Edinburgh College is providing industry specific training to help hospitality and tourism businesses hit the ground running when the sector is allowed to reopen.
The training which allows SMEs up to £5,000 free training provided through the Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF), is available straight away to help people upskill, reskill and give confidence to those who have been unable to work due to the pandemic.
Hospitality businesses are encouraged to attend a virtual information event hosted on Zoom on Wednesday 24 March, to find out more about Edinburgh College, the FWDF, and how the College’s Training and Development team can liaise with them to design and deliver bespoke training packages with courses to suit all employer and employee needs.
Courses range from REHIS Food Hygiene and Allergy Awareness through to Customer Service and Communication Skills, and Mental Health.
Businesses which pay the Scottish Government apprenticeship levy can apply for up to £15,000 worth of training, while SMEs can apply for up £5,000 of training without any contribution.
Edinburgh College Commercial Development Manager Liam Conway said: “We are excited to be hosting this information event for Hospitality businesses across Edinburgh and the Lothians.
“It is our hope that Hospitality businesses will be able to welcome visitors and guests back into their premises soon. In the build up to that becoming the case, Edinburgh College is ready to deliver training to Hospitality employees in time for their reopening – allowing firms to ensure employees’ continuing professional development and retraining is in place ahead of customers’ return.”
The virtual information event is taking place on Wednesday 24 March from 12 – 12.30pm.
Schools, colleges and universities can now apply for funding from today to allow students to study and work across the globe as part of the new Turing Scheme.
The programme, backed by £110 million, replaces the Erasmus+ scheme in the UK and will fund 35,000 global exchanges from September 2021, including university study, school exchanges, and industry work placements.
The new scheme aims to improve social mobility, targeting students from disadvantaged backgrounds and areas which did not previously have many students benefiting from Erasmus+, making life-changing opportunities accessible to everyone across the country. The British Council and Ecorys will be targeting disadvantaged parts of the country to promote the scheme to improve take up.
The Turing scheme offers benefits to students that they would not have under the previous Erasmus+ programme, with university students from disadvantaged backgrounds set to receive a maximum of £490 per month towards living costs (currently worth around 573 euros compared to 540 euros under Erasmus+), alongside travel funding, and other forms of additional funding to offset the cost of passports, visas and insurance.
Unlike Erasmus+, which is EU-focused, the Turing Scheme is a truly global programme and every country in the world is eligible to partner with UK universities, schools and colleges.
Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said: “The Turing Scheme is a truly global programme with every country in the world eligible to partner with UK universities, schools and colleges.
“It is also levelling up in action, as the scheme seeks to help students of all income groups from across the country experience fantastic education opportunities in any country they choose.”
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: “This is a landmark step in delivering on our promise to level up a truly global Britain, strengthening our ties across the world and providing students with the skills they need to thrive.
“The programme’s focus on social mobility and value for money will open up more opportunities for international education and travel to all of our students, especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds who were less likely to benefit from the previous EU scheme.
“I urge all universities, schools and colleges from all corners of the UK to start their applications and partner up with countries worldwide.”
Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan said: The Turing scheme will support our levelling up agenda by opening up the world to young people and children from all backgrounds with exciting global opportunities.
“The scheme will enable up to 35,000 students throughout the UK to work or study across the globe.”
As part of the UK-wide launch, education ministers are visiting the devolved nations today to highlight the advantages of the Turing scheme and ensure wider participation for all students across the UK.
In support of the launch, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan will visit Cardiff University and Edinburgh University to discuss the bidding process including how to demonstrate widening access to more disadvantaged students as part of the application process.
School Standards Minister Nick Gibb and Apprenticeships Minister Gillian Keegan will visit educational settings in areas that have not previously benefitted from Erasmus+.
Applicants from schools and colleges are encouraged, with funding levels and eligibility set out in programme guides available to help inform applications.
UK organisations are encouraged to form partnerships across the globe, not just the EU. The Turing website includes the programme guide, funding levels and eligibility, and details of webinars available to help inform applications.
Successful applications will receive funding for administering the scheme and students taking part will receive grants to help them with the costs of their international experience. The benefits of the exchanges will be assessed and the findings used to build on future schemes. Funding decisions for subsequent years will be subject to future spending reviews.
£110m of funding will be available to support projects and activities during the 2021/2022 academic year. This is enough to fund similar levels of student exchanges under the former Erasmus+ scheme.
