A trailblazing partnership between the national membership body for Scotland’s voluntary organisations and the Scottish Government has launched a milestone charter to improve digital inclusion.
Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter is a collaborative initiative between the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO) and the Scottish Government, aiming to ensure that, if they choose to, every individual and community across Scotland can benefit from the digital world.
The Charter, hosted and managed by SCVO, states that digital inclusion is “everyone’s responsibility”, and demonstrates how people can get involved in supporting further digital equity in Scotland.
The initiative commits organisations to tackling digital exclusion in any way that they can. By providing a framework for action, organisations can use the Charter to structure and resource digital inclusion work regardless of who they work with.
Currently, around 700,0001 people don’t have access to the Internet in Scotland. This significantly impacts their ability to access health services, banking, online shopping, better deals and savings and communicating with loved ones.
Sally Dyson, Head of Digital and Development at SCVO, underscored the vital role of the voluntary sector in achieving digital inclusion. She said: “SCVO has been leading the charge for digital inclusion in Scotland for more than ten years now.
“We work collaboratively across our sector and beyond to make sure that we drive home the message that everyone is responsible for digital inclusion
“We know that the digital divide seems to be widening over time, and we think that every organisation in Scotland can get involved in supporting the people they work with.
“SCVO is proud to have developed and established Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter in partnership with Scottish Government, and we’re looking forward to supporting organisations of all sizes to sign up and show their support.”
Ivan McKee, MSP and Minister for Public Finance, represented the Scottish Government and highlighted the importance of this initiative for Scotland’s future. He said: “I pleased to see the relaunch of the Digital Participation Charter as Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter.
“The Charter has been a collaborative effort between Scottish Government and SCVO and includes five new pledges to support organisations take ownership of digital inclusion.
“Digital inclusivity is fundamental to the Scottish Government in achieving our key priorities, and through working with SCVO we are able to support organisations to make substantial impact on the lives of people vulnerable to digital exclusion.”
The launch event, held at Standard Life House and hosted by Standard Life, brought together key stakeholders in a united effort to bridge the digital divide.
Andy Young, representing Standard Life, part of Phoenix Group, said: “We are a digital-first organisation, but we recognise that digital can be a barrier for some people, so we’ve made it a priority to help those who need extra support through delivery of our digital inclusion strategy.
“We welcome and support the work that SCVO is doing in this space, and are pleased to commit to the principles outlined in the Digital Inclusion Charter, which will provide a vital framework for organisations across all sectors to help those who want to become more comfortable using technology in their everyday lives.”
Find out more about Scotland’s Digital Inclusion Charter at digitalinclusion.scot.
Proposals to introduce a strict licensing framework for canine fertility businesses have been announced.
The planned licensing scheme will clamp down on unethical breeding practices, regulate the services offered, ensure higher standards of care and protect animal welfare.
Businesses offering canine fertility services will be licensed annually, and subject to regular inspections to ensure compliance with licensing conditions.
The proposals are a response to concerns raised by those in the veterinary profession and key animal welfare organisations regarding the unregulated nature of businesses offering canine fertility services.
Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie said: “It is clear to me that there are significant concerns about the activities of canine fertility businesses. It is unacceptable that these businesses can operate with little in the way of regulatory oversight or accountability.
“Our decision follows careful consideration of the views expressed following public consultation last year, as well as extensive discussions with those in the veterinary profession, animal welfare organisations and local authorities.
“Our intention to bring in these measures demonstrates that we remain firmly committed to upholding the highest standards of animal welfare in Scotland.”
Scottish SPCA Director of Innovation and Strategic Relations Gilly Mendes Ferreira says: “We have seen a surge in the establishment of canine fertility businesses in recent years, especially involving high value breeds like French Bulldogs who often struggle to give birth naturally.
“We welcome the Scottish Government’s responsiveness to our concerns and support the move to license these businesses. It will be imperative that licensing inspections are conducted by registered, experienced veterinary surgeons.
“We look forward to collaborating closely on the details of the new framework for licensing these establishments in Scotland.”
The British Veterinary Association (BVA) has welcomed proposals announced today (16 August) by the Scottish Government to crack down on unregulated canine fertility clinics and unethical dog breeding practices in Scotland, following a sustained nationwide campaign by vets and animal welfare organisations.
Under the planned scheme, any businesses offering dog fertility services will need to get an annual licence and be subject to regular inspections.
The announcement follows recommendations published by BVA and BSAVA earlier this year, which included the licensing of establishments offering canine breeding services, a strengthening of enforcement of existing animal welfare regulation, and the closure of the legal loopholes that are allowing unregulated breeding practices to flourish.
Responding to the Scottish Government announcement, BVA President Dr. Anna Judson said: “The British Veterinary Association is pleased to see the Scottish Government act on the veterinary profession’s recommendations and take the lead in clamping down on unregulated canine fertility clinics.
