Uncategorized – Page 220 – The NEN

Eggs-ercise! Morrisons trains hens to produce the tastiest eggs

Morrisons have teamed up with industry experts to create a programme to give Hens the best training at the finest facilities –

Investment into fastest growing protein industry will raise awareness about an industry that needs additional investment –

Brits consume 36 million eggs a day with each person eating an average of 197 eggs a year –

Morrisons is investing in British farming by teaming up with the ‘British Egg Academy’ to create a hen training programme. The tailored “training” plan aims to produce the fittest chickens and the best eggs.

Hens lay more eggs when they are active. Students of the academy will learn how to develop exercise routines to create the healthiest environment possible to keep their hens happy. Students will learn everything there is to know about producing elite hens and the best eggs; including the right amounts of feed and water needed, the amount of necessary light exposure and even how to create calming environments to give them time to relax and put their claws up.

The hens will be given all the exercises that they need to produce the best eggs. They will be given access to trees – that they use to play hide and seek in, footballs and other toys – that they are encouraged to play with, and perches at various levels within in their houses – so they are able to jump, climb and fly on a daily basis. For the hens that need downtime after their training, dust baths will be available out in the range.

Young people have consumed more eggs in recent years, making the egg industry the fastest growing protein industry in the UK. Last year, Brits consumed over 13 billion eggs, that’s a whopping 36 million eggs a day, and 197 eggs per year per person.

As well as creating tastier eggs, the academy will increase awareness about the job opportunities available in an industry worth over £1 billion to the UK economy, and improve training opportunities for those who are looking to help feed Britain with the best British eggs.

Sophie Throup, Head of Agriculture at Morrisons said: “We want to produce some of the healthiest, fittest and happiest hens in the UK.

“We are always looking at ways to continually improve our egg quality and this Academy will help achieve that goal, whilst giving our students insights into how to crack the industry for generations to come.”

Bill Meredith, Principal at Bishop Burton College’s Principal said: “The college is delighted to be working with Morrisons and poultry farmers to provide opportunities for those seeking rewarding careers in the egg industry.

“Our commitment is to provide the skills needed to maintain the highest possible welfare standards – happy hens are us!”

The British Egg Academy will be based at Bishop Burton College and the course will start in January 2021. Applications to the course will close in December 2020.

For more information, visit: https://www.morrisons-farming.com/backing-british/british-egg-academy/

Lottery cash to keep capital’s theatres afloat

Capital Theatres, Scotland’s largest theatre charity, has received £168,000 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to support its three venues – Festival Theatre, King’s Theatre and The Studio, through this period of closure.

This vital funding, which will help maintain the iconic buildings in a safe condition, has been made possible thanks to National Lottery players.

This funding from the Heritage Emergency Fund will go towards covering essential costs such as electricity, gas, IT, insurance and maintenance of the theatres whilst they are closed. It will also go towards a small element of staff salaries for those who are responsible for ensuring the venues are secure and maintained whilst closed, and who will plan how we can adapt our venues to safely reopen our venues when we are allowed to do so.

At least 90% of Capital Theatres’ income is generated from ticket sales and trading income, meaning that the sudden closure meant an immediate loss of the two main sources of income.

To date Capital Theatres has refunded 52,900 tickets with a value of over £2.5m. The postponement of the panto until 2021 will result in a further £2.3m loss of income.

It is currently campaigning to receive emergency support to the same level as other publicly supported theatres which would allow Capital Theatres to play its part in the renewal solution for Edinburgh and Scotland.

Beyond its 3 key venues the organisation provides local community health and wellbeing benefits through an extensive programme currently adapted to run virtually, delivers a key element of Edinburgh’s year-round cultural offer for local citizens and retains 230 jobs in the city’s cultural sector.

Kate Smith, Director of Development at Capital Theatres said: “Capital Theatres, Scotland’s largest theatre charity, is responsible for the Festival Theatre, King’s Theatre and the Studio. When we closed our venues in March due to Covid-19 we saw a 90% reduction in our income from loss of ticket sales.

“This vital funding from the Heritage Emergency Fund will help maintain our buildings in a safe condition. On behalf of everyone at Capital Theatres we would like to thank National Lottery Players.”

The funding, made possible by National Lottery players, was awarded through The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund. £50million was made available to provide emergency funding for those most in need across the heritage sector.

The UK-wide fund aimed to address both immediate emergency actions and help organisations to start thinking about recovery.

Ros Kerslake, Chief Executive of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage has an essential role to play in making communities better places to live, supporting economic regeneration and benefiting our personal wellbeing. All of these things are going to be even more important as we emerge from this current crisis.

“Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players we are pleased to be able to lend our support to organisations such as Capital Theatres during this uncertain time.”

Like Capital Theatres, other charities and organisations across the UK that have been affected by the unprecedented impact of the coronavirus outbreak are being given access to a comprehensive package of support of up to £600 million of repurposed money from The National Lottery.

This money is supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and span the arts, community, charity, heritage, education, environment and sports sectors.

Thanks to National Lottery players, £30 million is raised every week for good causes, including heritage of local and national importance. By playing The National Lottery, people up and down the country are making an amazing contribution to the nationwide-response to combatting the impact of COVID-19 on local communities across the UK.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund is now closed for applications.

To find out more about how The National Heritage Emergency Fund is supporting the sector at this time please visit:

https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/responding-coronavirus-covid-19

To find out more about the National Lottery Good Causes, visit:

www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/coronavirus-pandemic-response

SSSC shares more inspiring care stories

An emotional film of a care home resident singing with his daughter on a video call during lockdown is just one of the new Inspiring Care Stories published by Scottish Social Services Council yesterday.

The story from the Crossreach St Margaret’s care home in Polmont shows how staff supported residents and families to keep in touch when face-to-face visits couldn’t take place and just how much it meant to the gentleman and his family is clear from watching the film.

blob:https://www.facebook.com/bc7ea24c-db09-4627-9952-b9425066206d

This is the second phase of our Inspiring Care Stories campaign which show how the social service workforce has faced and dealt with the challenges of COVID-19 and gone the extra mile to support people using services and each other.

The latest stories feature a number from workers who have had amazing support from colleagues and highlight just how important that’s been in delivering the best possible levels of care.

We’ve published 18 new stories from lots of different areas including:

Fife
Lossiemouth
Clackmannanshire
Edinburgh
Stornoway
Dumfries and Galloway
Glasgow.

The stories are the latest from 70 we’ve gathered from all types of social services right across Scotland.

All the stories published so far are in our new online Inspiring Care Stories resource www.sssc.uk.com/inspiringcarestories and we’ll publish more in September.

Get involved and share your story

We’re highlighting Inspiring Care Stories on social media all week and want everyone in social services to get involved by sharing their own stories on social media to raise the profile of their #lifechangingwork and that care is delivered by a skilled, trusted and confident workforce that is #SSSCregistered.

Services and care workers can add to the stories by:

sharing a photo, video or a post on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
using the hashtags #lifechangingwork and #SSSCregistered
printing the I’m #SSSCregistered, We’re #SSSC registered and #InspiringCareStories posters and share your photo
sharing the image on your Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts.

Read the Inspiring Care Stories here.

School staff urge Government to introduce COVID testing at work as safety fears mount

BREAKING NEWS: Secondary school pupils to wear face coverings from Monday

GMB has this morning (Tuesday 25 August) called on the Scottish Government to bring forward a COVID testing regime for every school across Scotland, after a survey of its members found that two-thirds of support staff in schools and nurseries do not feel safe at work.

The union has written to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education John Swinney MSP, urging him to follow the interventions made in the social care sector by giving workers the opportunity to access COVID testing in their workplace.

Following a survey conducted between Thursday 20^th and Monday 24^th August of over 1,400 members employed in support staff roles, including cleaners, janitors, caterers and pupil support assistants, the union learned that:

The vast majority (96 per cent) believe regular testing should be offered at work;
Two-thirds (63 per cent) do not feel safe at their work;
Over one-fifth (23 per cent) have confirmed a suspected or positive case of COVID at work; and
Just under half (46 per cent) would not know what to do if there was a suspect or confirmed case of COVID at their work.

The results are published against the backdrop of increasing concerns over COVID 19 infection and transmission in Scotland’s schools.

GMB Scotland Organiser Helen Meldrum said: “Over a week since the return of Scotland’s schools, it’s clear that many support staff do not feel safe at their work and overwhelming majority of them want to be able to access a COVID test at work.

“If support staff need to book a test, they must absorb the financial costs and time implications to do so, and for a chronically low-paid workforce with many employed on multiple contracts across multiple workplaces, that’s just not credible.

“The failure over the summer months to listen to the voices of school support staff echoes what we witnessed in care earlier this year, and in this case the political focus has been on teachers and pupils while support staff have been forgotten.

“You cannot have a safe return to full-time education if a significant chunk of the workforce needed do not feel sufficiently safe, valued or heard by our decision-makers, and that’s why we urged the Deputy First Minister to intervene now.”

A school in Dundee has been closed with pupils and staff asked to self-isolate after it was linked to 27 new cases in the city.

JUST ANNOUNCED:

Scottish secondary school pupils will have to wear face coverings in corridors and communal areas from next Monday, Education Secretary John Swinney has confirmed.