Programme guidance, including information on the application process, has also been published on the Turing Scheme website.
Poll shows widescale public support for stronger legislation to protect children from abuse online
Comes as NSPCC report says UK Government’s Online Safety Bill must be more ambitious to comprehensively tackle sexual abuse
Charity chief calls for no compromise on children’s safety being at the heart of new laws
The Scottish public overwhelmingly back robust new laws to protect children from abuse on social media and wants bosses to be held responsible for safety, new polling suggests.
An NSPCC/YouGov survey found that more than nine in ten respondents (95%) in Scotland want social networks and messaging services to be designed to be safe for children.
The poll of more than 2,000 adults across the UK*, of which 179 respondents were from Scotland, shows huge support for putting a legal requirement on tech firms to detect and prevent child abuse, while backing strong sanctions against directors whose companies fail.
91% of respondents in Scotland want firms to have a legal responsibility to detect child abuse, such as grooming, taking place on their sites.
And almost four in five Scottish adults (79%) support prosecuting senior managers of social media managers if their companies consistently fail to protect children from abuse online, while 83% of respondents want social media bosses fined for consistent failures.
NSPCC Chief Executive Sir Peter Wanless said it shows a huge public consensus for robust Duty of Care regulation of social media.
He is urging the UK Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to listen by ensuring his landmark Online Safety Bill convincingly tackles online child abuse and puts the onus on firms to prevent harm. He set out the UK Government’s vision for legislation in December.
The survey found that just ten per-cent of Scottish adults think sites are regularly designed safely for children, but 77% support a legal requirement for platforms to assess the risks of child abuse on their services, and take steps to address them.
It found that UK Government is failing on a third of indicators (nine out of 27), with tougher measures needed to tackle sexual abuse and to give Ofcom the powers they need to develop and enforce regulation fit for decades to come.
Sir Peter Wanless said: “Today’s polling shows the clear public consensus for stronger legislation that hardwires child protection into how tech firms design their platforms.
“Mr Dowden will be judged on whether he takes decisions in the public interest and acts firmly on the side of children with legislation ambitious enough to protect them from avoidable harm.
“For too long children have been an afterthought for Big Tech but the Online Safety Bill can deliver a culture change by resetting industry standards and giving Ofcom the power to hold firms accountable for abuse failings.”
The NSPCC is calling for legislation to be more robust so it can successfully combat online child abuse at an early stage and before it spreads across platforms.
They want a requirement for tech firms to treat content that facilitates sexual abuse with the same severity as material that meets the criminal threshold.
This means clamping down on the “digital breadcrumbs” dropped by abusers to guide others towards illegal material. These include videos of children just moments before or after they are sexually abused – so-called ‘abuse image series’ – that are widely available on social media.
The charity also want Ofcom to be able to tackle cross platform risks, where groomers target children across the different sites and games they use – something firms have strongly resisted.
In its report, the NSPCC called on the UK Government to commit to senior management liability to make tech directors personally responsible for decisions on product safety.
They say this is vital to drive cultural change and provide an appropriate deterrent against a lax adoption of the rules.
The charity wants to see senior management liability similar to the successful approach in financial services. Under the scheme, bosses taking decisions which could put children at risk could face censure, fines and in the case of the most egregious breaches of the Duty of Care, criminal sanctions.
They warn that the UK Government has softened its ambition and at present just propose liability for narrow procedural reasons, which will only to be enacted later down the line.
The NSPCC has been the leading voice for social media regulation and the charity set out detailed proposals for a Bill in 2019.
The UK Government’s White Paper consultation response in December set out the framework for an Online Safety Bill that is expected in the Spring.
More than 1,000 British Gas workers across Scotland will launch twelve more days of strike action from tomorrow (Friday 12 March), in response to Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea’s refusal to drop his controversial ‘fire and rehire’ policy.
Engineers will walk out from 00.01 hours on Friday 12 March until 21.59 hours on Monday 15 March, again on Friday 19 March to Monday 22 March, and finally on Friday 26 March to Monday 29 March, taking the total number of strike days in the dispute to forty-two.
The latest wave of strikes was confirmed after workers across the UK voted by a resounding majority of four-to-one against proposals tabled through ACAS over the future of their terms and conditions, with Centrica refusing to lift the ‘fire and rehire’ imposition.
After thirty days of previous strikes, more than 250,000 homes across the UK are in a backlog for repairs and 350,000 planned annual service visits have been axed.
