Scottish Government: Unlocking fresh business talent

Expanded support to close the gender gap and attract the next generation of entrepreneurs

Up to £2.6 million is being invested in initiatives to make it easier for women and people from all backgrounds to start a business.

They include a pilot programme, launching initially in the South of Scotland, which will fund specialist enterprise coaches to provide a range of tailored advice and guidance to help individuals – particularly women and other under-represented groups – kick-start their business ideas.

Grants of up to £1,000 will be available to give practical help to turning business concepts into a reality.

The pilot will be delivered by South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) and run alongside a new Scottish Government-administered Pathways Fund to support entrepreneurial activity across Scotland. This builds on last year’s successful Pathways Pre-Start Fund and will provide support, mentoring and advice services for people  starting a company or seeking to expand a fledging business. Groups currently under-represented in the start-up community, including women, will be particularly targeted.

The two projects are to receive a total of up to £2.6 million funding this financial year and form part of the Scottish Government’s ongoing commitment to delivering the recommendations of the Pathways report on under-representation of women in entrepreneurship.

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said: “Economic growth is one of the key priorities of the Scottish Government. Scotland has all the ingredients to be one of Europe’s fastest-growing start-up economies: an economy that is strong, successful and dynamic. 

“Entrepreneurship is at the heart of a healthy, vibrant and growing economy. I am clear that the Scottish Government will play a prominent role in helping build the end-to-end support our start-up business community has to develop and grow. 

“This expanded package of support for entrepreneurs at the start of their journey continues our drive to ensure everyone, from every walk of life, is given the right support and encouragement to make their business idea a reality.” 

Chief Executive of SOSE Jane Morrison-Ross said: “We are absolutely delighted to be delivering the Pathways Pre-Start pilot across the South of Scotland.

“It is a region of entrepreneurs and the Pathways pilot will be key to delivering our vision for a wellbeing and inclusive economy and accelerating the fantastic entrepreneurial pathway work our Innovation and Entrepreneurship team are already doing.

“This work can now be supercharged and will be critical for economic growth, as we will be able to tap into the potential the South of Scotland has to become a rural economic powerhouse.

“During the pilot, our new enterprise coaches will focus on pre-start up stage, and support individuals to realise their entrepreneurial potential and guide them to the next stages of business whilst helping with the development of an entrepreneurial mindset. We would urge all budding entrepreneurs who want to be part of the programme to watch this space.”

Entrepreneur and Investor Ana Stewart, author of the Pathways report on under-representation of women in entrepreneurship, said: “If Scotland is really serious about building a richer, deeper and healthier entrepreneurial economy, we must widen the funnel beyond existing routes to encourage more people to set up and scale their businesses, as opposed to sticking with existing structures and systems; systems we know are not currently reaching a large majority of the population.

“Whilst there is still much more to do to achieve equal access to entrepreneurship, it’s encouraging to see the launch of the SOSE pre-start pilot in tandem with the creation of the light-touch, micro-grant funding, giving would-be founders the best chance of successfully navigating their very first steps into entrepreneurship.”

More information on the Scottish Government’s Pathways Fund is available on the Scottish Government website.

Two convicted in connection with rape and murder of a man

Two men have been convicted of the rape and murder of a 24-year-old man in Fife that happened in November 2021. 

Dylan Brister, aged 27, and Cameron Allan (pictured below), aged 20, were found guilty yesterday (Friday, 19 July, 2024), following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. They will be sentenced on a later date. 

The body of Calum Simpson was found within a property on Herriot Crescent in Methil on 3 November, 2021. 

He had been drugged and subjected to a serious sexual assault. Enquiries were carried out and the two men were arrested and charged in connection with the assault and his death. 

Detective Inspector Scott Roxburgh, Senior Investigating Officer, said: “Our thoughts are very much with Calum’s family and friends and I hope that the conviction brings them some kind of closure. 

“This was a particularly horrific and sickening attack on a young man who died after being drugged and sexually attacked. Both men will now face the consequences of their actions. 

