

Figures published on a regular basis by the Scottish Government have highlighted week-on-week increases in both the number of pupils and teachers infected with COVID-19 and, also, the number of pupils and teachers absent from school due to being required to self-isolate.

The latest updated figures, published on the Scottish Government website on Friday, indicate that 29,486 pupils were absent from school on 10th November for COVID-related reasons – an increase of 28% on the previous week’s figure of 23,034. For teachers, the figure of 1,559 teachers absent for COVID-related reasons represents an 18% increase on the previous week’s figure of 1,326.

EIS General Secretary Larry Flanagan said, “Our members are increasingly concerned by the week-on-week increase in the number of pupils and staff being infected with COVID-19.

“This, coupled with the increase in the numbers self-isolating, is having a significant impact on education provision and is raising anxiety levels over the effectiveness of safety mitigations in our schools.

“The weekly figures reveal an increasingly bleak picture and are leading to calls from members for a new approach to ensuring the safety of everyone within the school community.

With the Deputy First Minister indicating that some parts of Scotland may soon move to Level 4 restrictions, this will inevitably further heighten concerns over school safety and will prompt consideration of industrial action by our members, if schools are forced to remain fully open when staff feel it is unsafe to do so.”

Mr Flanagan added, “The EIS has repeatedly said that schools remaining fully operational cannot come at the expense of teacher and pupil wellbeing. Blended and remote learning models are increasingly being adopted in other countries to stem increases in COVID infection;  It is time for the Scottish Government to rethink its stance, in light of the rising infection levels, particularly if some areas do move into level 4 in the near future.”

Last week, the EIS issued a survey to its teacher members across Scotland, seeking their views on the effectiveness of COVID safety measures in schools. The survey will close next week and will inform the next steps to be taken by the EIS to protect teachers and pupils from the potential risk of COVID-19 infection.

They EIS survey is seeking members’ views on issues such as: perceptions of current COVID mitigations in their workplaces; attitudes to the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework and its default position on schools remaining open at all levels; and member willingness or otherwise to support industrial action in response to a refusal to implement a move to blended or remote learning at Level 4, where staff support either contingency.

The survey also includes sections to gauge the specific COVID-related concerns of teachers in vulnerable groups and teachers without permanent contracts.

Covid-19 vaccine: Charity urges priority for parents of children with life limiting conditions

A leading charity is urging the Scottish Government to include parents of children with complex disabilities and life limiting conditions to be amongst the first to receive the promising COVID-19 vaccine.

The plea comes from Kindred, an advocacy organisation supporting parents of children with complex needs, which has warned of the impact on these children if their parents contract the virus and are unable to provide care.

The charity has released a report today (16th November) highlighting the “devastating” impact of the pandemic lockdown on families of children with exceptional health needs.

Kindred is calling for public acknowledgement of the extraordinary efforts of these parents, many of whom had started shielding weeks before lockdown, and has asked for a letter from the Scottish Government to families.  Such a letter would enable parents to feel that their efforts had not gone unnoticed and, in some way, help them come to terms with the trauma experienced over this period.

The charity conducted a survey of parents from 17 local authorities to better understand the ramifications of the lockdown months on these vulnerable families in August 2020 as schools prepared to reopen.1

The results show that:

  • 93 percent of these families experienced an impact on their ability to meet their children’s medical and care needs due to the pandemic; 63 percent said that the impact of the pandemic on their ability to provide care was ‘big’ or ‘severe’.
  • Two out of every three parents who took part in the survey said sleep deprivation was one of the main factors that impacted their ability to care for their children.  It was the norm for these parents to get an average of five hours of broken sleep per night.  Kindred has called for an urgent need to investigate the provision of overnight respite care across Scotland.
  • Over a third of parents received no respite care before the pandemic and this dropped to 60 per cent after the start of the pandemic.  This highlights the importance of schools in supporting parents and giving them a break from caring.  Almost all the children attended special school with access to therapy, and the expertise of Additional Support for Learning staff.  There is no doubt that schools are preventing crisis and family breakdown where a child has high care needs.  

The charity has written to the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, Jeane Freeman MSP, and to Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, John Swinney MSP, urging that these parents be given priority when distributing the recently announced vaccine. 

The report provides evidence that parents were left caring entirely alone in the home environment.  There was an even greater impact on single parents.  Despite the high level of need of all the children, some parents did not even get a phone call from professionals during the pandemic.  These parents fear falling sick and being unable to look after their vulnerable children.

This is the case for Alex Davey from East Lothian and her six-year-old son, Benjamin, who has complex medical needs including tube-feeding, epilepsy and overnight ventilation.

Alex received a letter instructing her that Benjamin met the criteria for shielding in March.  For his safety all respite and at-home care services received were brought to a halt, leaving Alex and her husband to be the only people providing care for Benjamin and his two sisters. Since March, Benjamin has been hospitalised six times, often involving full-time ventilation in critical care.

