ISG research reveals workplace preferences depending on personality types
– For 55% of the UK office workers having plenty of natural light is the main workplace priority
– Edinburgh, London, and Birmingham office workers have the highest workplace satisfaction in the UK
To help businesses and employees navigate uncertainty over the future of workplace, ISG paired up with a clinical trainee psychologist to develop a personality test that reveals workplace preferences based on people’s character traits.
As restrictions slowly ease and businesses resume, both employers and employees face the question about the future of workplace. ISG, a global construction specialist, conducted a survey of 5,779 office workers in the UK, Germany, Spain, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia to better understand the power of workplace prior to the lockdown.
The survey indicated that plenty of natural light (55%), plenty of fresh air (48%) and being able to work from home or outside of the workplace (45%) came on top as the main employee priorities for UK workers.
In terms of the regional split, employees working in Edinburgh tend to have the highest satisfaction about their workplace conditions (63%), followed by London (55%) and Birmingham (53%). However, employees working in Cardiff are least satisfied by their workplace with only 37% confirming so.
Taking into account the research findings, ISG collaborated with Hannah Baker, a trainee clinical psychologist, to discover ways in which employees’ personality traits can be indicators of their preferences for office or remote working.
By using the Big Five personality theory as the foundation, the test outlines ten statements that are based on five main dimensions of an individual’s personality – extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, stress and openness to experience.
Hannah Baker, a trainee clinical psychologist, said: “When considering your workspace, it is important to remember that all people respond to their environments differently.
“It can be helpful to think about where your motivation comes from – some people are motivated internally, while others respond to external factors. Also, understanding how other people impact your work can help.
“Individuals who are more introverted might find thinking independently in a quiet space most helpful. Extroverts, however, might prefer a busy office space, where they can exchange ideas and information with others.”
Over 100,000 people have signed up for future COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials through the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry of volunteers are helping speed up efforts to find a safe and effective vaccine in the fight against coronavirus
UK researchers urge more volunteers across all groups to sign-up, especially the over 65s and those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds
Over 100,000 people have volunteered to take part in COVID-19 vaccine trials, helping to speed up efforts to discover a safe and effective vaccine.
The UK Government is today (Monday 17 August) encouraging more people to join the thousands of volunteers and sign up to the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry to help the NHS in the fight against coronavirus and ensure potential candidates work for everyone.
To enable large-scale vaccine studies to take place across the UK, the aim is to get as many people as possible signed up to the Registry by October.
Researchers particularly welcome people from all parts of society, especially those who are more likely to benefit from a vaccine, including the over 65s, frontline health and social care workers, and those from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds.
Clinical studies with a diverse pool of volunteers will help scientists and researchers better understand the effectiveness of each vaccine candidate and will considerably speed up efforts to discover a safe and workable vaccine.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said: “From John O’Groats to Land’s End, everyone has played their part in tackling coronavirus from wearing face coverings to following social distancing guidance.
“Scientists and researchers are working day and night to find a vaccine that meets the UK’s rigorous regulatory and safety standards, but they need hundreds of thousands of people of all backgrounds and ages to sign-up for studies to speed up this vital research.
“I urge everyone to play our part in the fight against coronavirus and join the 100,000 people who have already registered, so we can help save and protect millions of lives.”
Chair of the government’s Vaccines Taskforce Kate Bingham said: “Protecting those at risk is the only way we will end this pandemic. That’s why we are working as quickly as possible to run clinical studies on the most promising vaccines to see whether they offer protection against COVID-19, whilst adhering to the UK’s strict safety and regulatory processes. And we need people throughout the UK to sign up to the registry to help us achieve this.
“Getting 100,000 volunteers on board is a great start but we need many more people from many different backgrounds that we can call on for future studies if we are to find a vaccine quickly to protect those who need it against coronavirus.”
Consultant Respiratory Physician and Director of the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) PRC, Bradford, Dinesh Saralaya said: “The best way to protect us from future outbreaks is to develop effective vaccines. Several vaccine trials are being conducted around the UK in the coming months and it is important that we all sign up to be contacted about them.
