The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis, made a statement following a series of meetings with party leaders:
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP, yesterday met with the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties; Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin; Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, DUP; Naomi Long, Alliance; Doug Beattie, UUP; and Colum Eastwood, SDLP.
In all his meetings, the Secretary of State reiterated the need to respect the electoral outcome of Thursday’s election and restore the full functioning of the devolved institutions as soon as possible – both the Executive and the Assembly.
All parties agreed on the importance of maintaining political stability. The Secretary of State encouraged all party leaders to come together to form an Executive as soon as possible, starting with the nomination of an Assembly Speaker.
The Secretary of State acknowledged that the Northern Ireland Protocol remains a clear barrier to political stability and re-confirmed that the Government will do whatever it takes to protect the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement, in all of its dimensions.
He reiterated the Government’s desire to address the outstanding issues by agreement with the EU, but confirmed that the Government stood ready to take further steps to rectify those issues, should that be necessary.
He noted that negotiations with the European Commission related to the Protocol were the responsibility of the UK Government and that they should not stand in the way of restoring the Stormont institutions and enabling the Executive to deliver for all the people of Northern Ireland.
He reiterated the importance of taking advantage of the new provisions in the NI (Ministers, Elections and Petitions of Concern) Act passed earlier this year to enable continuity in decision-making during the Executive formation process. This will ensure existing Northern Ireland ministers can remain in place to oversee NI departments, allow legislation to progress and support the delivery of vital public services.
Speaking after his meetings, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Brandon Lewis MP, said: “Northern Ireland’s party leaders must come together to agree a way forward to deliver a stable and accountable devolved government.
“The UK Government’s overriding priority remains the preservation of peace and stability in Northern Ireland and the protection of the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement in all its strands.
“The current situation with the Protocol is fundamentally undermining the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement and creating an unacceptable situation in Northern Ireland. We will continue to press the EU to agree the crucial changes that are urgently needed but will take nothing off the table in our pursuit of those solutions.
“As I conveyed to party leaders today, our collective focus must be on the restoration of the Stormont institutions so that those newly elected representatives can come together and deliver in the best interests of all the people of Northern Ireland.
“I will remain in close contact with the party leaders over the coming days.”
Fridays, part of newly listed Hostmore plc, has introduced Bottoms Up Brunch seven days a week which is available to book now via its website!
A go to for social gatherings between groups of friends and loved ones, Bottoms Up Brunch at Fridays can be enjoyed for just £29.95 per person. Guests can enjoy their choice of either 4 glasses of Prosecco, 4 pints Fridays American Pilsner, 4 glasses of Clean G&T (less than 0.5% ABV), 4 glasses of orange juice or 4 cocktails per person alongside a signature sharing platter for two.
It wouldn’t be Fridays® Bottoms Up Brunch without our iconic cocktails handcrafted by our expert bartenders. Sip sip hooray! Guests who opt for cocktails can choose from a selection of Fridays finest including the Pornstar Martini, Purple Rain, Long Island Iced Tea and Aperol Spritz.
The new sharing platters are named after New York Boroughs and include the Queens Sharer, an amazing platter with Salmon Tacos, Mac & Cheese bites and a sharing portion of Boneless Hot Wings tossed in Franks® RedHot sauce; and the Manhattan Sharer with everyone’s favourite Fridays® Sesame Chicken Strips, classic Mozzarella Dippers and the Fridays® Corndog.
Fridays’ Bottoms Up Brunch slots will last for 90 minutes and are available all-day Monday to Thursday, and 11:30am-3:30pm Friday to Sunday. T&Cs apply*.
Robert B. Cook, Fridays CEO, commented:“We are thrilled to bring Bottoms Up Brunch to our guests in Scotland, adding another contemporary aspect to our lively restaurants.
“Bottomless Up brunches epitomise that Fridays Feeling. Add in our iconic cocktails with unbelievable New York inspired sharers and Fridays’ generosity of spirit and the result is the best Bottoms Up Brunch experience in town!”
To keep up to date with our latest offerings this summer and full details of our new Bottoms Up Brunch visit Bottomless Brunch | Fridays UK (tgifridays.co.uk) plus follow us at @TGIFridaysUK on social media to get that Fridays Feeling all day, every day!
Spending cut of £874 per pupil to support those identified with ASN since 2012/13
‘Postcode lottery’ of spending between local authorities on ASN
Near doubling in the number of pupils with ASN since 2012
Cut in the number of ASN teachers
An alliance of leading providers of children’s services, the Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), has called for greater resourcing to support children and young people with additional support needs (ASN), such as autism, dyslexia and mental health problems.
The call which comes as new council administrations are being formed, comes as new figures contained in a parliamentary answer to the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP.