“I would like to thank officers who carried out enquiries as this was a complex and harrowing investigation. 

“Violence has no place in our communities and Police Scotland is committed to bringing those responsible for such crimes to justice.”

TUC: ‘Huge support’ for Labour’s New Deal workers’ rights plans

Voters are calling out for a significant boost to workers’ rights, post-election polling conducted for the TUC has found

Labour’s historic election win came off the back of UK voters overwhelmingly feeling that things were getting worse. 

Whether it was the economy, the NHS, public services or personal finances, people felt things were going the wrong way

For 14 years a succession of Conservative governments put workers’ rights in reverse, making it harder for people to secure decent pay and conditions.

While the number of workers in insecure work soared to 4.1m, the Tories brought in punitive trade union laws, introduced tribunal fees and doubled the qualifying period for unfair dismissal protection.

This led to a huge  63% of the electorate feeling that the Conservative party was no longer on the side of working people. 

What is coming over the horizon is Labour’s positive New Deal for working people, an ambitious set of reforms that would transform the lives of all working people.

A poll of 3,000 voters commissioned by the TUC shows huge backing across the political spectrum for improving protections at work and for the fundamental policies that underpin Labour’s New Deal for working people. 

The polling reveals what voters thought about Labour’s key employment right policies: 

Implementing a real living wage: Three-quarters (77%) of 2024 voters support Labour’s commitment to ensure that the national minimum wage rises to be a real living wage. 

Strengthening unfair dismissal: Nearly 2 in 3 (64%) of all 2024 election voters support the day one right to protection from unfair dismissal.

Making sick pay a day 1 right: Nearly 7 in 10 voters (69%) back Labour’s plan to make statutory sick pay available from the first day of sickness.

Ban on fire and rehire: Two-thirds (66%) of voters support a ban on fire and rehire.

Ban on zero hours contracts: Nearly 7 in 10 (67%) voters support banning zero-hours contracts by offering all workers a contract that reflects their normal hours of work and compensation for cancelled shifts. 

And there is majority support for collective rights too, including: 

Union access to workplaces: 2024 voters by a margin over two to one (46% in favour, 19% against) support giving trade unions a right to access workplaces to tell workers about the benefits of joining a trade union. 

Voters across the political spectrum want work to pay and to feel secure and respected in their jobs. Labour’s workers’ rights plans are hugely popular, and this poll should give ministers confidence to get on with delivering them in full. 

Working people want a government that is on their side and that will improve the quality of work in this country. After 14 years of stagnating living standards, the UK needs to turn the page on our low-rights, low-pay economy that has allowed good employers to be undercut by the bad.

Trade union campaigns and ideas formed the bedrock of the New Deal for working people. Trade unions will be working flat out with the new government to see these commitments come to fruition.

Demand for Acas services remains high in difficult year for employment relations

Inflationary pressures and cuts in real pay in many sectors have continued to trigger disputes across the public and private sectors in the last year according to workplace expert, Acas, in its latest annual report.

The new annual report covers the period from 1 April 2023 until 31 March 2024.

Acas Chair, Clare Chapman, said: “It has been another exceptionally demanding year for Acas and our staff have worked hard to help spread good work practice and resolve conflict in a challenging economic climate.

“The past 12 months have seen continuing inflationary pressures and a cut in real pay across the economy that are key drivers for collective disputes. Acas experts handled more than 600 of these disputes over the past year and resolved 94% of them.

“Our individual dispute resolution service also performed very strongly and helped to prevent costly and distressing court action for tens of thousands of employers and employees.

“The service dealt with over 100,000 cases during the year and over one million in the last decade. These successes have benefitted businesses and workers across Britain.”

