North Edinburgh News – Page 2340 – The NEN

Report explores employer views on Minimum Wage

New research shows there is broad employer support for further increases to the minimum wage, but that government must help businesses to adapt to a higher wage floor.

The report – based on a survey of over 1,000 businesses conducted at the outset of the coronavirus crisis – shows that over half (54%) support the UK government’s policy of increasing the national living wage to two-thirds of median income by 2024, with fewer than one in ten (9%) opposing this move.

The report – produced by Learning and Work Institute and Carnegie UK Trust – finds that most employers said that the increase would not have a negative impact on their business, or on wider UK employment. A majority (54%) of businesses said that a higher minimum wage could help boost UK productivity.

The report showed that there was more concern among the employers that would be most impacted by an increase in the minimum wage, and among the sectors hit hardest by coronavirus.

Over half (55%) of employers with higher levels of low pay said the planned increase in the minimum wage would have a negative impact on their business, nearly double the figure for all employers (29%). Employers in hard hit sectors such as hospitality (41%) and retail (38%) were also more likely to fear a negative impact on their business.

While half (50%) of businesses said that they would not need to do anything to respond to a higher minimum wage, some employers said they would have to make changes which could have implications for consumers and workers:

22% of businesses said they would pass the cost on to consumers;
15% would hire fewer members of staff;
10% would increase the use of temporary or flexible contracts;
10% would also reduce staff benefits such as bonuses, breaks and discounts.

Most employers believe additional government support would be necessary to help employers manage an increase in the minimum wage. The most popular measure was additional help to invest in skills and training (supported by 37% of employers) followed by a temporary reduction in national insurance contributions (33%). Just one in six (17%) said government should not provide any support to employers.

Joe Dromey, deputy director for research and development at Learning and Work Institute, said: “Increasing the minimum wage could eradicate low pay, and help to tackle in-work poverty. Our research has shown that not only is a higher minimum wage popular among workers – it is supported by most employers too.

“The government can still deliver on their commitment to increase the minimum wage. But with higher unemployment as a result of the coronavirus crisis, we need to ensure that employers are supported to adapt.”

Douglas White, Head of Advocacy at the Carnegie UK Trust, said: “That most employers support a higher minimum wage is encouraging: even before the onset of the pandemic, there were too many workers struggling on low pay.

“The economic challenges caused by COVID-19 means it is even more important that future decisions around the minimum wage are ambitious in delivering better pay for low paid workers, while recognising the real challenges that many businesses are experiencing and providing them with essential support.

“We hope the ideas put forward in our employers’ survey are a helpful starting point for a dialogue about how the government can pursue its ambition to raise the wage floor without endangering job quality or employment.’

In our next and final report in the Future of the Minimum Wage series, we will set out recommendations for how government can achieve a balance between raising the wage floor, locking in job quality and protecting employment for more workers.

We would be pleased to hear your views on the findings of the report and the future of minimum wage policy in the UK.

You can get in touch with us on Twitter @CarnegieUKTrust, using the hashtag #MinimumWage, or you can let us know your thoughts by emailing Gail Irvine, Senior Policy and Development Officer, on gail@carnegieuk.org.

Ae fond farewell: The Royal McGregor

It is with a heavy heart that we need to inform our dear customers that the Royal McGregor will not be re-opened by the McGregor family who have operated the site for the past 20 years.

With only 18 months left on our current lease the COVID-19 pandemic could not have come at a worse time. Despite our best efforts our landlord would not agree to a lease extension which would have made continuing to trade a viable option.

We have shared so many wonderful memories with our loyal customers, family and amazing staff and will miss you all dearly. Thank you for being part of our success story, we will forever be grateful.

Please share any pictures you have either enjoying our hospitality or working with us. It would be nice to reminisce!

Best wishes for the future.

James & Marie-Claude
xxx

Mind, Body & Soul: SHE school programme

SHE new high school programme Mind, Body & Soul has launched.

SHE providing a blended learning approach with our educational partners.

Our groupwork programme supports young women (S1-S4) to manage stress and anxiety, develop techniques to improve confidence and self esteem and silence their inner critic.

Promoting self healing and improving skills to move forward and embrace life.