GMB Scotland Senior Organiser Hazel Nolan said:“This dispute can end now if Chris O’Shea finally does the right thing by dropping his controversial ‘fire and rehire’ policy.
“It’s shameful that in the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic, Centrica are using this public health crisis to threatened workers with the sack if they don’t accept imposed changes to their livelihoods.
“This is the kind of behaviour you would expect from a cowboy contractor and not the CEO of a great British institution. It’s not modern, it’s Dickensian and there should be no place for this in our country.
“The message is loud and clear: Stop the fire and rehire in British Gas, and let’s return to proper negotiations over the future of this business and its workers.”
Impact of Travel Restrictions on UK Airports Revealed
The pandemic’s devastating impact on the UK aviation industry has been laid bare in new research highlighting the reduction in passengers using British airports.
Research by travel website MyBaggage.com revealed the true scale of the massive decline in passengers using our airports during 2020 compared to the previous year.
The figures reveal the scale of Covid’s impact on the aviation industry with airlines estimated to have lost a staggering £20bn last year.
With Governments across the globe limiting air travel there was an overall fall of 75% in passengers using UK airports during 2020 with some hit more severely than others.
Researchers for MyBaggage.com looked at Britain’s 15 busiest airports in 2019 and compared CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) data for 2019 and 2020 to measure the impact of the pandemic.
The biggest fall was seen at London City Airport where passenger numbers plunged 82.3% from 5,122,000 in 2019 to just 908,105 during 2020.
Leeds Bradford Airport saw the second largest reduction in passenger numbers, losing 81.2% of travellers with a drop of 3,992,000 in 2019 to only 751,048 in 2020.
East Midlands Airport experienced the third largest drop in passengers in percentage terms, a loss of 80.7% with 4,674,000 people using the airport in 2019 compared to only 900,832 last year.
The UK’s largest airport, London Heathrow, recently reported a £2bn loss in revenue and the new study shows passenger numbers there were down by 72.7%, going from 80,887,000 to 22,109,550 across the two years.
Gatwick had an even greater passenger reduction in percentage terms with numbers falling 46,575,000 to 10,171,867, a reduction of 78.2%.
In Scotland, Glasgow airport was hit hardest with passenger numbers falling from 8,843,000 in 2019 to only 1,944,981 in 2020 a fall of 78%.
In Northern Ireland, Belfast International saw passenger numbers fall by 72.2% going from 6,278,000 in 2019 to only 1,746,951 during 2020.
While the new research lays bare the devastating economic impact of the pandemic on the UK’s airports, the figures are likely to be welcomed by environmental campaigners with the period seeing a 60% fall in CO2 emissions from aviation.
A spokesman for MyBaggage.com said the research revealed the impact of the pandemic not only on the aviation industry as a whole but also on a regional level around the UK.
He said: “The past 12 months has been nothing short of devastating for the UK aviation industry with a fall in passengers using our airports of around three quarters.
“But not all airports have seen the same impact, some have definitely been harder hit than others with the number of people travelling down by more than 80% in some locations.
“While these numbers are stark they still don’t show the whole picture. Each of these airports is a regional hub employing thousands of workers. With passenger numbers down to this extent, there will have been a dramatic knock-on effect across many industries.
“The tourism industry has of course been massively impacted but the full economic effect can only be guessed at.
“With the vaccine programme now well underway everyone in the travel industry is hoping for a more positive second half to 2021 and for the aviation industry to recover over the coming months and years.”
A new strategy for Scotland’s rented sector will improve accessibility, affordability and standards, as part of a new 20 year route map for housing to be published next week.
The Rented Sector strategy will be a key element of Housing to 2040 – Scotland’s first long-term housing plan which will set the path for how homes and communities should look and feel in 2040. It will specifically address private and social rent and agricultural tenancies, to ensure an affordable, quality sector offering choice to meet people’s needs.
Tenants will be closely involved in the development of the strategy with a national network of social rented tenants developed alongside a Tenant Participation Panel.
Housing to 2040 will also include a proposal for a new Housing Bill, to be introduced early in the next parliament, in order to take forward further reforms in the rented sector and increase the rights of tenants.
Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s virtual Scotland’s Housing Festival 2021, Housing Minister Kevin Stewart said: “Housing to 2040 sets out Scotland’s approach to improving the nation’s housing over the next two decades, and making improvements in the rented sector is a vital part of that.