Alex’s main concern is that she and her husband will themselves contract Covid-19, rendering them incapable of meeting Benjamin’s complex care needs, potentially for a long period of time.

Early access to the vaccine is therefore imperative according to Kindred to ensure that families like Alex’s can be sure that they can continue to care for their child.

Further recommendations to the Scottish Government:

  • The report shows a disparity between the experience of those families who received the support and advice from health professionals, particularly on shielding, compared to those who didn’t.  On this evidence, Scottish Government is being urged to ensure that professionals contact parents and charities should be funded to provide peer support.
  • Siblings play a vital role in the care and support of a disabled brother or sister and Kindred is urging that Self-Directed Support is available for adult siblings to be paid as carers within the home in the event of another lockdown. (see case study of Dr Gael Gordon in Notes to Editors and image attached)
  • The needs of families for respite should be taken into consideration with regards to special schools, with consideration given to keeping them open in the event of a second lockdown and providing the resources to do this.

Sophie Pilgrim, Director of Kindred, commented: “Our report provides evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on families of children with complex needs and life limiting conditions. 

“Anyone reading this report will be moved by their plight.  Many families started shielding before schools closed with the loss of all care and support.  Some of these children require two to one support in school and other care settings, and yet parents had to cope from March to August, many with no help at all.

“As the vaccine becomes available, we must prioritise parents who are providing medical care for their children and cannot afford to get sick themselves.

“Many parents received no respite care before the pandemic, and those that did lost their care with lockdown.  Serious sleep deprivation puts parents at risk of depression, accidents and long-term conditions.  One of the parents told us ‘I feel like I am drunk’.  We found that many parents have to cope on five hours of broken sleep a night, well below the NHS recommendation of a minimum seven hours a night.

“We need to recognise the long-term exhaustion of these families.  Special schools are all the more important and need to be supported to carry on their excellent work and to keep their doors open. 

“Parents put their children first.  And we must work together and ensure they are amongst the first to get the vaccine.“

Usdaw launches Respect for Shopworkers Week

Scottish shopworkers speak out about violence, threats and abuse

Retail trade union Usdaw has today launched Respect for Shopworkers Week to raise public awareness of violence, threats and abuse against retail staff. Scottish shopworkers speak out about their own experiences.

Interim results from Usdaw’s ‘Freedom from Fear’ survey of over 2,000 retail staff shows that so far this year:

  • 76% say abuse has been worse than normal during the Covid-19 pandemic,
  • 85% of shopworkers have experienced verbal abuse,
  • 57% were threatened by a customer,
  • 9% were assaulted.

The annual respect for shopworkers week runs from 16-22 November 2020. During the week, Usdaw will be raising awareness of the year-round Freedom from Fear Campaign and promoting the parliamentary petition calling on the Government to legislate to protect shopworkers.

The petition currently has over 70,000 signatures and can be signed at: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/328621

Voices from the frontline: These are some of the comments Scottish shopworkers shared when responding to Usdaw’s survey:

  • Shouting, being dismissed, being spoken down to. Treated like scum.
  • We deal with everything threatened to be stabbed after work, family threatened, grabbed by the neck and pushed against the wall.
  • Pandemic has brought out the worst behaviour in many people. Verbal abuse for limiting items during lockdown, making people queue and most for mask wearing.
  • Varies from comments such as stupid bitch, jobsworth, being told to f*** off or shut up.
  • Always about alcohol.  The refusal to sell to an intoxicated person or when asking for age identification.

Paddy Lillis, Usdaw General Secretary, says: “It is heart-breaking to hear these testimonies from Scottish shopworkers who deserve far more respect than they receive.

“Abuse should never be a part of the job and we are appalled that three-quarters of retail staff say abuse has been worse during this appalling national pandemic. At a time when we should all be working together to get through this crisis, it is a disgrace that staff working to keep food on the shelves and the shop safe for customers are being abused.

“Action to protect shop workers is needed and that is why we have launched a petition, which now has nearly 70,000 signatures. We were deeply disappointed by the Government’s response to the petition, offering little more than sympathy, so we continue to campaign for the 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a parliamentary debate.

“This is a hugely important issue for our members and their local communities. Shopworkers are saying loud and clear that enough is enough, abuse should never be just a part of the job. Retail staff have a crucial role in our communities and that role must be valued and respected, they deserve the protection of the law.”

Pandemic signals breaching of planetary ‘tipping point’ by global economy, says EU adviser

A new study by a top advisor to an EU-backed scientific research programme concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic is a symptom of global industrial civilisation’s breach of key planetary boundaries, which are critical to maintaining a safe operating space for human survival on the planet.