Key facts and figures from this year’s annual report, include:

  • Acas was involved in 618 collective disputes between employers and groups of workers with a settlement rate of 94%. Pay was the leading cause of the disputes.
  • The individual dispute resolution service at Acas, which helps to resolve potential employment tribunal claims, dealt with 104,884 notifications for ‘early conciliation’. Seven out of 10 cases avoided the need for an employment tribunal. Wages were the top cause of conflict, followed by unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.
  • The Acas website continues to be popular for employers and employees seeking advice on workplace rights. Customers accessed its web pages 17.9 million times in 2023-24.
  • The Acas helpline answered 578,463 calls from employers and employees across Great Britain. Discipline, dismissal and grievance were the top topics for calls.
  • Acas trained over 40,000 people in good workplace practice. 93% of attendees said their course met their objectives.
  • Acas has made significant efficiencies in key service costs. The cost of handling a case in our collective and individual conciliation services has been reduced by 30% and 11% respectively.

A full copy of the 2023-2024 Acas Annual Report can be viewed here: 

www.acas.org.uk/annualreport.

Coalition urges £150 million raised through adding VAT to fees to go to pupils in Scotland with support needs

  • Use funding from adding VAT to private school fees to support pupils with additional support needs (ASN) in state schools
  • Concerns raised over impact of adding VAT for those with ASN, with increased movement of pupils into an under-resourced state sector
  • Near doubling in the number of pupils in state schools with additional support needs since 2013

The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of specialist care and education to vulnerable children and young people, has called on the Scottish Government to use funding from adding VAT onto private school fees to increase support to those with ASN in state schools.

The UK Labour Government reiterated its manifesto commitment to increase VAT on school fees – at the standard rate of 20 per cent – in the recent King’s Speech. This could potentially boost Scottish Government education spend by £150 million (although it should be noted that this figure does not take account of pupils leaving the independent sector and thereby not contributing).

In addition, the SCSC has raised concerns over the impact that potential displacement of those with ASN from private schools into the state sector will have.

A high percentage of children in private education, estimated at around 9,000, have ASN, and many will have their learning disrupted, by being forced to leave their school, causing them significant problems.

Local authorities will also have to accommodate more pupils in already under-resourced schools and be required to increase funding to support these.

There has been a near doubling (96.8 per cent) between 2013 and 2023 in the number of pupils identified with ASN in state schools, from 131,593 to 259,036, amounting to 123,628 individuals. This includes those with mental health problems, learning disability, autism and dyslexia, and currentlyrepresents more than a third of all pupils (36.7 per cent).

However, this comes against a background of spending cuts and reductions in specialist support.

The Scottish Government’s annual teacher census, for example, indicates that between 2013 and 2023 the number of ASN teachers (publicly funded primary, secondary, special and centrally employed) has fallen from 3,290 to 2,898, a decrease of 392 teachers, representing a cut of 11.9 per cent.1

A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: “We would urge that any additional funding that comes through adding VAT to private school fees is used to support those with ASN in our state schools, giving those who need it the care and support that they need, and supporting closing the educational attainment gap.

“However, we would urge caution when it comes to adding VAT on fees for those with ASN, as this will have a potential major impact.

“Many of these will be forced to leave school, with their learning disrupted and further exacerbating pressures on an already over-stretched state sector, which is having difficulty coping, and brings further costs to local authorities.

“Clarification is needed from the Scottish Government as to how it intends to address the issue of adding VAT to fees for those with pupils with ASN.”

1 Scottish Government, Pupil Census 2023 supplementary statistics, 19th March 2024, table 1.5.

Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/pupil-census-supplementary-statistics/ (accessed 12th December 2023).

2 Scottish Government, Teacher census 2023 supplementary statistics, 19th March 2024, table 6.7. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/teacher-census-supplementary-statistics/ (accessed 19th March 2024).

Man arrested following 2023 road fatality

A man has been arrested following a fatal road crash in Edinburgh in 2023.

The incident occurred in Stevenson Drive in the Balgreen area of the city around 3.30pm on Saturday, 26 August, 2023. A 70-year-old female pedestrian died in the incident.

A 24-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with road traffic offences. He was due to appear at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Thursday, 18 July, 2024.