SNP Ministers ‘hurting Edinburgh’s tourist industry recovery’

Scottish Government officials tried to block a tourism campaign to encourage visitors from the rest of the UK to come to Scotland, according to the Daily Mail.

Emails between Visit Scotland and the Scottish Government show that government officials altered a press release removing references to England and Northern Ireland. However, Visit Scotland highlighted the pressure they were receiving from the tourism industry to target tourists from the rest of the UK.

The tourism body say they have still not extended the campaign to the rest of the UK due to Scottish Government guidance.

Figures from Scottish Enterprise show that UK based tourists made up 77% of overnight tourism trips in Scotland in 2018.

A recent study by the University of Edinburgh Business School said that UK visitors are most interested and able to afford visits to Scotland and should be targeted, according to The Times.

Lothian MSP, Miles Briggs, said: “Tourism is a key part of Edinburgh’s economy and decisions by SNP Ministers are actively hurting the capitals economic recovery.

“English, Welsh and Irish tourists are welcome to Edinburgh, despite the SNPs nationalist agenda.

“Local coronavirus guidelines must still be followed, but sending this message to the rest of the UK about visiting Scotland is not helpful.

“With international free movement being limited for the foreseeable future, tourism from other parts of the UK will be more important than ever for getting Edinburgh and the South East of Scotland’s economy back on track.

“It is vital that we protect and global reputation of Edinburgh as an inclusive and welcoming city – that fundamentally starts with our brothers and sister in other parts of Britain.”

Coronavirus: danger at work

Nearly 600 people in Scotland are thought to have caught coronavirus at their place of work, new figures show. The data includes eight people who died from the virus since April.

Care home workers account for nearly two thirds of the suspected occupational exposures, according to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) data, but many other groups – hairdressers, funeral directors, beauty therapists and NHS workers among them – are also believed to have been exposed to the virus at work.

STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer said: “These figures confirm our view that undervalued key workers in care and the NHS have borne the brunt of workplace transmission of the virus with some, tragically, dying as a consequence.

“These figures are almost certainly the tip of the ice-berg. We suspect that there has been significant under-reporting, not to mention a significant incidence of transmission from workers without symptoms.

“Even taken at face value these figures shine a light on the failures we have witnessed in the delivery of adequate PPE and the slow response to the provision of testing for suspected Covid infection.

“Now, more than ever, government and every employer have the responsibility to get things right. Workplaces have been at the centre of localised outbreaks. We need the utmost vigilance, full engagement with unions and an open door for union roving health and safety reps in non-recognised workplaces.”

Gary Smith, secretary of the GMB Scotland union, said there is likely to be significant under-reporting of the suspected workplace coronavirus cases. He said: “The events of the last six months simply do not give any confidence in these figures.

“In sectors which predominately employ women, such as social care and food manufacturing, we are talking about industries notorious for the under-reporting of workplace incident and injury pre-Covid.

“We now know that many of the workers in these industries have been failed on basic health and safety issues, from the delay in the delivery of proper PPE provision to the ability to access testing for suspected Covid infection.”

New support for Scottish grassroots music venues

Applications open at 12 noon on Wednesday 26 August

New support has been made available for grassroots music venues across Scotland through the Scottish Government’s Grassroots Music Venues Stabilisation Fund.

The £2.2m fund, which was announced by Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop on 10 July 2020, will be delivered through Creative Scotland.

The purpose of the fund is to provide grassroots live music venues, that were financially sustainable before Covid-19, with the funds to prevent permanent closure and help with sustainability.

Eligible venues should:

Be permanent, indoor venues in Scotland in the grassroots sector (i.e. those working with new, developing, musical talent), which have a public audience
Have a capacity of under 600. Applications from venues with capacities of up to 1,000 will be considered if a significant grassroots focus can be demonstrated.

Venues may apply for grants of between £5,000 and £50,000.

Online application forms will be available on the Creative Scotland website at 12 noon on Wednesday 26 August 2020.

Applications must be submitted by 12 noon on Thursday 3 September 2020.

Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “Grassroots venues are the heartbeat of Scotland’s music scene, and they have been particularly hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. We are all extremely keen to see grassroots venues reopen again but further work is needed to ensure this can be done in a safe and sustainable manner.

“This £2.2m funding will provide some much needed stability for grassroots venues over the coming months and I am determined to continue working with the sector on what further help we can provide. It’s a long road to recovery but hopefully this marks the beginning of a brighter future after the very recent dark times.”

Iain Munro, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland said: “In these extremely challenging times, this fund will provide much needed emergency support to Scotland’s grassroots music venues which are an important part of Scotland’s music ecology, developing music and audiences as well as supporting the talent for which Scotland is so renowned.