“It will set out our plans to develop a new Rented Sector strategy that will improve accessibility, affordability and standards across the whole rented sector, so we can increase affordability and quality of choice when finding a home.
“In the private rented sector, we need to address the economic impacts of the pandemic and ensure homes are affordable now and in the long term. Local authorities need to be able to tackle unreasonably high rents, so we will also reshape the existing Rent Pressure Zone legislation to make it an effective tool for them to use.
“Subject to the outcome of the election, we will make sure this is in law by bringing forward a new Housing Bill early in the next parliament, which will also strengthen the rights of tenants with greater protections from unreasonable rent increases and unfair evictions.”
Freemasons’ Hall has announced its first Organ Concert of 2021, which will take place on 30 March at 7pm.
The event, being held virtually, will showcase the magnificent Willis pipe Organ, which resides in the Grand Temple of Freemasons’ Hall in London, an art deco masterpiece completed in 1933.
The concert is to be given by Carl Jackson, MVO, director of music at the Chapel Royal, Hampton Court Palace.
He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and he has held organ scholarships at Downing College, Cambridge as well as his current base of Chapel Royal.
Before his current role at Hampton Court Palace, Mr Jackson taught at Goldsmiths’ College and he has held positions at Croydon Minster and St Peter’s, Eaton Square.
He has also appeared regularly on television with the Chapel Royal choir and features with them on CDs. He was appointed MVO in the 2012 New Year Honours list.
Dr David Staples, Chief Executive of the United Grand Lodge of England, commented: “It is an honour to welcome Carl Jackson to perform for our first Organ Concert of 2021.
“The various lockdowns the country has faced during the pandemic have left many people feeling isolated and lonely. The virtual concert will bring world-class music and joy into people’s homes whilst also giving the audience an opportunity to take in some of the stunning architecture of our headquarters here in London.”
The concert will be held at Freemasons’ Hall, which was designed as a pentagon to suit the irregular area in which it is located. Built in the central courtyard of the splendid art deco building, the Grand Temple is rich with multi-coloured details of blue, gold and white.
While enjoying the concert online, attendees will be able to experience the splendor of the Grand Temple, including the majestic 1.25-tonne organ with its ornate pipes as well as the stunning mosaics that surround the ceiling.
The original organ was installed in 1933 by Henry Willis, the third generation of an extended family line of organ builders. It originally had three manuals and 43 stops, giving a total complement of some 2,220 pipes, and was the last big organ built by the Willis firm.
After 80 years it was in need of a complete renovation, which was carried out in Durham by Harrison & Harrison in 2014 and included the cleaning, repairing and re-voicing the existing mechanisms, as well as mounting a new case of some 400 pipes on the east wall.
– Customers across the UK can nominate special mums via local stores’ Facebook pages –
– Mums will also receive acts of kindness in stores, including gifts of flowers and chocolates –
Morrisons is giving away an afternoon tea hamper from its stores across the UK this Mother’s Day, to celebrate mums in the community.
Mother’s Day will be a little different this year with lockdown still in place, but mums across the nation deserve more recognition than ever; having faced all sorts of challenges including home schooling and feeding the family.
Morrisons customers are able to nominate a ‘special’ mum to win a hamper via their local store’s Facebook page, to give back to mums in the community who deserve a treat.
Each of Morrisons’ 497 stores across the UK will be taking part in the giveaway and planning to pack a box with a variety of items that mums can use to make an afternoon tea. From cakes, to teas and jams, the hampers will provide an afternoon tea treat that mums won’t forget.
Morrisons will also be carrying out acts of kindness in stores, such as giving flowers and chocolates to special mums who cannot see their children on Mother’s Day.
Rebecca Singleton, Customer & Community Director at Morrisons said: “We know that Mother’s Day will be different this year, and we wanted to recognise the incredible efforts of mums around the country over what has been an extremely difficult 12 months.
“We look forward to putting a smile on the face of nearly 500 fantastic mums as they tuck into a range of delicious afternoon tea treats.”
As plumbing and heating professionals around the globe prepare to celebrate World Plumbing Day today (Thursday March 11), the Covid pandemic has vividly highlighted their importance as critical workers on the frontline of public health and safety.
While World Plumbing Day was inaugurated in 2010 to mark the link between quality plumbing and health, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity, the past year has also demonstrated the vital contribution of plumbing to clean water and sanitation systems.