“Vets across the UK have raised concerns over the growth in facilities offering dog breeding services without any qualifications or veterinary oversight over the last few years, fuelling a potential animal welfare disaster.
““Licensing is a hugely important first step in this crackdown. Any dog breeding facility must also have a named RCVS-registered vet in place, with requirements for active veterinary involvement and oversight at the facility at all times.
“Of course, licensing can only be successful if it is accompanied by mandatory inspections, sufficient funding for local authorities, and tough penalties for anyone found to be operating outside the law. We look forward to working with the Scottish Government in the development of a robust licensing framework.
“We are now calling on governments in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to follow suit and act swiftly to address this pressing issue of dog welfare and breeding.”
Recommendations from BVA and BSAVA’s joint policy position on canine breeding services, published in January this year, can be seen at:
As we approach Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre’s 30th Birthday next year, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the vibrant history of our community.
We’re reaching out to you, our friends and neighbours, to help us celebrate this milestone by sharing your cherished memories of Drylaw & Telford over the years.
Whether it’s a story from the early days, a favourite event, or a simple moment that captures the spirit of our community, we’d love to hear it. Your memories, old or new, are an important part of what makes this place so special.
Please join us in preserving and celebrating our shared history by sharing your stories with us!
Get in touch if you’d like more information, or just pop along to one of the sessions!
Reminiscence Sessions are starting on Monday – 19th August!
Come along for a blether and help us build our memory book of Drylaw and Telford. This group is open to anyone with a connection to Drylaw and Telford, whether you have lived there your whole life, just arrived or have a different connection to the area.
The Homeless World Cup co-founder and social entrepreneur, Mel Young MBE is to receive the prestigious Edinburgh Award.
Mel Young MBE has been selected to receive the accolade from a shortlist of nominations cast by the Edinburgh public. He will receive an engraved Loving Cup from the city’s Lord Provost at a ceremony within the City Chambers later this year.
Since 2007, the Edinburgh Award has empowered its citizens to recognise and celebrate individuals who have made a real and lasting impact to the city and brought the capital to national and international attention. Previous recipients include bestselling authors, ground-breaking scientists, human rights activists, and exemplary sportspeople.
Mel Young is President of the Homeless World Cup which he co-founded in 2003. Under his leadership, the Homeless World Cup has expanded all over the world and now has partners in 70 countries, touching the lives of over 100,000 homeless people every year – more than one million people in the last decade.
A movie called “The Beautiful Game” which is based on the Homeless World Cup was released this year and has been a global movie hit.
Mel also co-founded the Big Issue in Scotland in 1993 and was Chair of Sportscotland, the national agency for sport, between 2016 and 2024.
Mel will become the 18th recipient of the coveted Edinburgh Award. His handprints will be immortalised on a flagstone in the City Chambers quadrangle alongside those of previous recipients, all of whom have contributed in their own unique way to the Capital.
The Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, and Chair of the Edinburgh Award Panel, Robert Aldridge said: “I’m delighted that Mel Young MBE has been chosen as the latest recipient of the Edinburgh Award. He deservedly follows in the footsteps of some of the finest individuals associated with our great city.
“From The Homeless World Cup, to The Big Issue in Scotland, his passion and dedication to changing lives and advocating for fairness is admirable and inspiring. Through his work he has represented the Capital with pride, dedication, and skill.
“I’d also highlight the fantastic work of The Homeless World Cup charity, based in the city, which now has partners in 70 countries, touching the lives of over 100,000 homeless people every year.
“I’d like to congratulate Mel on behalf of the city, and I’m sure he will continue to do great things, both here in Edinburgh and beyond.”
Homeless Word Cup founder and social entrepreneur, Mel Young MBE said: “I am humbled and honoured to receive this Award. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, and I am proud to be one its citizens.
“The Homeless World Cup has its international headquarters in Edinburgh and connects all over the globe. I’d like to share this Award with the team of fabulous people in our organisation and to salute the real heroes of our work, the homeless people themselves who change their own lives through their involvement in our operations across the world.
New guidance to empower schools to take action on mobile phone use and next steps in ongoing work to improve relationships and behaviour in schools has been published.
The ‘Behaviour and Relationships in Schools’ action plan, and targeted guidance for teachers to manage mobile phone use in schools, set out steps to be deployed at the national, local and school level over the next three years in response to concerns about relationships and behaviour in schools, including:
supporting the effective recording and monitoring of inappropriate behaviour
encouraging schools to reinforce a positive ethos and culture
providing guidance and support to ensure schools can embed relationships and behaviour policies which set clear expectations of relationships and behaviour
The new guidance on mobile phone use makes clear that while it is for individual schools to determine what action to take, head teachers are empowered to take the steps they see fit, including a full ban on mobile phone use in school if that is their judgement.