“I would like to reassure people that research trials and studies are strictly regulated for ethics and safety. They are conducted within the framework of the NIHR, which is the research partner of the NHS, and we take every precaution to safeguard participants taking part. This includes appointments in settings like sports halls close to where people live and work rather than in hospitals.
“By working together, we can produce efficient vaccines which are likely to protect all sections of our society from this dreadful virus in future.”
18-year-old Marium Zumeer from Bradford, who was hospitalised after contracting COVID-19, has first-hand experience of the benefits of taking part in clinical trials.
During her time in intensive care, she was offered the opportunity to take part in the national RECOVERY trial, which is testing a range of potential treatments for COVID-19. This includes the drug dexamethasone, which was found to be the first drug to be effective when treating those who are critically ill with the virus.
RECOVERY trial volunteer Marium Zumeer said: “I will always be grateful for being encouraged to sign up. I remember my dad at the time urging me to take part, not just for myself but for the wider community.
“The result has been really positive for me and I would encourage others to do their bit in helping us all in the fight against coronavirus.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Whitty said: “I’m very grateful to those who have volunteered for researchers to contact them to take part in COVID-19 vaccine studies, via the NHS COVID-19 vaccine research registry. The more people who volunteer to take part the more likely we find an answer to whether any vaccine is effective.
“Having 100,000 volunteers in just four weeks shows the selflessness of the public and is testament to the speed of work done by the Vaccines Taskforce, National Institute for Health Research and others to make signing up possible.
“I urge people to continue to sign up. It is important that we have people from different backgrounds and ages as volunteers, so that the vaccines that are developed work for everyone.”
A number of trials in the UK are expected to begin this autumn, working with the NHS, research institutions and businesses, helping to develop and manufacture the vaccines.
Launched on 20 July, the NHS COVID-19 Vaccine Research Registry is an online service allowing members of the public to register their interest in COVID-19 vaccine studies and be contacted to participate in future clinical trials.
Vaccines are tested in stages to ensure they are safe and effective. Volunteers who are contacted to take part in trials will be given information about what stage a particular vaccine is at and details of how it has already been tested. They will be able to consider this when deciding to take part and people can withdraw from the registry at any point.
The Registry has been developed by the government, in partnership with the NIHR, NHS Digital, the Scottish and Welsh governments and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Scotland’s social enterprise and charity sector today sees the merger of two successful social impact organisations.
Scran Academy, the locally-based youth charity – which also today marks its third anniversary – has formally united with catering enterprise, Prep Table Scotland, whose mission is to make the food industry more open, fair and ethical for producers, suppliers, employees and customers.
The merger became an increasingly obvious move for both organisations as the dramatic events of 2020 unfolded.
Conversations to join forces were already underway before the Coronavirus pandemic hit the UK, but the Scran Meals Programme, developed to feed Edinburgh’s most vulnerable people during lockdown, was a real testing ground and the ‘accelerating force’ for integrating both organisations.
Today’s formal announcement comes following that period of joint operations for both organisations as they responded to the Covid-19 food crisis. The partnership’s pioneering Scran Meals Programme has produced and delivered over 112,500 meals to around 3,500 residents across the capital.
All core delivery, assets and staff will continue within the Scran Academy operations. This primarily includes the café that operates from the NHS Comely Bank Centre becoming the Scran Café (which will be a trading element that creates job placements for young people), securing employment for the Prep Table staff team and the Prep Table Scotland assets transferring to enable increased value for Scran Academy young people.
The merged organisation will retain the Scran Academy name.
John Loughton, Founder of Scran Academy, said:“The staff and Board at Scran Academy are delighted to welcome this merger with Prep Table Scotland. We see this as a mature and exciting move that helps us all collectively deliver better social outcomes than either of us could have alone.
“The epic response we were able to initiate in these last 4 months immediately proves how important it is for social enterprises to work together and embrace change. When things got really tough, we recognised we needed to collaborate, not simply compete.”
“We are honoured to take forward the impressive legacy Fiona Donaldson and the Prep Table Scotland team have built up using food for social change. We are fused by two core beliefs – the importance of empowering young people and communities, and secondly the transformational role of food to change lives and challenge norms.
“Our new increased capacity will see us continue to build a social catering business model that is better known, creates more jobs, enhances our impact and critically creates more life-changing opportunities for young people.”