SNIPEF, the Scotland and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation, recognises how PPE-clad engineers and plumbing professionals have held the line in the pandemic, putting themselves at risk to keep the taps running and the heating on.
Here, SNIPEF highlights one of the industry’s heroes and asks what it takes to make such an important contribution in an increasingly critical sector:
17, including two apprentices, the second of whom qualified just last month.
How long have you been a plumber and how did you get started?
I began serving my time in 2003, and unfortunately qualified just as the financial crisis hit in 2007/8. I was made redundant, so really circumstances dictated that I should have a go at starting my own business. I took on my brother as an apprentice and he now trains people himself and brings them on.
There was, of course, a lot of uncertainty in the economy when we started out – rather similar to the way things are now. But in many other ways, they were different days. The technology for self-employed people was much less developed, and we had to learn everything about business by ourselves.
What is your favourite part of the job?
I’m not really on the tools these days, but still muck in as and when needed, which I really enjoy.
Our company Value ‘willing to sweep floors’ means no matter your position in the company, everyone is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. I have worked really hard over the past four or five years to build a business that can run without me being continually involved in it.
I want to work on the business, rather than in the business. So, I have invested heavily in putting systems and processes in place which, for a trade-based business, is quite unusual. I did not want Celsius to be over-reliant on me.
What I enjoy most about the job at the moment is dealing with internal processes, how we automate and how we employ technology.
What is the greatest challenge in your job?
Very early on in the pandemic, we recognised that although people’s confidence was low, we still had to have access to their homes and workplaces.
But we were only carrying out essential work and anything non-essential had to be placed in a backlog of work. This was quite difficult, since we are a reactive company – work comes in, we get it done and we invoice.
Once we came out of the first lockdown, we were very busy clearing the backlog and once we emerge from this one, we will use the lessons we have learned to catch up with the work we have had to postpone.
How has the pandemic changed your day-to-day?
Safety has always been an over-riding priority, but the last year has placed an emphasis on making sure that our customers, as well as our team, feels safe.
Early last year, we created a Covid Response Video which is communicated to our customers when our engineers are on the way to them so that they know what to expect.
We have to go into a lot of elderly people’s homes and it is vital that they feel safe and confident in us. I am super-proud of the team – you just have to look at our reviews.
Have you implemented any changes during the pandemic that you will continue after?
We knew that cashflow was going to take a hit because we could only do essential work. One solution we have implemented, and it has been really successful, is that we now take payment in advance for work.
It is not normal in the trade. It shows a remarkable degree of trust from our customers, who have been very supportive of our situation. We will continue to do this after Covid.
Have you done anything to help during this difficult time?
As key workers, we have managed to keep most of the team in full-time employment, but when people were furloughed we felt it was really important to keep in touch with them to make sure that they were coping. Tradespeople are naturally busy, and suddenly, overnight, they were confined to the house and not doing anything.
We wanted to let them know that they were not forgotten about and, as well as Zoom meetings, we instituted a Friday check-in. We all know that mental health in isolation has been a major issue over the past year and the feedback from the team has said that our efforts have been very helpful.
International Women’s Day has just passed. How are you helping females into the sector?
Women are valued members of the team. They are an integral part of our organisation, and we couldn’t do without them.
We have three with us at the moment: Monique is an engineer, who specialises in water and Legionella testing and certification; Ailsa, who is a senior maintenance co-ordinator; and Ailie, who started as an apprentice junior administrator and is now a maintenance co-ordinator. We have a blog on our website about their contribution.
What advice do you have to people starting out or thinking about becoming a plumber?
For a small business, we try to do our bit for apprentices. We have helped 10 youngsters in the 14 years we have been going, and we will continue to be ambassadors for apprenticeships.
Obviously, we cannot take on every applicant, but when young people approach us, we always get in touch with them and offer advice about what they could be doing to find an employer. We are going to have an apprentice page on our website, to which we can direct people, and other people in the industry can send applicants to it.
We would advise would-be apprentices to establish a LinkedIn page – it’s free to use and connects you to people in the industry. They should be aware that four years can seem like a long time, and like hard work, but once they are qualified, they have a skill for life. A qualified plumbing and heating engineer should never be out of work.
What has being a SNIPEF member brought to you?
Credibility, in a word. The team at SNIPEF is always on hand to answer any difficult questions we may have and their support for apprentices is first class. When we were taking people on at first, SNIPEF’s advisers were able to guide us in areas such as contracts and employment law. We wish we had joined sooner.