For more information please contact shescotland@outlook.com

First Minister: Clusters, testing and care home discharges

Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Monday 17 August):

Hello and thanks for joining us again today. Let me start with the usual update on the COVID-19 statistics.

I can confirm that an additional 26 positive cases were confirmed yesterday.

That represents 0.7% of the people who were newly tested yesterday, and it takes the total number of cases in Scotland to 19,358.

A full health board breakdown will be published later, but the provisional information I have is that 13 of the 26 new cases are in the Grampian Health Board area.

A total of 248 patients are currently in hospital with confirmed Covid which is five more than yesterday.

Three people are in intensive care which is the same number as yesterday.

I’m also very pleased to say that yet again in the past 24 hours, no deaths were registered of patients who first tested positive over the previous 28 days, and therefore the number of deaths under that measurement remains 2,491.

However that total of course is still a reminder of the dreadful impact this virus has had. My condolences again go to everyone who has suffered loss.

And as always, let me thank everyone who is still working hard in a variety of different capacities across the country to help us through this pandemic.

I have three issues I want to briefly update on today. First let me provide some further details about ongoing clusters and outbreaks across the country.

I mentioned a moment ago that 13 of the 26 new cases reported earlier were in the Grampian area. On the latest figures available, a total of 380 cases have been identified in the Grampian Health Board area since the 26th of July.

207 of these we think are associated with the same cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 1050 contacts have now been identified from those 207 cases.

In addition, teams are still investigating community clusters in Coatbridge, Lanarkshire and in North East Glasgow. Those clusters of course include some young people who go to local schools and more detail and information about those clusters will be provided as it becomes available.

I can also advise today of a cluster in Coupar Angus which is linked to a 2 Sisters food processing plant. So far, this outbreak has 4 confirmed cases – however contact tracing and testing is still ongoing. The plant’s owners have closed the facility, as part of their work with us to control any outbreak.

These clusters obviously show that the virus is still out there and continues to pose a real and serious risk. It is highly infectious, and once it takes hold, it can spread very rapidly. All of us have a responsibility – in everything we do – to try to stop that from happening which is why we continue to stress the importance of the FACTS advice which I will come back to again at the end of my remarks.

These clusters also show the importance of the work being done by our public health and protect teams in different parts of the country as they work to identify contacts, and trace those contact and help to contain the outbreaks that have been identified. I want to take the opportunity again today thank them for the work they’re doing.

The second thing I want to highlight today is the publication of our updated testing strategy for this phase in the pandemic.

That sets out our current priorities for testing, based on the work we have already done to increase capacity and improve availability.

As you would expect, our top priority is to test anyone who has symptoms of Covid – a temperature, a new cough, or a loss of or change in your sense of taste or smell. Anyone who develops these symptoms should book a test immediately through the NHS Inform website.

Our second priority now is testing contacts of people with Covid, and using testing in that way to prevent or minimise new outbreaks of the virus.

Our third priority is the routine testing of people who work in high risk environments such as care homes.

We’re also using testing to ensure the safe resumption or continuation of NHS services, and to assess prevalence of the virus in Scotland.

Finally, the strategy sets out our intention to further increase testing capacity in Scotland. That will be increasingly important as we move into the autumn and winter, because in those months, more people will have symptoms, such as a new cold, which may be similar to Covid symptoms.

Current weekday capacity in Scotland is just over 40,000 tests a day. We want to and we’re working to increase that to 65,000 tests a day. We are also working to improve the accessibility of tests.

Overall, the strategy seeks to give a concise and clear explanation of who we are seeking to test, why we test them, and what our plans for the near future are. The Health Secretary will say a bit more about it in a moment.

It will be available to read on the Scottish Government website this afternoon for anyone who is interested.

The final point I want to cover relates to media coverage about care home discharges – and particularly the suggestion that in some cases people who were thought to have Covid were discharged from hospitals into care homes.

Let me be very clear – as I have been many times before – that proper scrutiny of all and every aspects of our response to Covid, including of course in care homes, is really essential.

And that scrutiny will and must include consideration of whether – based on what we knew at each stage – the guidance in place was both appropriate and properly implemented.