This reveals that spend supporting those pupils with ASN has slumped dramatically. IIt comes against a backdrop of the number of pupils with ASN increasing and the number of specialist teachers supporting them dropping to a new low.
The SCSC is calling on incoming town hall administrations to put the needs of vulnerable children and young people at the very heart of policy and funding commitments.
The figures highlight that average spend per pupil on additional support for learning by councils in Scotland (primary, secondary and special education) has fallen from £4,276 in the 2012/13 financial year [1] to £3,402 in 2020/21 [2] (in cash terms). This amounts to an overall cut in spending of £874 per pupil, representing a 20.4% drop.
Spend per pupil ranges from £2,210 in the Scottish Borders to £5,901 in the Shetland Islands, pointing to a ‘postcode lottery’ in spend across local councils (see Notes to Editors for figures by council).
This fall is against the backdrop of a 92.2 per cent increase since 2012 in the number of pupils identified with ASN, from 118,011 to 226,838 in 2020, amounting to 108,827 individuals. Those with ASNcurrently represent just under a third of all pupils (32.3 per cent).3
Between 2012 and 2020 the number of full-time equivalent ASN teachers (publicly funded primary, secondary, special and centrally employed) has fallen from 3,389 to all-time low of 2,860, a decrease of 529 teachers, representing a cut in numbers of 15.6 per cent.4
Against the background of Covid-19 and its disproportionate impact on those with ASN, the SCSC has called for greater resourcing from both the Scottish Government and councils to ensure that those with ASN in Scotland’s schools receive the care and support they need
A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: ““It is vital that those with ASN get the care and support they need, when they need it, especially as we come out of the current Covid-19 crisis.
“This is also key if we are to genuinely close the educational attainment gap as we know that those with ASN are disproportionately drawn from poorer neighbourhoods.
“Given this, it is disappointing to note cuts in spending supporting those with ASN and we would urge Scotland’s newly elected councils to put the needs of vulnerable children and young people at the very heart of policy and funding commitments.
“Councils and the Scottish Government must work together to provide the necessary resourcing to address the needs of those children and young people with ASN, who represent some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society.”
Geophysical sensors, excavations and computers reveal millennia of prehistoric land use at Stonehenge
Researchers from the University of Birmingham and Ghent University (Belgium) have discovered hundreds of possible large prehistoric pits – and thousands of smaller ones – at the heart of the Stonehenge landscape, challenging our understanding of land use through time at the most intensively investigated prehistoric site in the world.
A large pit, over 4 metres wide and 2 metres deep dug into chalk bedrock, stands out as the most ancient trace of land use yet discovered at Stonehenge.
Over 10,000 years old, it bears witness to hunter-gatherers roaming the landscape during the early Mesolithic, when Britain was re-inhabited after last Ice Age. This is only one of many new sites and unexpected patterns of prehistoric activity detected at Stonehenge by the Ghent-Birmingham research team.
These results were achieved by combining – uniquely – the first extensive electromagnetic induction survey undertaken in the Stonehenge landscape with evidence from over 60 geoarchaeological boreholes, 20 targeted archaeological excavations, and computer-generated analyses of thousands of subsurface features, such as pits, revealed by the geophysical data.
Philippe De Smedt, Associate Professor at Ghent University said: “Geophysical survey allows us to visualize what’s buried below the surface of entire landscapes. The maps we create offer a high-resolution view of subsurface soil variation that can be targeted with unprecedented precision.
“Using this as a guide to sample the landscape, taking archaeological ‘biopsies’ of subsurface deposits, we were able to add archaeological meaning to the complex variations discovered in the landscape.”
The combination of novel geophysics and ‘traditional’ archaeology has revealed otherwise elusive archaeological evidence around Stonehenge. From 2017, the team carried out excavations to evaluate just how accurate the results of the geophysical survey mapping and interpretation had been.
These samples provided information for developing a model of types of archaeological evidence revealed in the geophysical data, resulting in computer-generated maps of traces of prehistoric activity.
“As archaeologists, we need information on aspects such as chronology and function as a basis for understanding past human behaviour. That puzzle contains pieces that can only be retrieved through excavation.”
A striking result of the project has been the identification of over 400 potential large pits (each over 2.5 metres in diameter), of which six were excavated in the course of the project, ranging in date from the Early Mesolithic (c.8000 BCE) to the Middle Bronze Age (c.1300 BCE).
While each of these sites adds to our knowledge of prehistoric activity in the Stonehenge landscape, the Mesolithic pit stands out as exceptional. The size and shape of the pit suggest it was probably dug as a hunting trap for large game such as aurochs, red deer and wild boar.
Dating to 8200-7800 BCE, it is not only one of the earliest of the very few Mesolithic sites near Stonehenge (predating, for instance, the Blick Mead occupation site 1.5 kms away), it is also the largest known Early Mesolithic pit feature in north-west Europe. 2/5 Mapping of the large pits also shows that they cluster in parts of the landscape that were repeatedly revisited over millennia, notably on the higher ground to the east and west of Stonehenge.
