The search is on for neighbours who go that extra mile as nominations open for the City of Edinburgh Council’s Good Neighbour Awards.
Established in 2016, the award is a way for residents to pay tribute to Council tenants who make an outstanding contribution to their local community.
Councillor Kate Campbell, Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, said: “This year, we want to hear about Edinburgh’s lockdown legends – those incredible neighbours who have gone above and beyond to support others in their community during what has been one of the most challenging years many of us have ever faced.
“I am always amazed at the inspiring stories I hear from our tenants and blown away by the selfless acts of our Good Neighbour Award winners. Please give back by taking the time to put forward your good neighbour for the recognition you know they deserve.
Councillor Mandy Watt, Vice Housing, Homelessness and Fair Work Convener, added: “At the height of lockdown, things we once took for granted became difficult or impossible for many of us. Yet we very quickly saw big-hearted residents from all over the city give their time and energy to help others get through this challenging time.
Maybe you know someone who helped deliver shopping for someone who was shielding, or collected their prescriptions, or maybe just made sure people didn’t feel alone. Whatever difference your local lockdown legend made to you or your community, get nominating now.
Last year’s Good Neighbour Award winner was Council tenant Gilbert ‘Gibby’ McIntyre, who sadly passed away before he learned of his win. A donation to the RSPB has been made in his name, on the request of his family.
Speaking about his kind-hearted Dad, Gibby’s son Scott said: “Dad was very much interested in enhancing his, and others’, surroundings through his hard work in the garden.
“A big part of this was to attract birds and other wildlife and he made a point of positioning feeders and nesting boxes so that his neighbours could also enjoy the many visitors to the garden. This was particularly appreciated by those who were less able to get out and about.”
Nominations for this year’s awards should be emailed to the Council by 1 January 2021 at housing.research@edinburgh.gov.uk or by phone on 0131 529 7805.
The winners will be announced on the Council’s social media channels and in an edition of the Tenants’ Courier, the Council’s newsletter to all tenants.
Nominees and those who cast nominations will also be entered into a prize draw for a chance to win a £100 shopping voucher.
A virtual fun-day with activities for children and advice for parents is being held during the school holidays as part of a campaign launched to support families in Edinburgh.
The All of Us family fun day on Thursday, October 22, will have 15 online sessions, including story time, children’s yoga, a scavenger hunt and advice for one-parent families, which are being put on by organisations from across the city.
Some sessions will be hosted on Facebook, while people will need to sign up for others in advance.
All of Us was launched by NSPCC Scotland and Edinburgh Child Protection Committee earlier this year to help people find out where to get support and advice with parenting or other worries about family life and where to turn if they had concerns about a child.
At the start of the year a number of community events were held across the city but further ones were cancelled because of Covid-19, and all activities were moved online, including the family fun-day.
In April, the partnership brought together information on its web page about organisations and contacts where families could go for help and support during lockdown. This resource has continued to be regularly updated.
Carla Malseed, NSPCC Scotland local campaigns manager, said: “Because of the pandemic, this year has been extremely difficult for so many families, who have faced financial pressures, relationship strains, isolation and ill-health.
“But we want people to know that support is still out there and if they or someone they know is struggling then it is important they feel that they can seek and get help.
“Our family fun-day, as well as providing some enjoyable activities for children and parents during the school holiday, will be an opportunity for adults to get some advice, such as how to help keep kids safe online.
“There are still spaces left, so please look on our website and find out about the different sessions we are running.”
Jackie Irvine, Chair of the Edinburgh Child Protection Committee, said: “Protecting young people and supporting families remains a priority for us, and we want everyone across the city to be aware of where to turn for help if they or someone they know is struggling.
“And we really hope people will join us for our fun-day, which has a wide range of activities for children and some advice for parents. We are really pleased to see so many local organisations taking part.”
The campaign is also raising awareness among communities and professionals about the early signs of child neglect and how to help families who are struggling. Two new webinars have been produced about the role that everyone can play in preventing neglect and helping to raise happy healthy children in Edinburgh.