Aside from impacting behaviour, a growing body of evidence shows mobile phone use also impacts on learning. The Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022 data showed that almost a third of 15-year-olds in Scotland and across all Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries reported being distracted using digital devices in most or every maths class – and around a quarter reported being distracted by others using digital devices.
During a visit to Stonelaw High School in Rutherglen, Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “Since the last action plan on relationships and behaviour in Scotland’s schools was published in 2017, our children and young people have experienced periods of significant challenge, including a global pandemic and a cost-of-living crisis which is causing real difficulty for families across the country. There is no doubt this has had a major impact on their schooling and how they learn.
“Improving relationships, behaviour and attendance in schools is one of my top priorities as Education Secretary. We have been working jointly on this with key partners such as COSLA and SAGRABIS since I was appointed and this new action plan contains a series of steps to be taken which will ensure that both pupils and staff are safe and supported.
“It takes an evidence-based approach to responding to the relationships and behaviour challenges faced in our schools and has been informed by the Behaviour in Scottish Schools Research (BISSR), which heard from nearly 4,000 teachers and support staff, as well as discussions with a wide range of stakeholders including teaching unions at the three behaviour summits.
“While it is clear that the vast majority of pupils in our schools continue to behave well, there are undoubtedly growing behavioural issues associated with mobile phones.
“This new guidance empowers head teachers to take the steps they see fit for their school to limit the use of mobile phones, including a full ban on the school estate if they feel that is required and I would encourage teachers to take all the steps they feel necessary to combat these issues.”
COSLA Spokesperson for Children and Young People Tony Buchanan said: “Ensuring children and young people feel supported, safe and ready to learn is of vital importance to Local Government, and we need to make sure schools are safe and welcoming places for all.
“We have worked closely with the Scottish Government and our partners across education system to develop the action plan and guidance published today.
“We will continue to work in partnership to enable the provision of the best possible support, in and out of school, so that children and young people to get the most out of their learning.”
Acting Stonelaw High School Headteacher Vicki Rice said: “We were delighted to welcome the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to our school. The Cabinet Secretary took part in discussion groups with our staff and pupils who were given a valuable opportunity to talk with her about these important issues as part of their work and study on personal and social education.
“We discussed our work earlier this year with our parents and pupils about excessive phone use and the impact that this can have on learning. This work helped inform our plans for this session to protect the learning environment by limiting phone use in certain areas of the school.
“We will continue to work with our pupils and their families to ensure that this remains supported.
“This fits with our wider efforts to create positive relationships and behaviour right across our school. We know that getting this right for our learners means that they feel safer, more included, respected and supported.
“This in turn helps create strong relationships between our learners and staff and helps improve everyone’s wellbeing.”
Commenting on the publication of the National Action Plan on Relationships and Behaviour in Schools and mobile phone guidance by the Scottish Government, Mike Corbett, National Official Scotland for NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:“While NASUWT is frustrated with the length of time taken to produce this National Action Plan, we have nevertheless engaged in good faith with the Scottish Government, shared our members’ current experiences on managing pupil behaviour and advocated strongly around how they might be addressed.
“We are encouraged by the recognition that a range of approaches and consequences are required given that restorative approaches to poor behaviour do not work for all pupils and cannot be the only tool available to schools when responding to incidents of abuse and violence.
“We need to see better recording and monitoring of behaviour incidents in schools as an essential part of ensuring consistency and measuring progress and improvements over time.
“We very much welcome that the principle of serious consequences for serious misbehaviour, up to and including exclusion, where necessary, has been accepted.
“The Scottish Government must make it clear that serious misbehaviour will carry serious consequences if any plan is to secure a safe and orderly environment for teachers and students.
“Given the recent riots in other parts of the UK, the acknowledgement that more work is needed to support schools in addressing racism and racist incidents, along with other forms of discrimination such as misogyny, is welcome.
“We know that mobile phones can be used as a tool to bully and harass fellow pupils and teachers, as well as distracting pupils from their learning. We therefore welcome the guidance from the Scottish Government that school leaders can take steps to limit or ban the use of phones in their schools if they see fit. However, to be effective, addressing the use of mobile phones should form part of joined up whole-school strategies on managing pupil behaviour.
“While we are pleased to see that the Action Plan intends that schools will be offered support to adopt the recommendations within it, including suggested approaches and exemplars, it is disappointing that the Scottish Government has not as yet committed any additional funding, time or resources to schools to support this work.
“Teachers and school leaders are already dealing with excessive workloads and constrained budgets. Implementing the recommendations of this action plan is too important a task to be simply added to schools’ already lengthy to do lists. Ring-fenced time and funding is needed.”
Now that the schools are back, are you looking for a job to fill the time but don’t know where to start?