The social contexts of this activity changed radically over time, yet the spatial distribution of these pits suggest similar interests in locales that allowed extensive vistas overlooking the site of Stonehenge.
The implications of this research for rethinking the spatial extents, temporalities and sensory qualities of diverse kinds of prehistoric behaviour beyond the obvious ceremonial monuments, are highly significant for understanding Stonehenge and its landscape setting.
Paul Garwood, Senior Lecturer in Prehistory at the University of Birmingham: “What we’re seeing is not a snapshot of one moment in time. The traces we see in our data span millennia, as indicated by the seven-thousand-year timeframe between the oldest and most recent prehistoric pits we’ve excavated.
“From early Holocene hunter-gatherers to later Bronze Age inhabitants of farms and field systems, the archaeology we’re detecting is the result of complex and ever-changing occupation of the landscape.”
While the Stonehenge landscape is unique, the research methods used are relevant to all archaeological environments. Sensor technologies and computer-based analysis are increasingly important aspects of archaeological research, providing new ways to explore ancient landscapes.
At the same time, they must be integrated at every stage with evidence recovered by excavation to provide us with the rich cultural, environmental, and chronological information that we need to interpret our findings.
As this project shows, these methods can radically change our understanding of ancient landscapes even in a setting as intensively investigated as that at Stonehenge.
Much of the research and excavation for the project was carried out on land owned by the National Trust.
Dr Nick Snashall, Archaeologist for the Stonehenge & Avebury World Heritage Site, said: “By combining new geophysical survey techniques with coring, and pin point excavation, the team has revealed some of the earliest evidence of human activity yet unearthed in the Stonehenge landscape.
“The discovery of the largest known Early Mesolithic pit in north-west Europe shows that this was a special place for hunter-gatherer communities thousands of years before the first stones were erected.”
This is such a fantastic opportunity for people aged 13+ to get together with Katie an d look at what affects them and their community and look to make a positive difference.
An independent review of the role of incineration in Scotland, which recommends a cap on future incineration capacity, has been welcomed by the Circular Economy Minister.
Friends of the Earth Scotland have also welcomed it’s findings but say a clear exit strategy is still needed.
The report, which was authored by waste sector expert Dr Colin Church, reviews the role of incineration in the waste hierarchy, with a focus on aligning national capacity with Scotland’s waste reduction targets.
The report makes 12 policy recommendations for the Scottish Government, local authorities and the wider waste industry, including:
no further planning permission should be granted to incineration infrastructure within the scope of this Review, unless balanced by an equal or greater closure of capacity.
developing an indicative cap that declines over time for the amount of residual waste treatment needed as Scotland transitions towards a fully circular economy.
to strengthen community engagement and trust before, during and after development.
The Scottish Government will set out its initial response to the Review in June.
Public consultations on a Circular Economy Bill and a Waste Route Map will launch this month.
Dr Colin Church said: “The evidence I received shows that, whilst well-regulated incineration does have a role to play in managing unavoidable residual waste in Scotland, the capacity currently being proposed is likely to be more than needed, so a lot of it should not be built.
“For the proportion that is developed, the level and quality of engagement with local communities needs to be excellent, which unfortunately has not always been the case to date.
“There is also more that must be done to reduce the climate impacts of waste incineration, and I look forward to revisiting my provisional recommendations in this area in due course.”
Circular Economy Minister Lorna Slater said: “I would like to thank Dr Church for delivering this work, which will play a pivotal role in shaping Scotland’s future waste policy.
“We want to create a circular economy, where materials stay in use for as long as possible, and nothing is wasted. Only by increasing reuse and recycling can Scotland meet its net zero targets, and we will be publishing ambitious proposals to achieve this soon.
“It is clear from the review that although incineration has a role to play in managing Scotland’s unavoidable, unrecyclable residual waste in a safe way, that role is inevitably limited. As we transition to a circular economy, Scotland will need significantly less incineration capacity than is currently projected and it is vital that we do not have more capacity than we need.
“Dr Church has proposed some valuable recommendations and outlined some important considerations for how we can align the management of residual waste in Scotland with our net zero ambitions. We will consider the recommendations carefully and provide an initial response in June.”
Environmental campaigners have also welcomed the independent report which calls for an immediate ban on new incinerators – but say a clear exit strategy from incineration is still needed.
The report from an independent review has been published today (10 May), and shows the scale of the nation’s incineration problem. The report makes 12 policy recommendations for the Scottish Government, local authorities and wider waste industry.