One of the webinars is designed for parents and wider community members and describes what neglect is, its causes and signs and what people can do if they are worried about someone else’s child or need some support themselves. The other is for professionals and gives some insight into working with families in Edinburgh.
The 20-minute long webinars, which are free and can be watched until 28 February, 2021, can be accessed here.
To find out more about our fun-day programme visit www.edinburgh.gov.uk/allofus. People will need to sign up for some events in advance and the session organiser will then contact them with details of how to take part on the day.
For parenting advice and support visit NSPCC helpline or call 0808 800 5000, weekdays 8am to 10pm and weekends 9am to 6pm. People can also contact Social Care Direct on 0131 200 2324.
Edinburgh Cycle Hire has reported growth of 119% between September 2019 and 2020. Over 221,000 trips were made during that time, eclipsing growth reported by other UK cycle schemes and the record set by the company last year.
The scheme has seen exponential growth with average trips per day up by 46%. This is due in part to the 75 new hire stations installed at sites across the city including Montgomery Street and Belford Road next to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Modern One) and Dean Gallery.
Other sites included West Crosscauseway, Corstorphine Road and Craigleith Road. These are areas previously not served by a cycle scheme and is part of a strategy to create a cycling network for the city as an alternative to short car journeys.
New users to Edinburgh Cycle Hire have totalled more than 34,000 bringing the overall to 57,000 customers cycling in and around the city. Earlier in 2020 the popular scheme was extended into South Queensferry with start/end journeys totally nearly 4,500 in the first six months and 1,500 new customers joining the scheme. Proving that cycle hire can function as a public transport service, as well as improving inner city connectivity.
George Lowder, Chief Executive, Transport for Edinburgh said: “What makes this performance truly outstanding is that this growth encompasses a period when the country was in lockdown, with homeworking, no Festivals and few visitors in The City.
“The people of Edinburgh have embraced cycling and we will continue to strive to grow the scheme to meet with this increasing demand.”
Alex Macdonald, General Manager Serco said: “We’d like to thank our customers to the moon and back for making the positive choice to cycle.
“Coincidently the one million kilometres our customers have ridden would take them from the moon, to earth and back again.”
Cllr Lesley Mcinnes, Transport and Environment Convenor, the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Edinburgh Cycle Hire has proved itself to be an accessible and easy alternative to travelling by car and is a vital part of the city’s sustainable transport network, providing another useful choice of how to get around in Edinburgh.“
The scheme has not been without its challenges: theft and vandalism has been an issue with bikes stolen and dumped in public places and damage to hire points.
Further investment has been made to the cycle hire’s infrastructure to deter this type of anti-social behaviour and maintain the scheme’s sustainability. However, this impacts on delivering services across the city, especially in areas where cycling could become a more accessible mode of transport for many communities.
A partnership has been created with Police Scotland to support efforts to recover stolen bikes and prosecute those who choose to damage the scheme’s infrastructure.
Chief Inspector Neil Wilson, Police Scotland said: “Police Scotland, Edinburgh City Division has been working in close partnership with the Edinburgh Cycle Hire Scheme (ECHS) to address theft of their fleet and vandalism to their infrastructure.
“We have undertaken crime prevention surveys of hire stations throughout the city and we will support ECHS in the implementation of enhanced security measures. Our officers have been briefed on how to spot a stolen bike and regularly undertake targeted patrolling, which has resulted in numerous apprehensions and prosecutions.
“We will continue to develop our approach in partnership with ECHS and would encourage the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity involving the cycle hire network to police.”
The programme is grant-funded by Transport Scotland. The cycle scheme will implement an outreach programme to help people make the choice to walk or cycle for short local journeys, and to encourage groups who were reluctant to cycle feel confident getting on a bike.
In March Edinburgh Cycle Hire took ownership of an additional 68 ebikes through eBike Grant Fund, delivered by Energy Saving Trust and funded by Transport Scotland. These have been a popular choice with nearly 21,000 trips made. Feedback has shown a broader demographic of uptake for ebikes, especially amongst older users, proving that you never really forget how to ride a bike.