And that of course is why we have committed to a public inquiry in due course.

However, I want to again be clear also that, while there will undoubtedly be lessons to learn when a new virus is encountered – and we take that very seriously – care was taken to put guidance in place that was considered to be appropriate at every stage.

For example, from mid-March that included guidance requiring clinical screening of patients being transferred from hospitals to care homes, to guard against inappropriate transfer. It also advised social isolation within care homes.

However, it is right that all of this, is properly scrutinised in the inquiry that will be instructed in due course.

I’m about to hand over to the Health Secretary, and then to the National Clinical Director – but before I do that, I would like to end, as always, by stressing the importance of FACTS.

The clusters I mentioned earlier that we are seeing in different parts of the country really do show how quickly and easily the virus can be transmitted from one person to another.

And they demonstrate that all of us need to do everything we can, to ensure that we don’t give it a chance to spread.

We all have a responsibility to each other, to continue to suppress it.

And all of us can do that, by sticking to FACTS – the five golden rules that we should remember as we go out and about our everyday business.

· Face coverings in enclosed spaces
· Avoid crowded places, indoors or outdoors
· Clean your hands regularly and remember to clean hard surfaces after you have touched them.
· Two metre distancing remains the overall rule and it is important everyone remembers that and abides by it
· and Self isolate, and book a test, if you have any of the symptoms of Covid.

If we stick to these 5 rules as rigidly as we possibly can, we will help to deny the virus bridges to travel across from one person to another and from one household to another and in that way, we will all do our bit to suppress the virus and help to protect ourselves and each other.

So, I want to thank everybody who is taking care to do all this once again for that, and encourage all of you to pass that message to everybody else that you know and encourage everybody to stick to FACTS, so we can continue to keep this virus under control.

7000 jobs to go at M & S

Marks and Spencer announces 7000 job cuts over next three months:

We are today announcing important proposals to further streamline the business both at stores and management level.

As previously outlined Clothing & Home trading in the stores remains well below last year, with online and home delivery strong. It is clear that there has been a material shift in trade and whilst it is too early to predict with precision where a new post Covid sales mix will settle, we must act now to reflect this change.

We have also learnt that we can work more flexibly and productively with more colleagues multi-tasking and transitioning between Food and Clothing & Home. The deployment of our leading store technology package developed in partnership with Microsoft has also enabled us to reduce layers of management and overheads in the support office.

As a result we are today embarking on a multi-level consultation programme which we anticipate will result in a reduction of c. 7,000 roles over the next 3 months. These will include departures in our central support centre, in regional management, and in our UK stores, reflecting the fact that the change has been felt throughout the business.

We expect a significant proportion will be through voluntary departures and early retirement. In line with our longstanding value of treating our people well, we will now begin an extensive programme of communication with colleagues.

Concurrently we expect to create a number of new jobs as we invest in online fulfilment and the new ambient food warehouse and reshape our store portfolio over the course of the year.

The cost of the programme including redundancies will be reflected in a significant adjusting item to be included in the group’s half-year results. The streamlining programme is an important step in delivering on our cost savings programme and ensuring we emerge from the crisis with a lower cost base and a stronger more resilient business.

Chief Executive Steve Rowe commented: “In May we outlined our plans to learn from the crisis, accelerate our transformation and deliver a stronger, more agile business in a world in which some customer habits were changed forever.

“Three months on and our Never the Same Again programme is progressing; albeit the outlook is uncertain and we remain cautious. As part of our Never The Same Again programme to embed the positive changes in ways of working through the crisis, we are today announcing proposals to further streamline store operations and management structures.

“These proposals are an important step in becoming a leaner, faster business set up to serve changing customer needs and we are committed to supporting colleagues through this time.”

Group revenue: constant currency

% change to LY	19 weeks to 8 August 20¹	13 weeks to 8 August 20¹	8 weeks to 8 August 20¹
Clothing & Home	-49.5	-38.5	-29.9
Food	-1.1	2.5	2.5
International	-31.9	-24.6	-19.9
Group	-19.2	-13.2	-10.0
Clothing & Home.com	32.0	42.2	39.2
M&S.com	38.9	46.9	40.7

Updated Testing Strategy published

Testing approach adapts as prevalence changes

The Scottish Government has published its updated Testing Strategy setting out the role testing continues to play in tackling coronavirus (COVID-19).