Fiona Donaldson, Founder of Prep Table Scotland said:“Looking at what has been achieved by Scran Academy and partners since March this year, gives me great pride in an organisation I had admired for quite some time.
“In a culture which can be difficult to navigate, to find the core meaning and outcomes of, Scran has always had young people and their families as the engine that powered every decision they had to make.”
“Both organisations had concerns about losses incurred from the cancellation of income generating events, the closure of schools and the café. This decision has delivered a long-term plan for young people in Edinburgh, to flourish and to engage with their community. It has given hope to people who feared for their jobs in the catering industry and that’s a proud legacy of my organisation.”
“I look forward to joining the Scran Academy Board, with the great pride and excitement for what we will collectively achieve for years to come. I feel incredibly proud to have played a part in its most incredible rise.”
Granton Information Centre are delighted to announce that we are resuming our benefits/money/debt advice outreach service at Muirhouse Medical Group from the beginning of September.
The appointments are with our advisor Kay on Wednesday afternoons and can be made by contacting the surgery directly on 0131 202 4444.
Please be aware these appointments are for those people who are registered with Muirhouse Medical Group only.
Primary school parents are being reminded about following physical distancing guidelines when dropping off and picking up children at their school. The advice comes as schools across the city welcomed back pupils for the first time this week when they reopened after five months.
Pupils have been back in school since Wednesday and the vast majority of parents have been taking simple steps to ensure there is no overcrowding around school gates and other entrances to schools. However there have been a few reports of parents and family groups not adhering to the national guidelines.
Steps include:
Limiting the number of family members at drop off and pick ups where possible
Following the specific guidance issued to them from their schools
Following national advice on keeping two metres apart
In addition several schools have already put in place temporary measures to support physical distancing as part of the Spaces for People programme. These include:
Closing roads and increasing pavement widths
Creating one way paths and gates at schools for families at drop off and pick up
Painting yellow lines on junctions around schools and putting out no waiting cones
Over the coming days and weeks further temporary measures will be put in pace that best support each school and discussions will continue between parents and schools.
Education Convener Cllr Ian Perry said: “We realise it will take time for parents and pupils to get used to the new arrangements around our schools and I want to thank everyone who has been following the advice such as dropping children off away from schools gates so there is no overcrowding.
“We would urge everyone to remember the physical distancing guidelines they have been following so well for the past few months as these also apply outside our schools. Please take on board these simple steps so we can keep everyone safe.”
Education Vice Convener Cllr Alison Dickie said: “Each school is different so specific advice has been issued to parents about the best ways to help with physical distancing at drop off and pick up times.
“Discussions between parents and schools will continue as we find solutions that best support each school. In addition a number of temporary measures have also been put in place as part of our Spaces for People programme to give pupils and their families safer access so they can physically distance using buggies, wheelchairs and other mobility aids.
“We are continuing to encourage parents/carers to travel to school by walking, cycling and scooting where possible so please follow the national guidance so we can keep the virus suppressed.”
A new web-based tool, commissioned by the Scottish Government, will allow care homes to monitor coronavirus (COVID-19) trends and identify risks quicker.
The Turas Care Management tool will launch today and will allow all private and public sector care homes across the country to record in one place information including COVID-19 infection rates, demand on services and staff testing.
This will mean care home managers, health and social care organisations and the Scottish Government can monitor trends, identify risks and take early action both during the current pandemic and in the future.
The care management tool, developed by the Scottish Government in collaboration with the Care Inspectorate, Scottish Care and NHS Education Scotland (NES), will provide:
*a clearer national picture of conditions in care homes
*earlier warning of emerging trends and issues, allowing earlier interventions
*easier reporting to free up care home resources
The tool is for care home management use and only identified staff will be able to access the information.
Health Secretary Jeane Freeman said: “The health, safety and wellbeing of care home residents both during the current pandemic and in the future is critically important.
“This new web-based tool allows care homes to store information in one central place, whereas before they were required to report in different formats and through many channels, which tied up resources and made trend-spotting more difficult.
“Importantly, this means care home managers, health and social care organisations and the government will now be able to identify risks earlier and quickly take action during the current pandemic and in the future.”