TREMOLO: Usher Hall announces stunning virtual concert series

FIRST PERFORMANCE FROM BEMZ NOW LIVE

Tremolo Virtual Concert Series Schedule

Out now – Bemz – Stream

26th July – Kathryn Joseph

9th August – VLURE

16th August – Lizzie Reid

30th August – Fergus McCreadie

6th September – SILVI

20th September – Hamish Hawk

27th September – Anna B Savage

The Usher Hall in Edinburgh is delighted to announce a series of eight breathtaking, intimate performance films recorded throughout Scotland’s only 5 star concert hall. 

With a dynamic and diverse lineup traversing genres including indie, folk, pop and hip-hop set to drop over the coming two months, kicking off the series today is Glasgow based rapper Bemz, streaming exclusively on The Usher Hall’s YouTube channel here.

The mini concerts will feature Bemz, Hamish Hawk, Kathryn Joseph, Lizzie Reid, SILVI, Fergus McCreadie, Anna B Savage and VLURE performing from hidden corners of the beautiful venue, giving viewers access to spaces that have never witnessed a live performance before.

Councillor Val Walker, Culture and Communities Convener, comments: “It is a huge joy to launch Tremolo, which will give Scotland’s most exciting talent the chance to perform and showcase work in the same venue where so many legendary musicians have played, such as Adele, The Killers and Paloma Faith. 

“The series is a fantastic opportunity to show the Usher Hall in a fresh light. Our new digital programme is eclectic and dynamic with artists spanning a wide range of genres, from folk and jazz to rap and indie. I’d like to thank Creative Scotland and all other partners who have contributed to this project.

“We’re confident that this fantastic new project will leave the audiences of Edinburgh and beyond coming back for more!”

Bemz, is one of several artists helping to further establish Scotland as a bona fide hotbed for Black music, while also proving that rap’s cultural reach stretches way beyond London and the English borders. Bemz’ strengths lie in the honesty within his music. 

Indie folk singer-songwriter Kathryn Joseph transports listeners with beguiling soundscapes of piano, harmonium and voice; a visceral, often melancholy blend of poetry and wistful refrains, conjuring up cinematic visions of Scottish landscapes and raw emotions. 

Rule breaking Glasgow five piece VLURE blur the lines between live electronics, jarring guitars and the performance sensibilities of their post-punk contemporaries. Synth laden hooks and heavy club influenced rhythms find their way twisting around emotionally confronting lyrics.

Lizzie Reid is one of Scotland’s most promising talents. An emotionally raw songwriter, Reid’s songs explore themes of love, loss, identity and modern life, drawing comparisons to contemporaries like Laura Marling, Angel Olsen and Julia Jacklin. 

Parliamentary and Scottish Jazz Awards Album of the Year winner Fergus McCreadie  is a composer of elegant, nuanced, and captivating Jazz music as well as a pianist and improviser of exceptional ability and originality. 

SILVI‘s music could easily be filed alongside Lana Del Rey’s epic approach to songwriting but also the brooding style of Two Feet or Bishop Briggs. Her incredible single “Burning” was crowned ‘Song Of The Year’ at the Weekender Awards last year.

Edinburgh singer-songwriter Hamish Hawk, twice nominated for the Scottish Album of the Year Award, creates musical portraits as vivid in lyric as they are in melody. His music is packed with characters, incident, emotion, and tunes to hang your coat on.

Vulnerability and curiosity have consistently been operative words to describe Anna B Savage’s work and on her second album, in|FLUX, she ruminates on the complexities and variables of humanity, the pain or pleasure of love, loss and earthly connection, capturing it all in devastating, elating and powerful ways. 

Tremolo isn’t just a series of concerts; it’s a statement of support for artists, a celebration of the Usher Hall, and a dynamic addition to Edinburgh’s cultural calendar.

Viewers are sure to discover their favourite new artists in an iconic venue without even having to leave the house!

Letters: Summer Reading Challenge

Dear Editor,

Summer has finally arrived and here at the Royal National Institute for Blind People (RNIB), we’re delighted to say it’s time to launch our fantastic library events for children as part of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge.