The strategy focuses on a number of key areas of testing:

whole population testing of anyone with symptoms (Test & Protect)
proactive case finding by testing contacts and testing in outbreaks
protecting the vulnerable and preventing outbreaks in high risk settings by routine testing
testing for direct patient care, to diagnose and to treat, and to support safe patient care as NHS services restart
surveillance to understand the disease, track prevalence, understand transmission and monitor key sectors

A key development to strengthen surveillance work and help prevent the spread of the virus will be for all contacts of COVID-19 index cases to be offered testing regardless of whether they have symptoms.

At present, recent close contacts of those people with a positive test result, are asked to isolate for 14 days. While they will still have to do this, they will now also be advised to get a test, allowing for further contacts to be identified and potential, wider outbreaks contained.

In addition, from September, Scotland will participate in the ONS Covid-19 Infection Survey which is currently operating in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

This represents the single biggest expansion to date of asymptomatic testing for surveillance purposes in the pandemic. The survey will eventually see approximately 15,000 individuals in Scotland tested during every two-week rolling period. This equates to approximately 9,000 households.

Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The publication of our Testing Strategy clearly sets out the role of testing in our response to COVID-19, which will continue to evolve as the scientific and clinical understanding of the virus develops.

“We know that meeting this challenge requires a comprehensive set of public health measures to drive the number of cases down – intelligence, anticipation, prevention, mitigation and response and clearly testing has a crucial role – it allows us to get ahead of the curve and track down and contain the virus as far as possible.

“We will continue to adapt our testing strategy in line with the different stages of the pandemic. However, testing is only one effective intervention that we are using to manage the virus and it remains vital that people continue to follow physical distancing advice and practise good hand and cough hygiene not just for their own safety but in order to protect others.”

Scotland’s Testing Strategy

Test and Protect was rolled out across Scotland on 28 May 2020.

People with any of the following symptoms should self-isolate and book a test at nhsinform.scot/test-and-protect or call 0800 028 2816 if they are unable to access the online service:

a high temperature or fever
a new continuous cough
a loss of, or change in sense of smell or taste.

Heart Research UK Healthy tip – Healthy cholesterol

Heart Research UK Healthy Heart Tip, written by Dr Helen Flaherty, Head of Health Promotion at Heart Research UK

Keeping a check on Cholesterol

Cholesterol travels around the body in our blood and it is present in our cells. We all need some cholesterol to stay healthy, but high levels of cholesterol can increase our risk of heart disease.

Nearly half of all adults in the UK are estimated to have high levels of cholesterol in their blood. Many people are unaware that their cholesterol is high because there are usually no symptoms.

In this healthy heart tip, we explain what cholesterol is and we provide some tips for keeping your cholesterol levels healthy.

What is cholesterol?

Cholesterol is a fatty substance made in the liver and it is present in foods, such as eggs, liver and prawns. Cholesterol is needed in the cells of our body. It helps to make vitamin D and some hormones which keep our bones, teeth and muscles healthy. Cholesterol also helps our digestive system process the fats we eat. Having too much cholesterol in your blood can lead to a build-up in your arteries, which puts you at a higher risk of having a heart attack.

There are two main types of cholesterol.

Low density lipoprotein (LDL) more commonly known as “bad cholesterol” and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) more commonly known as “good cholesterol”. Too much “bad” LDL cholesterol can increase your risk of heart disease. The role of “good” HDL cholesterol is to transport excess cholesterol back to the liver. Therefore, it is important that you have enough “good” HDL cholesterol and not too much “bad” LDL cholesterol in your blood.

What can I do to maintain a healthy cholesterol level?

The cholesterol we eat in food has little impact on the level of cholesterol in our blood. Making some simple changes to your lifestyle can help reduce your cholesterol.

Reduce the amount of fatty foods you eat

Saturated fat increases the amount of “bad” LDL cholesterol in your blood. Saturated fat is found in foods, such as meat pies, sausages, cakes, biscuits, butter, lard, hard cheeses (e.g. cheddar), and foods containing palm or coconut oils. Replace foods that are high in saturated fat with foods containing unsaturated fats such as, olive oil, rapeseed oil, nuts, seeds and oily fish (e.g. salmon and mackerel). Aim for at least one portion of oily fish each week.