During the summer Edinburgh Cycle Hire, in partnership with Sustrans and funding from Transport Scotland responded to the Covid-19 pandemic by providing free passes to NHS Workers to support them with their essential work.
With increasing demand for the scheme, Edinburgh Cycle Hire’s future looks set to continue in a positive direction as the city continues to seek out ways to improve its connectivity in a sustainable way.
A summer of learning, celebrating and caring for Portobello Beach has come to a close, as environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful reports on its My Beach, Your Beach campaign.
Launched in mid-July, just as we were easing out of lockdown, the campaign aimed to help improve water quality at six of Scotland’s well-loved beaches through targeted interventions to encourage better attitudes and behaviours.
Now, as we look to the autumn and winter, it is heartening to see that despite 57% of people thinking dog poo is an issue and 35% believing litter is an issue at Portobello Beach, 66% of those surveyed in the area have said they are willing to pick up litter when visiting the beach to leave it cleaner than they found it.
The successful campaign raised awareness of the potential impact on bathing water quality by dog fouling and encouraging gulls by feeding and leaving litter.
The third year of the My Beach Your Beach campaign was a little bit different – extending it to two more great beaches, Irvine and Troon – and also taking community engagement online in the face of lockdown measures, to encourage those who live locally to get involved and celebrate their beach.
Campaign messaging appeared on the bins along the promenade, encouraging people to dispose of waste responsibly.
This was supported by anthe interactive online programme aiming to celebrate and engage people with their local beach, through information about local environment, landscape and heritage, quizzes, photo galleries and a virtual ‘Doggy Ambassador’ competition, reaching nearly 10,000 people.
Although impact monitoring was not possible this year, 90% of locals surveyed had seen at least one campaign message and 83% said that they would like to see more campaign activity like this in the future. Last year, the campaign achieved a 53% reduction in litter as compared to the previous year and a 40% reduction in dog poo too.
Paul Wallace, Campaigns and Innovation Manager at Keep Scotland Beautiful,said: “We know that, in many cases, people only need a small nudge to do the right thing and take better care of their local environment.
“This summer, our local neighbourhoods became even more precious to many of us. For those #LuckyToLiveHere by the beach, the unprecedented pressures of more people taking holidays and day trips in Scotland, consuming more single-use items and take-away food and using limited services, such as toilets and bins, were felt.
“We’re grateful to both council staff and members of local community groups like Keep Porty Tidy, Friends of Porty Prom and Portobello Timebank for working to keep the beach clean for everyone to enjoy and are delighted to find that, following following this summer’s campaign, over 60% of people from communities locally have shown an interest in picking up litter at Portobello beach when they visit, to leave it cleaner than they found it.
“Cleaner sands can lead to cleaner seas – a win, win for our beach environments and communities.”
Cllr Lesley Macinnes, city council Environment Convener,said: “Our beaches and other open spaces have been so important for people to enjoy in recent months as we’ve all had to adapt to the coronavirus restrictions.
“It’s really important then that we look after them and keep them clean and tidy for everyone to enjoy. This campaign has been really helpful in supporting the hard work of our waste services department getting across that message and celebrating Portobello.”
The campaign, funded by the Scottish Government and supported by SEPA, was led by Keep Scotland Beautiful alongside its Upstream Battle and Clean Up Scotland campaigns and annual Beach Awards.
All six of the beaches selected for this campaign have faced challenges in improving the quality of their bathing water as measured by SEPA, and research confirms a significant link between behaviour on the land and the cleanliness of the local seawater.
Plans to transform Meadowbank into one of Edinburgh’s greenest neighbourhoods were approved by councillors last week.
Shaped in response to views shared by local residents – who were keen to see more quality greenspace, places for play and better-connected walking and cycle routes brought to the area – the masterplan for Council-owned land at Meadowbank was approved by the Development Management Sub Committee on Wednesday.
