Scotland’s premier pro-European campaign is urging the UK government to follow the lead of the EU and allow Ukrainian refugees from Russia’s horrendous war to settle here for up to three years without being forced to apply for asylum.
With more than one million Ukrainians forced to flee their country, the EU has said it will offer “temporary protection” for 36 months – a decision hailed by UNHCR as “unprecedented”.
The European Movement in Scotland (EMiS) says today the UK Government must drop its restrictive migration policy and allow thousands of vulnerable Ukrainians fleeing the most savage war in Europe for over 75 years to live and work here.
EMiS also calls upon the five main political parties represented in Holyrood to endorse this stance and put pressure on the UK Government to join forces with the EU-27 in welcoming Ukrainian refugees on the scale required.
Mark Lazarowicz, EMiS vice-chair, said: “This is no time for a self-styled world leading country to impose cruel barriers to Ukrainian refugees seeking protection in our own country as in other European nations. We urge Home Secretary Priti Patel to change course and show generous compassion.”
Scotland’s national membership organisation for the voluntary sector SCVO has warned the Scottish Government’s flagship economic plan has ignored the importance of the sector.
Earlier this week Economy Secretary Kate Forbes unveiled Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation. The plans, as well as a debate in Holyrood on the subject on Wednesday, failed to recognise the importance of the voluntary sector and its role in the economy.
The Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) has raised concerns about the lack of plans outlined to invest in the sector, warning Scotland is in danger of missing a genuine opportunity to transform its economy.
SCVO warned the sector’s exclusion from the Advisory Council that developed the strategy means important issues for many organisations in Scotland – including areas like its role as a significant employer and multi-year funding – remain underappreciated.
Commenting on Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation and yesterday’s Scottish Parliament debate, Chief Executive of SCVO, Anna Fowlie said:“Though I recognise the positive elements in this strategy, I’m deeply disappointed that it fails to recognise Scotland’s voluntary sector’s role in achieving the aspiration to become a wellbeing economy built on the principles of prosperity for all, equality, sustainability, and resilience.
“Through supporting the employment prospects of those furthest from the labour market, tackling digital exclusion, providing social care and housing, undertaking vital medical and environmental research, or running most of our theatres, museums, galleries, and sports clubs, Scotland’s voluntary organisations are integral to Scotland’s economic and social fabric.
“With an annual turnover of £6bn and more than 100,000 paid staff, the Scottish Government needs to invest in a skilled and engaged voluntary sector workforce that can innovate and enhance successful programmes that are crucial to Scotland’s foundational economy.
“Many of us called for the strategy to invest in voluntary organisations as significant employers, partners, and agents for change in Scotland’s recovery, alongside the public and private sectors, yet this strategy overlooks the intrinsic role of Scotland’s voluntary sector role in addressing systemic issues in our economy, and is stubbornly, ‘focused on business.’
“While the Scottish Government pledges to ensure the voice of business is heard, with ‘robust governance’ structures ‘co-led by business,’ there is no such commitment to the voluntary sector. This is not an inclusive strategy, and there is little evidence of the Scottish Government respecting the strengths or drawing on the expertise of Scotland’s voluntary sector.
“The sector was not represented on the Advisory Council that developed the strategy; key sector policies including the Social Renewal Advisory Board, the Social Enterprise Action Plan, and Volunteering Action Plan, all of which can play have a vital role in transforming the economy, are forgotten within the alignment of existing plans; and the sector’s role supporting work, innovation, and investment is unappreciated, even in relation to areas like fair work and multi-year funding, which are of key importance to the sector.
“Given that the strategy will underpin Scotland’s first spending review in 11 years, it needed to go further in detailing how the Scottish Government plans to work alongside the voluntary sector to achieve our National Outcomes and how it will build upon and invest in the capacity of this vital sector.”
What do we know about the real economic value of charities and social enterprises?
Join us at this webinar session with Strathclyde University’s Fraser of Allander Institute, part of the #SCVOeconomy series, to hear more.
6 years ago the GIS project began to save the Walled Garden and keep it as a community resource.
The Walled Garden was discovered derelict by AiA Art in Architecture and with the help of CLU Community Land Use devised the original Granton sur Mer proposal which included its restoration.
Granton Improvement Society is now the custodian of the project with the continued mission to save the Walled Garden and keep it as a community resource. We found it derelict and have involved the community in this desire to save the Garden throughout the 6 years.
Our vision is for green space, parkland, places for children to run, not just blocks and blocks of housing with no other amenities. We know it will be a success. Who would have thought that in the industrial zone of Falkirk, for instance, there would now be a great park, The Helix, with accompanying Kelpies with tens of thousands of locals and people from far and wide flocking to take their leisure there and to be inspired by art and landscaped open spaces?