Eat more fibre

High fibre foods can reduce your risk of heart disease and help lower the amount of “bad” LDL cholesterol in your blood. Good sources of fibre include fruit and vegetables (eat at least five portions every day), brown rice, wholemeal bread, oats, beans and pulses.

Get active

Aim to do 150 minutes of moderate exercise (e.g. brisk walking, swimming or cycling) or any activity which gets your heart beating faster. Active people have increased levels of “good” HDL cholesterol meaning their bodies are good at removing the “bad” LDL cholesterol away from the arteries.

Stop smoking

Smoking reduces the levels of “good” HDL cholesterol in your blood and this can result in higher levels of “bad” LDL cholesterol. If you would like to stop smoking, you can get help from your GP or the NHS Stop Smoking Service.

Reduce your alcohol intake

It is recommended that men and women avoid drinking more than 14 units of alcohol each week. Information on alcohol units can be found on the OneYou website: www.nhs.uk/oneyou/for-your-body/drink-less/know-your-alcohol-units/

Take a test

It is recommended that adults over the age of 40, or anyone at high risk of heart disease should get their cholesterol levels checked. If you want a cholesterol check, you should speak to your GP. Anyone can have high cholesterol and it is very common. There are usually no symptoms so, unless you get a test, you may be unaware of your risk of developing heart disease.

Is going back to the office a good idea?

ISG research reveals workplace preferences depending on personality types

– For 55% of the UK office workers having plenty of natural light is the main workplace priority

– Edinburgh, London, and Birmingham office workers have the highest workplace satisfaction in the UK

To help businesses and employees navigate uncertainty over the future of workplace, ISG paired up with a clinical trainee psychologist to develop a personality test that reveals workplace preferences based on people’s character traits.

As restrictions slowly ease and businesses resume, both employers and employees face the question about the future of workplace. ISG, a global construction specialist, conducted a survey of 5,779 office workers in the UK, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia to better understand the power of workplace prior to the lockdown.

The survey indicated that plenty of natural light (55%), plenty of fresh air (48%) and being able to work from home or outside of the workplace (45%) came on top as the main employee priorities for UK workers.

In terms of the regional split, employees working in Edinburgh tend to have the highest satisfaction about their workplace conditions (63%), followed by London (55%) and Birmingham (53%). However, employees working in Cardiff are least satisfied by their workplace with only 37% confirming so.

Taking into account the research findings, ISG collaborated with Hannah Baker, a trainee clinical psychologist, to discover ways in which employees’ personality traits can be indicators of their preferences for office or remote working.

By using the Big Five personality theory as the foundation, the test outlines ten statements that are based on five main dimensions of an individual’s personality – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, stress and openness to experience.

Respondents are asked if they agree with the statements and depending on the number of positive responses they are sorted in three workplace personality types available on https://www.isgltd.com/en/campaigns/workplace-personality-types.

Hannah Baker, a trainee clinical psychologist, said: “When considering your workspace, it is important to remember that all people respond to their environments differently.

“It can be helpful to think about where your motivation comes from – some people are motivated internally, while others respond to external factors. Also, understanding how other people impact your work can help.

“Individuals who are more introverted might find thinking independently in a quiet space most helpful. Extroverts, however, might prefer a busy office space, where they can exchange ideas and information with others.”

To find out more about the research and access the workplace personality test, please visit https://www.isgltd.com/en/campaigns/workplace-personality-types.

Public encouraged to register for COVID-19 vaccine trials

Over 100,000 people have signed up for future COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials through the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry of volunteers are helping speed up efforts to find a safe and effective vaccine in the fight against coronavirus

UK researchers urge more volunteers across all groups to sign-up, especially the over 65s and those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds

Over 100,000 people have volunteered to take part in COVID-19 vaccine trials, helping to speed up efforts to discover a safe and effective vaccine.