Developed by The Reading Agency, the annual Summer Reading Challenge encourages children aged four to 11 to sign up at their local library or online at summerreadingchallenge.org.uk.

They’ll set a reading goal and collect rewards for their reading – including a certificate when they reach their Challenge goal.

The theme of this year’s challenge is Marvellous Makers. RNIB is encouraging local libraries to run events which will get children making and thinking creatively about stories and books.

The aim is to encourage more children with vision impairments to join the Summer Reading Challenge and to help sighted children develop an understanding of sight loss. You can find details for the events on the Summer Reading Challenge website in the ‘Library Zone’.

Activities include making a pair of ‘sim specs’ which will help show children what it looks like when you have different eye conditions, building a story using a collection of tactile objects, building something from LEGO® or writing a nature-inspired story.

To complete the Summer Reading Challenge, children can read any books they like, including from RNIB’s library at www.rniblibrary.com in whichever accessible format they prefer and these will count towards their Summer Reading Challenge.

RNIB has also worked with The Reading Agency to create Amelia, one of the Marvellous Makers – a fictional cartoon creative club who have been created for this year’s Challenge and brought to life by the brilliant illustrator, Natelle Quek.

Amelia is visually impaired and holds a long orange cane to assist her with getting around.

Additionally, RNIB has created a special guide for library staff to help ensure events are as inclusive as possible The guide can be downloaded for free from The Reading Agency’s website at readingagency.org.uk/resources/7596

Marvellous_Makers_SRC_Event_Guide_RNIB_2024Download

For more information about the books available from RNIB and to find titles in accessible formats, visit  www.rniblibrary.com

For more information about Summer Reading Challenge events happening in your area, pop in to your local library or visit the Summer Reading Challenge website here https://summerreadingchallenge.org.uk/join-in and click on ‘Library Zone’. Alternatively head to your library’s website.

Lara Marshall

Library Engagement Manager, RNIB

Illustration by Natelle Quek ©The Reading Agency 2024.

Independent Living Skills Workshops

The Independent Living Skills group workshops are tailored to young Edinburgh based people aged between 16 and 24.

The workshops cover essential topics such as budgeting and finance, maintaining your home and understanding rights and responsibilities within a tenancy.

The course is 8 weeks long, with one two-hour session each week. It will take place in the Meadowbank area on Fridays (1pm to 3pm) starting 26th July.

To find out more or to book a place, contact Agnes Wall: 07354164453 / agnes.wall@linkliving.org.uk

Opens tomorrow: Take a voyage of discovery with Glasgow Boy Sir John Lavery

An Irish Impressionist: Lavery on Location

National Galleries of Scotland exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy building

20 July–27 October 2024

Admission £5 – £19

An Irish Impressionist | Lavery on Location | National Galleries of Scotland

Indulge your wanderlust at the National Galleries of Scotland’s summer exhibition, An Irish Impressionist: Lavery on Location, opening this Saturday (20 July) at the Royal Scottish Academy building in Edinburgh.

Dip your toes in the sun, sea and society of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, viewed through over 90 works by renowned Glasgow Boy, Sir John Lavery. Lavery on Location brings together an array of the Irish impressionists most notable paintings, including many works not usually seen by the public and nearly 20 paintings exclusively on display in Edinburgh.

Tickets are on sale now Book tickets | National Galleries of Scotland.

Take a trip through the extraordinary life of the Belfast-born artist, Lavery (1856-1941), from Scotland to New York via Paris and Morocco. Lavery never travelled without his painting kit, and An Irish Impressionist: Lavery on Location explores some of the locations he visited and was inspired to paint.

Move through the exhibition to experience the glamour of a lost era, with visits to the races, tennis matches and the golf course, or simply relaxing on warm days with Lavery’s family and friends.

See sumptuous portraits, impressionistic landscapes and idyllic scenes of leisure against a backdrop of Tangier, St Jean de Luz, Palm Springs and the Venice Lido. Be whisked away to Switzerland, Spain, Ireland and Italy, as well as to cities such as Glasgow, Seville, Monte Carlo and New York.