“As we look to move forward through the Covid-19 crisis, grassroots venues will, when it is safe to do so, play a crucial role in bringing people of all backgrounds together to experience the joy of live music.”

Scottish teenagers to get access to pot of money over the next nine years

Thousands of teenagers in Scotland are set to benefit for the first time from money in Child Trust Funds (CTFs) that has been waiting for them since they were young children.

Since 2002, around 6.3 million CTF accounts have been set up across the UK, roughly 4.5 million by parents or guardians and a further 1.8 million set up by HMRC where parents or guardians did not open an account. In Scotland there are approximately 447,000 accounts.

This means some children do not know there are accounts in their name, so are unaware their money is waiting for them.

From 1 September 2020, the oldest children will turn 18 and be able to access their money.

Around 55,000 accounts will mature each month and HMRC has created a simple online tool to help young people find out where their account is held.

If a parent or guardian is unsure of where their child’s CTF account is held they can also use this tool.

For those who do not have the identifying information required to access the tool, HMRC will provide alternative, non-digital routes to finding a CTF provider upon request.

HMRC and The Share Foundation are also working together to help children in need of further support.

HMRC will send details of the CTF provider by post within three weeks of receiving their request.

Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen, said: We want to make sure all young people can access the money which has been set aside for them, to invest in their future and continue a savings habit, as they turn 18.

“If you’re unsure if you have an account or where it may be, it’s easy to track down your provider online.”

UK Government Minister for Scotland, Minister David Duguid, said: “This will be a welcome boost for many Scottish young people, particularly welcome in what has been a difficult year for many.

“I encourage all young people aged between 16 – 18 years in Scotland to check if they have a dormant Child Trust Fund. This money, provided by UK Government, is rightly yours. It only takes a few minutes of your time to check your eligibility online.”

The accounts were set up to encourage positive financial habits and a saving culture among the young account holders. HMRC is working with the Money and Pension Service (MaPS) and the CTF providers to continue to provide financial education to the beneficiaries.

CTFs were originally set up for children born between 1st September 2002 and 2nd January 2011, with a live Child Benefit claim.

Parents and guardians received a voucher to deposit in a Child Trust Fund (CTF) account on behalf of the child. At 16 years, the child can choose to operate their account or have their parent continue to operate it, but they cannot withdraw the funds.

At 18 years of age, the CTF account matures and the child is able to withdraw money from the fund or move it to a different savings account. Over 700,000 accounts will mature each year.

The accounts are not held by HMRC, but by a number of CTF providers who are financial services firms. Anyone can pay into the account, with an annual limit of £9,000 and there’s no tax to pay on the CTF savings interest or profit.

European Movement in Scotland shouts ‘Enough’

Scotland’s leading pro-European campaign organisation, the European Movement in Scotland, (EMiS) has launched a campaign through its affiliated local groups across the country to defend democracy and highlight the sectors of the economy already damaged by Brexit.

The campaign, designed to galvanise Scottish opinion in the face of serious threats to our economic and political future, proclaims: “It’s time to join forces and shout ‘enough'”.

Letters to Scotland’s MPs and MSPs will be sent by grassroots activists from Fife to the Highlands and from Glasgow to Perthshire, saying: ‘The very concept of democracy is being weaponised. A cornerstone of democracy is the right to oppose, to challenge, to debate.

‘And yet, since the vote to leave the EU in June 2016, many people have come to believe that it means the opposite. Attempts to debate the manner of our departure from the EU have been dismissed as undemocratic.” The campaign will demand that Scotland’s elected representatives stand up for democracy and the country’s economic interests.

EMiS chair, former MP for Edinburgh North and Leith, Mark Lazarowicz, said: “Whatever people’s views on the EU, on Scotland’s future, we all need to wake up to the steady dismantling of our democracy; to understand that we risk sleepwalking into something which is a democracy in name only.

“As soon as it’s COVID-safe, we intend to take our peaceful campaign out onto the streets to defend democracy.”

Over the coming days the rolling campaign will “alert people who may not yet have taken an active interest in the Brexit debate to the practical implications of our final departure, which will impact all of us in some way, and some of us – farmers, researchers, patients dependent on imported medicines – to an extreme extent.”

Activists point out: “Brexit was supposed to resolve NHS funding issues, according to the (fake) promise on the bus. But the ramifications of leaving the EU for both the NHS and social care will compound the current coronavirus crisis.”

In agriculture and food, the campaign will demand that high food standards are protected in any trade deals, that climate change mitigation is prioritised, animal welfare is safeguarded and support is extended to fragile rural communities in areas such as North and West Scotland.