The UK Government is today (Monday 17 August) encouraging more people to join the thousands of volunteers and sign up to the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry to help the NHS in the fight against coronavirus and ensure potential candidates work for everyone.

To enable large-scale vaccine studies to take place across the UK, the aim is to get as many people as possible signed up to the Registry by October.

Researchers particularly welcome people from all parts of society, especially those who are more likely to benefit from a vaccine, including the over 65s, frontline health and social care workers, and those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.

Clinical studies with a diverse pool of volunteers will help scientists and researchers better understand the effectiveness of each vaccine candidate and will considerably speed up efforts to discover a safe and workable vaccine.

Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “From John O’Groats to Land’s End, everyone has played their part in tackling coronavirus from wearing face coverings to following social distancing guidance.

“Scientists and researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine that meets the UK’s rigorous regulatory and safety standards, but they need hundreds of thousands of people of all backgrounds and ages to sign-up for studies to speed up this vital research.

“I urge everyone to play our part in the fight against coronavirus and join the 100,000 people who have already registered, so we can help save and protect millions of lives.”

Chair of the government’s Vaccines Taskforce Kate Bingham said: “Protecting those at risk is the only way we will end this pandemic. That’s why we are working as quickly as possible to run clinical studies on the most promising vaccines to see whether they offer protection against COVID-19, whilst adhering to the UK’s strict safety and regulatory processes. And we need people throughout the UK to sign up to the registry to help us achieve this.

“Getting 100,000 volunteers on board is a great start but we need many more people from many different backgrounds that we can call on for future studies if we are to find a vaccine quickly to protect those who need it against coronavirus.”

Consultant Respiratory Physician and Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) PRC, Bradford, Dinesh Saralaya said: “The best way to protect us from future outbreaks is to develop effective vaccines. Several vaccine trials are being conducted around the UK in the coming months and it is important that we all sign up to be contacted about them.

“I would like to reassure people that research trials and studies are strictly regulated for ethics and safety. They are conducted within the framework of the NIHR, which is the research partner of the NHS, and we take every precaution to safeguard participants taking part. This includes appointments in settings like sports halls close to where people live and work rather than in hospitals.

“By working together, we can produce efficient vaccines which are likely to protect all sections of our society from this dreadful virus in future.”

18-year-old Marium Zumeer from Bradford, who was hospitalised after contracting COVID-19, has first-hand experience of the benefits of taking part in clinical trials.

During her time in intensive care, she was offered the opportunity to take part in the national RECOVERY trial, which is testing a range of potential treatments for COVID-19. This includes the drug dexamethasone, which was found to be the first drug to be effective when treating those who are critically ill with the virus.

RECOVERY trial volunteer Marium Zumeer said: “I will always be grateful for being encouraged to sign up. I remember my dad at the time urging me to take part, not just for myself but for the wider community.

“The result has been really positive for me and I would encourage others to do their bit in helping us all in the fight against coronavirus.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said: “I’m very grateful to those who have volunteered for researchers to contact them to take part in COVID-19 vaccine studies, via the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry. The more people who volunteer to take part the more likely we find an answer to whether any vaccine is effective.

“Having 100,000 volunteers in just four weeks shows the selflessness of the public and is testament to the speed of work done by the Vaccines Taskforce, National Institute for Health Research and others to make signing up possible.

“I urge people to continue to sign up. It is important that we have people from different backgrounds and ages as volunteers, so that the vaccines that are developed work for everyone.”

A number of trials in the UK are expected to begin this autumn, working with the NHS, research institutions and businesses, helping to develop and manufacture the vaccines.

Launched on 20 July, the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry is an online service allowing members of the public to register their interest in COVID-19 vaccine studies and be contacted to participate in future clinical trials.

Vaccines are tested in stages to ensure they are safe and effective. Volunteers who are contacted to take part in trials will be given information about what stage a particular vaccine is at and details of how it has already been tested. They will be able to consider this when deciding to take part and people can withdraw from the registry at any point.

The Registry has been developed by the government, in partnership with the NIHR, NHS Digital, the Scottish and Welsh governments and the Northern Ireland Executive.

Marks and Spencer announces 7000 job cuts over next three months:

Testing approach adapts as prevalence changes

An update from HEALTH IN MIND