Kim Pratt, circular economy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: “This report shows that the alarming rise in incineration in Scotland must be stopped immediately – rapid action is needed to prevent the loss of valuable resources and stop the climate-wrecking emissions being caused by burning plastics.
“A ban on new incinerators is the first step in turning Scotland’s waste management system around, but it’s only half of the solution. The report makes it clear that more must be done to minimise waste and recycle as much as possible.
“Our current incinerators are some of Scotland’s biggest polluters so they must be phased out if Scotland is to meet its climate goals. It is concerning that the report does not include a detailed carbon assessment, given the direct threat of incinerators to our climate goals.
“Burning plastic releases more carbon than coal and the only way to cut emissions from incineration for good is to stop burning waste. We need to value resources properly, rather than taking from nature, using once then burning or burying the waste.”
The capacity analysis from the report shows that in five years time (2027) Scotland will have more incineration capacity than there is available waste to burn.
One of the first major actions undertaken by Lorna Slater, Minister for the Circular Economy, was to initiate an independent review of incineration of waste. Scotland now joins Wales, which banned incineration in 2021 and has the third highest recycling rates in the world.
Over 1,000 people supported Friends of the Earth Scotland’s calls for an immediate ban of new incinerators and of plastics being sent to incinerators, and a phase out of those already operating.
Margaret Runcie, a 96-year-old World War II veteran, was the guest of honour at a tree-planting event marking the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee held at Edinburgh’s Whitefoord House yesterday.
Margaret, who was born in Hertfordshire and now resides in Haddington, East Lothian, served as a Petty Officer in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) in the Second World War.
In June 1944 at the age of 18, she was posted to Royal Naval Air Station Crail in Fife (HMS Jackdaw) as a radio mechanic for 785 Squadron where her duties included changing batteries from aircraft returning from missions, usually at night. During here service, which continued until the end of 1946, Margaret lived in Crail House, a mile from the base.
Despite her South East of England roots, Margaret spent most of her military leave travelling throughout Scotland where she eventually settled following her marriage to Ken in 1956. Her former base in Crail is now one of the biggest preserved Naval Air Stations in the UK, and a room in Crail Museum is dedicated to the life and people who served on HMS Jackdaw.
Margaret visited Edinburgh’s Whitefoord House, a supported housing facility run the charity Scottish Veterans Residences (SVR), where she joined residents to plant a tree in celebration of this year’s Platinum Jubilee.
The tree was sponsored by the Association of Wrens and Women of the Naval Services Edinburgh Branch. The Royal Naval Association Edinburgh branch also planted a tree as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy initiative.
SVR has been operating for more than 100 years providing accommodation and services for UK military veterans who are experiencing homelessness. The charity’s housing support services in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow provide accommodation for up to 160 veterans at one time.
Commenting from Whitefoord House, Margaret said: “I’m delighted to be here planting this tree on behalf of The Association of Wrens and Women of the Naval Services to mark the Platinum Jubilee.
“The Queen and her father, King George, were an immense inspiration to all servicemen and women throughout the war so it’s an honour to be here celebrating the 70th year of her reign.”
Martin Nadin OBE, Chief Executive SVR said: “As an organisation which is fully committed to supporting veterans, we are absolutely thrilled to have Margaret and so many representatives from the Naval Services Association at today’s tree planting.
“As we mark the Queen’s historic milestone, it’s important we also acknowledge the commitment and sacrifice of our veterans who have kept the UK secure during the past 70 years.”
A new Centre of Expertise in Equality and Human Rights to put human rights and equality at the heart of economic policy development is being established.
The Centre, an action from Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation, will see government working with leading experts to build knowledge and skills among policy officials to address injustice and economic inequality.
Economy Secretary Kate Forbes said: “Our vision for Scotland is to create a wellbeing economy where our society is thriving economically, socially and environmentally, and in which we deliver prosperity for all Scotland’s people and places.
“By focusing on wellbeing and fair work, we can deliver higher rates of employment and wage growth, to reduce poverty – particularly child poverty – and improve health and quality of life for disadvantaged families and communities.
“The Centre of Expertise in Equality and Human Rights will advance our understanding of how equality and human rights should influence the economic policy-making process.
“This includes work in areas to remove barriers to employment for disabled people, women, those with care experience and minority ethnic groups while also tackling poverty through fair pay and conditions.
“Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation identified challenges to overcoming inequality across the economy, but also opportunities to build a fairer and more equal society with opportunities for all to succeed.”
The Scottish Government will develop the centre in partnership with stakeholders such as Inclusion Scotland.
Senior policy advisor at Inclusion Scotland Bill Scott said: “This new centre is an exciting development which we believe will ensure that equalities and human rights are at the heart of future economic policy development and implementation.
“Its work will be crucial in first identifying and then tackling the inequalities that currently condemn far too many of Scotland’s disabled people to poverty and low pay.”