The £100m project is now expected to become the first development of its size in Edinburgh to promote the Council’s net zero carbon by 2030 goals by creating a low-car, low-carbon community and energy efficient new homes.
The sustainable mixed-use development will also create jobs and a significant economic boost by regenerating a five-hectare area next to the new Meadowbank Sports Centre – which is already set to become one of the greenest and most accessible centres for community sport in the country when it opens next year.
Space for a new GP surgery and community and commercial uses, the protection of existing trees and planting of saplings plus new rain gardens also feature in landscaping designs, which aim to pay tribute to the area’s sporting and industrial heritage.
With support from Nature Scot and the Scottish Government, the Masterplan has been awarded Building with Nature accreditation, setting the standard for high-quality low carbon features, and the Council has undertaken studies on the option for ‘green roofs’. The designs have also been endorsed by Sustrans’ Places for Everyone scheme, which brings specialised active travel knowledge to the project.
Councillor Neil Gardiner, Planning Convener, said: “As a planning authority, we need make sure we protect our City’s beautiful and historic built environment, while supporting our communities to become sustainable for twenty-first century living.
“We also need to adapt our city to meet the needs of a growing population, address the increasing impact of climate change and ensure growth is responsible. These designs for Meadowbank meet these needs with plans for a truly low-carbon, low-car, energy efficient neighbourhood, featuring new affordable homes. This is a really important site for the City and I’d like to thank everyone who took time to participate in the consultation process.
“The masterplan includes homes to meet different needs, including for families. One third of the houses will be affordable, making a welcome contribution to the needs of the heroes who keep our city running every day. This masterplan, which has broad community support, offers a gold standard for new developments across the city for both the public and private sectors.”
Councillor Maureen Child, Vice Planning Convener, said: “Our aspirations for place making through our new City Plan, which we are currently drafting, are about making sure our communities continue to be great places where people want to live and visit, so feedback from the local community has been key to shaping Committee’s decision making on Meadowbank.
“I’m pleased that an open conversation has been had and that we’ve been able to agree these ambitious plans, which offer a mix of community benefits and improved facilities. It will see the community evolve into a more connected and climate conscious community, in line with our net zero carbon targets.”
Keir Bloomer, the project’s independent Sounding Board Chair, said: “The current proposals have emerged through an intensive exercise in community engagement. In addition to a number of public information sessions and consultation meetings, a Meadowbank Sounding Board was established almost two years ago.
“This group contains representatives of a wide range of local community groups and organisations, including those who were opposed to the original proposals for the site. Local councillors and others with relevant committee responsibilities are also members but they are in a minority.
“Considerable efforts have been made to ensure that the sounding board is able to express its views, regardless of whether these are favourable to the Council’s perspective or not. I was asked to chair the group as somebody who is completely independent.
“The sounding board met quite frequently until restrictions during the pandemic made this impossible. Designs for the site have been altered on a number of occasions in response to its views. As a result, the current plans are greener and more open. Housing density has been reduced and designs improved. It is intended that the sounding board will continue in existence through the development phase, acting as a strong voice for local people.”
Cathy Houston, Project Architect at Collective Architecture, said: “We are grateful for the time taken by members of the community to engage in the Meadowbank design processes.
“This is such an important site in Edinburgh’s City Centre and so it is wonderful to be at this stage with a multifaceted proposal which seeks to enrich the neighbourhood on many levels: ecologically, environmentally, socially and with a huge amount of care.
“The process undertaken with the community has ensured that the development sensitively integrates new housing, local amenities, greenspace and restored public routes east to west.”
Brenda Devlin, a local Community Councillor, said: “Using the expertise of Collective Architecture and the City of Edinburgh Council, local consultations, focus groups, workshops and public meetings were organised.
“It became obvious that the participants that attended these events were being listened to and their suggestions and ideas taken on board. The plans now being presented are a result of these consultation sessions and mostly reflect the vision of local residents, groups, organisations and businesses.