‘The COVID-19 crisis is an urgent early warning signal for how industrial civilization is rapidly eroding the very conditions of its own existence.‘

The global economy, the study warns, has now entered a volatile new phase of chronic instability which can only be resolved through a transition to a ‘lifeboat economy’.

This must involve debt-free financing for the renewable energy transition, nationalisation and winding down of fossil fuel industries, as well as ecological restoration for clean manufacturing and agriculture.

But most of all, we have to roll back the dangerous trajectory of deforestation through a radically different approach to commodities like palm oil to transition to sustainable production.

That requires a new global pact on deforestation premised on ensuring that major commodities from beef to soy are produced within planetary boundaries based on consistent global standards.

The new report ‘Deforestation and the Risk of Collapse: Reframing COVID-19 as a Planetary Boundary Effect’, is published in the journal System Change by the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems, an independent think tank in the UK which has led the European Commission’s Converge research programme.

Report author Dr Nafeez Ahmed, Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic is not just a pandemic. When looked at in the context of a wide-range of scientific data about the escalating human footprint on the planet, the pandemic represents the passing of a major civilizational tipping-point into a dangerous new era of converging ecological emergencies.

“The COVID-19 crisis is an urgent early warning signal for how industrial civilization is rapidly eroding the very conditions of its own existence.”

Dr Nafeez Ahmed sits on the Board of Stakeholders of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020-funded MEDEAS research programme, ‘Guiding European Policy toward a low-carbon economy.’

A world-renowned systems theorist and environment journalist, Dr Ahmed is Executive Director of the System Shift Lab, a transdisciplinary network of natural and social scientists working on strategies for system change, and is a Commissioner for Cambridge University Press’ Sustainability Commission on Scaling Sustainable Behaviour Change.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed structural fragilities and interdependencies across global systems, the new report says. But at the heart of these fragilities is the increasing dependence of industrial consumption on processes that are accelerating deforestation. That requires both enforcing sustainable practices by producers in the South while curtailing demand in the North.

The probability of a global pandemic was dramatically increased by relentless and unregulated industrial expansion, which has destabilized ecosystems critical for planetary life-support. The same processes are driving other ecological crises which threaten to permanently undermine the health of the global economy.

The report concludes that without a transition to a ‘lifeboat economy’ where markets are “recalibrated” to protect public health and natural systems, humanity faces a heightening risk of cascading breakdowns across interconnected social, economic and political systems.

Dr Ahmed said: “Policymakers need to pay attention to the fact that the public health crisis is a symptom of a deeper crisis: a civilization degrading the very conditions of its own existence.

“There is now a clear body of scientific data suggesting that industrial civilization has crossed a major tipping point by simultaneously driving interlinked crises across climate change; our fossil fuel dependent energy system; industrial agriculture; the rate of species extinction; and deforestation.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is an early symptom of these increasing dangers we face. The synchronicity between all these crises threatens to overwhelm our institutional capacity to respond. Unless we draw back our economies to operate within planetary boundaries, we will face a future of deepening economic crisis and social upheaval.”

The new report was launched on Thursday at an exclusive online event hosted by The Schumacher Institute where Dr Ahmed explained his findings.

The report’s Executive Summary & Policy Recommendations can be downloaded here, and the full report is available here.

Sibling relationships headline Adoption Week Scotland 2020

Adoption Week (16-20 November) celebrates adoption in Scotland and this year asks prospective adopters whether they could adopt a sibling group?

More than 1,300 children placed for adoption since April 2018 across the UK have been separated from birth siblings, it was reported earlier this year*.

Children requiring care away from their birth families are more likely to have existing sibling relationships and they also tend to come from larger sibling groups. Sibling groups of three, or more, are at greater risk of being separated, to achieve permanence through adoption. In fact, in Scotland at this moment in time there is not one adopter approved to adopt three, or more children.

Fiona Aitken, Adoption UK’s Scotland Director, said: “Sibling relationships are amongst our longest lasting relationships and contribute greatly to our sense of identity. 

“Positive sibling relationships can provide a source of resilience for children facing adversity and provide continuity at a time of change and uncertainty. They can also be a source of support into adulthood. Placing siblings together has been associated with increased wellbeing and stable, enduring placements.”

“If you are a prospective adopter, please do consider whether you could adopt a sibling group. Be open to being approved for more than one child to enable a younger sibling(s) to join your family.

“Adoptive families can also help to maintain sibling relationships between their child/ren and their brothers and sisters wherever they are. This can be in person, through visual media, cards, letters, pictures or photographs.

Mrs Aitken continued: “The ideal scenario is for children to experience normal family life. Can they meet up with siblings at the park, at the beach, at each other’s homes? Can they have sleepovers? Can this be arranged between families? You can start by discussing this with your social worker.”