Granton Improvement Society has been pursuing a project to develop a garden festival in the Walled Garden, artisans’ village and heated swimming pool for both sport and leisure on the adjacent land. At the original public meetings of the project one of the clear intentions was to save the Walled Garden with no possibility of housing on the site and this remains true today.
The Granton Improvement Society is moving steadily to buying the site from EDI.
This wonderful community owned project will create badly needed community income and jobs for our community.
We have asked for others to give us a clear run at creating the project. We have the plans, the funding, expertise and backing and have been working extremely hard, lobbying, arguing and generally spreading the word as community activists and supporters of the project to be in a position to buy the land and begin the project in the very near future which would take the Walled Garden into community ownership for the first time in its history.
Members of the GIS are as committed and dedicated as anyone to the idea of community gardens on every available and suitable space and have been involved from the beginning in identifying and creating these gardens in our community and winning support from politicians to back and support the expansion of community gardens with proper funding. We are asking everyone especially those who have signed the petition to take a further step and join the Granton Improvement Society.
The Project is a Community Trust with a membership and Trustees. Please join us info@grantonimprovementsociety.org and grantonimprovementsociety.wordpress,org
Barbara Robertson, secretary, on behalf of the Trustees-Granton Improvement Society
The Forth and Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnerships are currently asking people how they prefer to get news and information regarding what’s going on in their area. Survey forms will soon appear in community centres, libraries etc., so if you see them, please fill one in and post it back, or leave it at your local library. You can also complete the survey online here:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/INP_2014
The NEN has been asked to work with the Neighbourhood Partnerships to help develop and improve channels of communication, so we will be looking to improve our web-site, Twitter and Facebook facilities, and, if a majority of people wish it, we will be aiming to re-introduce a local community newspaper. The survey is crucial, therefore, to find out what you want.
The Community Shop on Pennywell Road will be a year old tomorrow. In conjunction with Pilton Community Health Project and Edinburgh Community Food volunteers offer cookery demonstrations and good quality food. Try it out.
For more information, go here: http://muirhouseresidents.co.uk/community-shop-1yr-on/
Who isn’t interested in a car boot sale and this one is for a good cause. All sales of cakes and refreshments and pitch proceeds to go to Project Zambia (details can be found at www.justgiving.com/ProjectZambia2014)
Project Zambia is run by St Andrews Student Services. During summer students will be travelling to Kazemba, Chongwe for four weeks teaching literacy and music in a primary school. For these children, many of whom are single or double orphans, education represents the major route out of poverty.
Venue: Holy Cross Church Hall, Quality Street (opposite Tesco), Davidsons Mains
The Granton Improvement Society has a vision to regenerate the area, aiming to provide employment, training, education and leisure activities. They are holding their AGM on 30th April when they will be electing Trustees and sharing the latest information. Why not go along?
6pm Wednesday 30th April Royston Wardieburn Community Centre Pilton Drive North
A Council spokesperson has informed us that collection dates for the kerbside recycling boxes, which are used for glass, plastic, paper, textiles and other dry recyclables, will no longer be posted door to door. Instead people are being directed to the Council’s web-site, where they will find relevant calendars (http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/redandblueboxdays)
Paper calendars will still be provided to those who receive assistance with collections and to people who ask specifically toreceive one, so if you don’t have easy access to the internet, ask. These can be requested by email (waste@edinburgh.gov.uk) or by calling 0131 529 3030.
The decision to stop distributing the calendars recognises the fact that increasing numbers of people now have access to the internet, and aims to help drive down the costs involved in distributing more than 165,000 calendars each year.
Calendars for refuse, garden and food waste collections were also recently made available online rather than in paper form.
Service users can find a directory for red and blue boxes on the council website, where collection dates are listed along with a calendar which can be downloaded.
In addition, the website offers a link to Green Box Day, where residents can get reminders of their next collection for garden waste and red and blue boxes.
Any reader who has come across something called “North Edinburgh Community News” may have thought that this newsletter was somehow connected with the NEN. It isn’t. It is an email newsletter produced by a body called Live Edinburgh News. Who is behind this? We don’t know, but for the avoidance of doubt, it’s nothing to do with us.
The Real NEN can be found here on this blog.
We can be emailed at: northedinnews@gmail.com
We can be found on Facebook at: www.facebook.com
And on Twitter at The Real NEN and this is our avatar –
We were forced to change our Twitter name to avoid confusion with this other organisation, which, for some reason, has chosen to style itself in a way that is very similar to the NEN.