“The creation of a Sounding Board provided another opportunity for further targeted local input and a place for checks and balances to be carried out on the final plans. This eco-friendly development with a mixture of housing types, quality green spaces and community facilities makes this a very exciting development and will be an asset to our area.”
Around 600 modern energy-efficient homes – a minimum of 35% of which will be affordable – are detailed in the planning application, which is available to view as a report to Committee.
More information is available at ww.edinburgh.gov.uk/meadowbank.
Council officers handled over 250,000 inbound customer phone calls, 150,000 emails and 50,000 tweets at the height of the pandemic, as part of the city’s round the clock response to supporting residents in need.
The Contact Centre team has been thanked for their lockdown efforts – which have largely been from home – ahead of the Council’s move to re-instate all phone lines to pre-Covid levels.
From tomorrow (Monday 5 October) a full service will start to resume with 200 staff managing customer queries by social media, email and phone. This will take place remotely and from Council buildings, seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
Residents are being urged to keep going online where possible to save time and to keep phone lines free for those without digital access.
Councillor Rob Munn, interim Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, said: “Our customer team has done an incredible job of supporting residents, with great care given to help some of our most vulnerable citizens during what has been a very challenging situation. I’d like to thank each one of them for this as they prepare to return to their usual roles.
“Over the last six months, we have seen more and more residents save time by going online to report an issue, request help or pay for services, and that’s something we want to see continue.
“We know increasing numbers of people would rather use their mobile phone, tablet or computer to contact us and the website is by far and away the quickest and simplest way to get in touch. The savings we make from digital service delivery can also be invested towards improving the city.
“That said, not everyone has the means, the ability or the want to go online. That’s why it’s also important that we start to reinstate our usual phone services again, and why we need people to help us keep these lines free and accessible for those who need them most.”
Councillor Joan Griffiths, Vice Convener of the Finance and Resources Committee, added: “The ways in which we communicate in our day-to-day lives have evolved this year and our Contact Centre team has had to adapt to the changing demands of the Council, of residents and of course the pandemic.
“More than ever, residents and businesses want and need to contact us and receive information digitally, and our officers offer a responsive social media and email service.
“We recognise that the team has helped an unprecedented number of residents with questions and concerns at all hours of the day, and that they have done this from home. It has been an incredible effort and I’m pleased that we’re now seeing a return to more phone lines being open too.
“We recently extended our ICT contract with CGI which will help us to move more services online and invest in new technology, as this is all part of our commitment to making Edinburgh a Smart City. I’m sure we’ll continue to see a sea change in the way people want to interact with our services and the demand for quick, useful online services will only increase.”
An emergency only service was introduced during lockdown so that the most critical customer queries could be prioritised as well as new phone lines to support people who were vulnerable and shielding.
Many officers were also redirected to boost welfare and benefits advice services and to process tens of thousands of applications for the Coronavirus business support scheme, which has allowed over £112m to be paid out in grants to local business owners.
The Council’s website is designed for reporting issues such as problems with street lighting, potholes and litter and there are currently 70 services available, ranging from requesting a new recycling bin to parking and licensing transactions. It is also simpler and quicker than ever to report, request or pay online, with customers no longer needing to register or sign in to their mygovscot account to use online waste services.
Since the drive to move customer contact online was launched in 2015, the number of transactions being processed by the Council online has risen to over 80,000 a month with the website receiving close to 288,000 visits every week.
National volunteering and social change charity, Volunteering Matters and City of Edinburgh Council have joined forces to launch Volunteers Supporting Families in Edinburgh – a project that recruits, trains and support volunteers to mentor families going through a range of challenges, are in crisis or who need extra help in their lives.
This will be the first time Volunteers Supporting Families has launched in Scotland, with the programme already established in three local authorities in England.
The programme, run by Volunteering Matters, will enable trained volunteers to help families address the challenges they face and assist them in creating a happy and safe environment in which they can thrive.
Volunteers provide a listening ear, practical support and encouragement, helping families with budgeting, healthy eating, setting routines and improving social networks.
Thanks to a 3 year award from the Edinburgh Communities and Families Grant Programme, the projects volunteers will meet their allocated family on a weekly basis, over a six-month period.