A siblings’ webinar (17th, 7pm-830pm), on how to maintain relationships between brothers and sisters, will be chaired by Kate Richardson, Manager of Scotland’s Adoption Register.

Adoption Week Scotland will also shine a light on both therapeutic parenting and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). FASD is a range of physical, emotional and developmental deficits or delays that may affect a person when they were exposed to alcohol during pregnancy.

Highlights of the week include Training from Dr Karen Treisman on Therapeutic Parenting (16th, 19:30-21:30); an FASD Webinar (18th, 6.30pm-7.30pm) for prospective adopters; and Insights into FASD (17th, 1pm-3.30pm), a training session for professionals working with families affected by FASD.

There will also be a live Q&A event with Children’s Minister Maree Todd, (18th, 11am-1pm), tackling the ‘wicked issues’ in adoption; a welcome and information event (15th, 7pm-830pm) suitable for anyone considering adoption; as well as a legal Q&A with Rhona Pollock, AFA Scotland’s legal advisor (19th, 7pm-8pm).

Robin Duncan, Director of AFA Scotland, said: “In the midst of everything else that has been happening in 2020, Adoption Week is a great reminder that some children continue to need care and protection, and to acknowledge the crucial opportunities that adoption can offer.

“People who have been adopted often speak passionately about the importance of being able to keep relationships with people who are important to them, and we hope that this year’s focus on siblings will help ensure brothers and sisters can live together and keep these links wherever possible.”

Children’s Minister Maree Todd added: “Those of us with brothers and sisters know the importance of those relationships. For children who have experienced change in their lives, maintaining those bonds can be invaluable and, along with Adoption UK Scotland, I encourage prospective adopters to consider sibling groups.”

Adoption Week Scotland 2020 is funded by the Scottish Government and managed by AFA Scotland and Adoption UK Scotland. It is an opportunity to celebrate and promote the best of adoption with awareness-raising, information sessions and social events.

Further details about all of the events during Adoption Week Scotland 2020 can be found here.

All the ways to shop with Morrisons during the pandemic

– Same-day delivery services available via Amazon and Deliveroo – 

– Dedicated Telesales line and Doorstep Delivery Service available for those who are self-isolating, the elderly and vulnerable customers –

– Morrisons stores are operating with normal opening hours in line with Government restrictions – 

To continue serving customers during the pandemic, Morrisons has introduced a number of different ways to purchase food in addition to their usual online delivery service.

Morrisons stores remain open as usual (typically Mon–Sat 7am-10pm, Sun 10am-4pm) and are following Government advice where relevant, however, for those that don’t want to shop in store, there are plenty of other options including a Doorstep Delivery service for self-isolating, elderly and vulnerable shoppers, same-day deliveries with Amazon and Deliveroo for quick and convenient shopping.

In addition, there is a selection of Food Boxes available online, which will be delivered next day if ordered before 3pm, as well as click & collect and regular online delivery service with slots available on morrisons.com.

Doorstep Delivery Service

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Vulnerable, elderly and self-isolating customers including students can order their shopping on the Doorstep Delivery service via a telesales line by calling 0345 611 6111. They can choose from a range of groceries and their order will be delivered the next day by a Morrisons store colleague and paid for, on their doorstep, via a mobile chip and pin device.

Via Amazon

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Customers can access Morrisons shopping either through Morrisons on Amazon (an Amazon.co.uk service) and the Morrisons Store on Amazon Prime Now (accessible via the Prime Now site and app) provides Prime members with a way of getting free-of-charge same-day grocery delivery.

Orders are placed on Amazon, before being picked in store by Morrisons employees and packed in a dedicated area. From there, the shopping is collected by Amazon Flex Delivery Partners and delivered to the customer within a two-hour delivery window on the same day.

Via Deliveroo

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Morrisons has partnered with Deliveroo at more than 130 stores across the UK – covering one in four households (6.8 million). Customers can order from over 200 essential household items, including meat, plant-based substitutes, fruit, vegetables and household essentials, for on-demand delivery in as little as 30 minutes.

All deliveries are contact-free to ensure safety, with Deliveroo riders leaving the deliveries at customers’ doors to collect, minimising person-to-person contact.

Food Boxes

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In March, Morrisons launched a nationwide food box service and has since expanded the range to over 25 choices including cupboard essentials, vegan essentials, gluten-free essentials, meat and fish options, wine boxes and party boxes. All prices listed on Morrisons food boxes website https://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes/ include next day (if ordered before 3pm) or nominated day delivery. You can even save with a subscription on selected boxes.

Click & Collect

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Morrisons has expanded its Click & Collect service to 280 locations nationwide. Customers can simply complete a Morrisons.com order online and then collect from store, contact-free, at a time that suits them best.

For more information visit www.morrisons.com.