Indulge in beautiful seascapes of Tangier from the Ulster Museum, as well as spectacular portraits such as Idonia in Morocco from Glasgow Museums and Hazel in Black and Gold from the Laing Art Gallery.

From the highly finished to the swift impressionist sketch and a uniquely personal style, the range of subjects on show is staggering.

Born in Belfast, where his father ran a small wine and spirits shop in North Queen Street, Lavery was orphaned at the age of three, and moved to his uncle’s farm at Moira before being sent as a ten-year-old to a distant relative in Saltcoats, Ayrshire. He first ran away to Glasgow at the age of 15 and went on to take early morning and evening drawing lessons at the Haldane Academy, completing his training at the Académie Julian in Paris.

Along with a number of his fellow Scottish students Lavery worked at the colony of Grez-sur-Loing, near Fontainebleau, which will be the focus of the first room of An Irish Impressionist: Lavery on Location. Then, back in Scotland in 1885 he became one of the leaders of the much-loved group of artists known as the Glasgow Boys. The Glasgow Boys rebelled against the stuffy Edinburgh-based art establishment and challenged the Academy’s emphasis on historical painting. Instead, their subjects were drawn from everyday life, often painted outdoors.

Lavery quickly attained an international reputation in his early 30s when he received a gold medal at the Paris Salon, the most prestigious art exhibition in the world at the time. Enjoying great success after his move to London in 1896, Lavery combined his talents as a portrait painter with an interest in contemporary events and was later knighted in 1918.

As his style developed Lavery began to share some of the principal tenets of Impressionism. The movement was developed in France in the nineteenth century and is based on the practice of painting outdoors and on the spot. Using lively brushstrokes, these artists often produced works of art rapidly in a single sitting. Like Lavery, the Impressionists were interested in capturing the changing effects of light, frequently exploring this through landscape scenes painted in the open air.

With seven themed rooms, An Irish Impressionist: Lavery on Location will allow visitors to immerse themselves in Lavery’s oil sketches for the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888, where he had his big break and was commissioned to paint the State Visit of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria.

Journey through Lavery’s travels in North Africa, with mesmerising paintings of snake charmers and camps on his adventures to Fez. For over twenty years, his villa in Tangier, surrounded by beautiful gardens, would become a winter retreat.  

Then experience Lavery’s time as an Official War Artist with scenes in hospitals, submarine pens and air raids during World War I. In the final room you can experience the luxurious lifestyle of post-war society, including visiting the Henley Regatta and racing at Ascot.

Lavery experienced enormous social, political and technological change during his lifetime, yet, despite his travels and worldly experience, Lavery’s connections to home – to Scotland and Ireland – remained strong throughout his long career.

Senior Curator Prof. Frances Fowle said: ‘Lavery was a versatile painter who was equally at home in Scotland, North Africa and the French Riviera. “His paintings offer, on the one hand, a nostalgic glimpse of a bygone era and, on the other, a modern world of sunshine and leisure.

“Technically he was a true impressionist, intent on capturing a particular moment or atmospheric effect – perhaps night falling on Tangier, or early morning light, dancing on the crest of a wave.”

Guest Curator Kenneth McConkey said: ‘In a career that spanned over sixty years, Lavery’s output was immense. He saw carthorses become ‘horse-power’, windjammers transform into steamers, and flying machines reborn as air liners.

“Against a backdrop of immense social and political change, in the land of his birth, he witnessed the first cracks in the British Imperial entablature. Visual reporting skills, perfected in Scotland, took him to extraordinary situations and while his works develop in fascinating ways, their basic premises – setting down what was before him – remained constant.

“The same remarkable hand that brought us a Dutch Cocoa House in 1888 takes us to a tea-table in Palm Springs in 1938.”

This exhibition is organised by the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, in collaboration with National Museums NI and the National Galleries of Scotland.

For more information and to buy tickets visit An Irish Impressionist | Lavery on Location | National Galleries of Scotland.