Their support will empower parents to develop the skills required in overcoming serious challenges or hardships. In many cases this will enable the family to rebuild their lives and move on from social worker intervention, reducing the need of social services.
Already a success in other areas including Greenwich and Southend-on-Sea, the programme is now available to Edinburgh residents and Volunteering Matters is calling on potential volunteers to get in touch for this exciting opportunity.
John Brown at Volunteering Matters, said: “Our volunteers, and the parents they support, continue to impress us with their energy, resilience, patience and commitment to overcome serious challenges, protect vulnerable children and rebuild family relationships.
“We are proud to be able to offer this key support to people across parts of Edinburgh and would like to invite prospective volunteers to contact us to find out more.”
The City of Edinburgh Council Leader Adam McVey has pledged that eradicating poverty will stay at the heart of the Council’s future actions and policies.
The report identifies seven key areas of action to end poverty in Edinburgh by the end of this decade, including Edinburgh becoming a living wage city, tackling the housing crisis and closing the educational attainment gap.
It marks the end of the work of the Edinburgh Poverty Commission as it hands over to End Poverty Edinburgh – a new independent group of residents with first-hand experience of living on a low income and civic allies drawn from business, public services and the third sector.
As a group, they will work to raise awareness and understanding of poverty, influence decisions, and hold the city to account for ending poverty in Edinburgh.
Adam McVey, Council Leader, said: “On behalf of the Council, I would like to extend my thanks to those in the Edinburgh Poverty Commission and End Poverty Edinburgh for the time, dedication and research that has gone into creating this report.
“I’m also extremely grateful to those who shared their personal experiences and those of their families in helping get to the root of the issues. Tackling poverty in our city is one of our key priorities as a Council – helping those who need it, making resources available for people and, ultimately, doing everything we can to eradicate it in Edinburgh.
“We know that the pandemic has been incredibly challenging for those who were experiencing or at risk of poverty in our city.
“The Commission has pulled no punches and got to the heart of the issues – while there is no doubt that the pandemic has exacerbated the situation, poverty in Edinburgh is a crisis that goes beyond one cause and we cannot ignore it.
“If we’re to make progress on the scale required, it needs a concentrated effort from us, our partners and allied organisations, local business and residents acting as one Team Edinburgh.
“The seven areas of action give our City clear and defined areas for us to focus on and we appreciate that they are interlinked and support each other.
“Our 2050 Edinburgh City Vision is of a fair city where all residents share in its success and have a good level of wellbeing and life experience and we have been working with the Commission throughout our continued response to the pandemic to make that vision a reality, ensuring that as we rebuild our city we do it with our most vulnerable in mind.
“The educational attainment gap is a big priority for us and has been for a long while now. We were making good progress in this area before the pandemic but we’re mindful that the disruption to the school term earlier this year has widened that gap. Now we need to work with our schools and educational partners to double down on that work and ensure the progress continues to be made.
“We also know that access to and cost of housing is a central issue in Edinburgh and needs a focused and strategic approach in collaboration with the Scottish Government to deliver the new homes needed to make significant impact.
“We’ve already made progress around short term lets and will be ready to act quickly when regulations come into effect. We’re proud that Council houses being built right now are some of the best homes being built in the City but there is still work to be done to make sure we can provide good quality and affordable homes for everyone in our city who need them.
“The Edinburgh Poverty Commission has spent over two years listening to the voices of the people of Edinburgh and the reality faced by many of our residents, with COVID making it harder than ever for too many.
“That’s why the Council and the city has to come together to tackle both the cause and consequences of poverty. It will take time and won’t be easy, but we will ensure it remains at the heart of our policies as we drive the change needed across the Capital in partnership.”
While over 200 people attended the online launch of the report, local mum Ashey was picking her children up from school.
She had just left her youngest at her Nan’s as it was raining and the bairn has a cold. Nan had also given Ashley £5 to tide her over until partner gets paid on Friday. He has two cleaning jobs but he expects to be paid off at any time as one big office contract has just been terminated and the other is also looking vulnerable.