Our Nurturing Futures programme has been designed to support parents in North Edinburgh looking to get back to work. Working with our Employability Officer, Lynne, you will build skills and confidence to get the job you really want.
As well as receiving support from Lynne with job searching, you may also take advantage of the free childcare support available to allow you to attend interviews or training or just free up time to focus on their job searching.
First Minister John Swinney attended The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo last night (Wednesday 14 August) to fulfil the prestigious role as Salute Taker for the Show at Edinburgh Castle’s Esplanade.
Mr Swinney was met by Jason Barrett, Chief Executive Officer of the Tattoo, before taking his seat in the Royal Gallery to enjoy this year’s Show Journeys, which honours the seafarers who courageously traverse the oceans to connect people and cultures across continents.
The First Minister was part of the crowd to enjoy 800 talented performers from across the world, in a powerful display that embraces both tradition and modernity, through the creative light shows, drill, dance and so much more.
Journeys, runs until Saturday 24 August 2024, with tickets still available to purchase: edintattoo.co.uk/tickets or by calling +44 (0)131 225 1188.
New pay proposal could see an end to two years of industrial action, protect passengers from further national strikes and improve the reliability of services
Following a series of positive talks led by the new UK government, ASLEF yesterday (14 August 2024) agreed to recommend a new pay proposal to its members.
The offer made to ASLEF is a 5% pay rise for 2022/23, 4.75% for 23/24, and 4.5% for 24/25. The offer will now be put to ASLEF members in a referendum.
This marks a significant step towards resetting industrial relations and resolving the long-running rail dispute, which has seen services disrupted for over 2 years now. As the pay proposal includes an offer for the year ahead, it also means there is no national rail dispute on the horizon.
The Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, says the breakthrough shows how this government is “putting passengers first”.
If agreed by ASLEF members, the pay proposal could see an end to 2 years of industrial action, protect passengers from further national strikes and improve the reliability of services, which train passengers have been missing for far too long.
Poor industrial relations have caused disruption and delay for working people, prevented families from visiting loved ones and stopped the public from attending events, damaging the hospitality sector.
New industry estimates revealed today show that railway revenue foregone because of strikes since June 2022 has totalled around £850 million – a debilitating amount for the industry and a huge burden that falls directly on the taxpayer. Accounting for additional impacts of strikes, including those due to people being unable to work, or due to potential reductions in spending on hospitality and retail, the total impact likely exceeds £1 billion.
This government changed the tone and got unions back around the table to resolve rail disputes. In recent weeks, the Transport Secretary has instructed senior officials to conduct intensive talks with unions in order to resolve disputes in the interests of the travelling public, which has led to this significant breakthrough.
Transport Secretary, Louise Haigh, said: “When I took this job, I said I wanted to move fast and fix things – starting by bringing an end to rail strikes. Finally today the end is in sight.
“If accepted, this offer would finally bring an end to this long-running dispute and allow us to move forward by driving up performance for passengers with the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation.”
Transport disruption has a huge impact on the wider economy, with sectors like hospitality and tourism among the worst affected.
If ASLEF members vote yes, it will end the national two-year pay dispute during which drivers have taken 18 days of strike action as well as refusing to work non-contractual overtime.
The dispute – the longest in the recent history of Britain’s railways – was because the Tory government, and the privatised train companies, refused to give train drivers, who have not had an increase in salary for five years, since their last pay deals expired in 2019, the pay rise they deserve because, during that time, the cost of living has increased significantly.
Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general secretary, who negotiated the deal with Simon Weller, assistant general secretary, and Dave Calfe, executive committee president, emerged from talks at the DfT to say: “‘We are pleased that after being treated with utter contempt for the last two years by the privatised train companies, and the previous government that was pulling their strings, we finally have a new government – a Labour government – that listens and wants to make the railway work for staff, for passengers, and for the taxpayer.
‘The offer is a good offer – a fair offer – and it is what we have always asked for, a clean offer, without a land grab for our terms & conditions that the companies, and previous government, tried to take in April last year.
‘We will put it to members with a recommendation for them to accept.’
The no-strings three-phase offer is for 5% for 2022-2023; 4.75% for 2023 to 2024; and 4.5% for 2024 to 2025. Backdated and pensionable.
Mick Whelan added: ‘We have achieved more in the last four weeks of a Labour government than we managed under a Tory government that set out to destroy us – first by refusing to meet us, then by insisting the companies could only offer us 2%, then by offering us 4% but with a land grab for all the T&Cs we have spent 144 years negotiating with productivity and sweat.
‘We have gone from people behaving dishonestly and deceitfully and trying to rip up all our t&cs to a group of people who seem to understand the interests of rail workers, the travelling public and the taxpayer.’
11am – 12:30pm
19th August