Ashley will just have time to pick up the kids, go to Farmfoods, collect the bairn then make the tea for her partner getting home, as he has to be back out for his evening cleaning job.
Tomorrow … well, we will face that tomorrow.
Surviving, not living. There are families just like Ashley’s all over Edinburgh, one of the richest cities in the world.
Edinburgh Poverty Commission set out a ten year ‘horizon’ for eradicating poverty in the capital. For all the ‘horizons’ and the council’s ‘visions’, you wonder where Ashley and her family will be in ten years time, when for now just gettting by, getting through from one day to the next is the ever-present challenge.
Education Vice Convener Cllr Alison Dickie writes about the pressing issue of child poverty in Edinburgh:
Let’s talk about stigma, even ‘poor kids’ and how it fuels inequality.
Posh pickles and peppered crackers. Years ago, as a young family down Glasgow way, we made some kind soul feel good when they gifted us an exotic hamper. At the time, I remember thinking that it must have been worth about £50, money that could have bought the school trousers our sons needed.
This, and the wider experience of being worried about the next penny, our reliance on housing benefit, and the debt that became a problem, has given me some understanding about the complexity of poverty today.
Lockdown, and its significant impact on lives, has helped many others better understand how we can be just one life change or support network away from becoming financially vulnerable.
We live in an affluent city but there’s deep inequality, where 23% of our children live in poverty – as high as one in three in some areas. And these children and families struggle to get the smallest and most basic of items, never mind homes in this city of shocking rents and house prices. Contrary to popular opinion, 66% of these children come from families where at least one parent works.
In my own classrooms, there was the period stained skirt not to be forgotten, and the PE kit that was never coming out that wash.
And as Vice Convener of Education, I still remember the pupil who shared her family’s shame of walking through the streets to their homeless accommodation, bin bags of belongings clutched in their hands.
Pickled gifts are nice and food provision is vital, but they won’t end child poverty. And neither will a mindset that continues to see the deficit of ‘poories’ and the ‘vulnerable’, rather than the strengths that every child and their family can bring to the future of our city if we get alongside them for the long haul.
Sometimes we recreate inequality. Think of the bulging schools we deem the best, often mistaking levels of academic performance for loaded advantage, or our hesitancy to sit down, learn and work with anyone.
What too of the postcodes judged, or those loud, already empowered, voices who too heavily influence decisions? And those annual SQA results, the prominence given to them when we say we equally value the strengths and qualifications of every young person?
Next week, the Edinburgh Poverty Commission will launch its findings, and their report will inform the Council’s second Child Poverty Action Plan.
Education, in its most holistic sense, is key, from the equity framework that increasingly informs practice across our schools, to helping families find the benefits to which they are entitled through income maximisation, and the mentoring and wraparound support too.
This, and building a stigma-free environment that supports everyone, from a focus on nurture and wellbeing, to digital devices for all, and the roll out of 1140 early years places to help families back to work.
So, ‘All I am saying, is give every child a chance!’
UNISON calls for government help as city council faces hundreds of job losses due to Covid and funding crisis
Edinburgh UNISON, the union representing most Edinburgh council workers, fears that hundreds of jobs could go over the coming months due to the Covid Crisis and poor funding settlements from the Scottish Government.
Tomorrow (Thursday 24 September), Edinburgh councillors will discuss the updated budget shortfall of £12.2 million due to the council’s Covid response.
Gerry Stovin, Edinburgh UNISON assistant branch secretary said: “With this figure, plus the proposed £25 million in cuts already approved for next year and this year’s cuts and savings not achieved, we could be facing a further £50 million of cuts over the next 12 months.
“This would have a disastrous effect on essential services the public rely on, especially at this critical time.
“UNISON is calling on the Scottish Government and COSLA to agree short term additional funding to cover the cost of Covid, financial flexibility and fundraising powers along with a fairer budget settlement for April 2021 for all Scottish councils.”