Care Inspectorate Chief Executive Peter Macleod said: “The care sector has worked tirelessly under the most challenging circumstances to care for some of the most vulnerable people in Scotland during the pandemic.
“This new approach to gathering data and information will help us to better understand what support the sector needs to ensure that people experiencing care are supported in the best possible way in the future.”
The Turas Care Management tool was commissioned by Scottish Government and has been developed in partnership with the care home sector for the care home sector.
The tool will support care homes to review their data over time, demonstrate the safety and quality of the services they provide and facilitate escalation of key concerns to the Health and Social Care Partnership and Care Inspectorate when issues arise and support is required.
Key national partners who have worked in collaboration with Scottish Government to develop this tool include: members of the Clinical and Professional Advisory Group for Care Homes, the Care Inspectorate, Scottish Care and NHS Education for Scotland (NES) who developed the interactive web based tool.
NHS Education for Scotland Chief Executive Stewart Irvine said: “As we all know, care homes have been among the hardest-hit areas of this pandemic. Our digital team has produced this resource to help reduce the burden on care homes and help residents and staff.
“We hope it’s a useful contribution to the ongoing support of this important area.”
Scottish Care’s Transforming Workforce Lead Jacqui Neil said: “This will provide a long awaited national strategic approach to recording and responding to the pressures on our care homes in real time.
“It also offers a real opportunity to achieve quality improvements and safe practice through collaborative working moving forward.”
Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at a media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Friday 14 August):
Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us again today, let me firstly give the usual update on the Covid-19 statistics. I can confirm that an additional 65 positive cases were confirmed yesterday.
That represents 1.6% of people newly tested yesterday, and takes the total number of cases now to 19,238.
The full health board breakdown will be available later as usual, but I’ll give the provisional information and that is 28 of the 65 new cases are in the Grampian health board area.
Nine are in Greater Glasgow and Clyde and 12 in Lanarkshire – which between them may reflect a cluster in north-east Glasgow. And there are two cases reported in today’s figure for Orkney.
A total of 253 patients are in hospital with confirmed Covid, which is five fewer than yesterday.
Three people are in intensive care which is the same as yesterday.
I’m also very pleased to say that yet again in the past 24 hours, we have had no deaths registered of patients who had tested positive for Covid so the number of deaths under that measurement remains 2,491.
Obviously that overall figure is a reminder of the impact of the virus and again I want to send my thoughts and condolences to those who have lost a loved one.
And as always, to say a very big and heartfelt thank you to everybody in whatever capacity they are working to get country through this difficult period.
I am joined by the Justice Secretary, who will talk in a moment about some arrangements for high court trials, and also cover today’s announcements in relation to quarantine requirements for people returning from holiday from countries such as France, Malta and the Netherlands. And then Jason Leitch will say a word or two before we take questions.
There are a couple of issues I want to say a bit more about today before any of that.Firstly, I’ll provide some further detail about the ongoing outbreak in Aberdeen.
I mentioned a moment ago that 28 of the 65 new cases reported today are in Grampian. I can say that on the latest figures we have available, since the 26th of July, there have been a total of 328 cases identified in Grampian.
And as of now, we believe that 198 of these are associated with the cluster linked to Aberdeen pubs, and 1032 contacts have now been identified from these 198 cases. Contact tracing continues for what remains a very large and a very complex outbreak, and I am grateful once again to our health team and our test and protect teams.
I think it is clear from the numbers I have just given, that we will continue to see new cases and new contacts identified in Aberdeen in the coming days. But we are hopeful that this is an outbreak that will be brought firmly under control.
We are also continuing to monitor developments in relation to smaller clusters that I spoke about yesterday and I’ve referred to already today, firstly on Orkney, and secondly in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde are around north-east Glasgow, which will have potentially an impact on the Lanarkshire figures as well.
The other item I wanted to update on today relates to the new rules and guidance which are coming into force today for the hospitality sector. We know that pubs and restaurants are higher risk locations for transmission of COVID and we are seeing that reflected in our data right now
When the hospitality sector reopened, the Scottish Government published guidance on issues like physical distancing, hygiene, and the collection of customer details.
Many businesses, I believe the majority of businesses, have complied well with those measures, and I am grateful to all of them.
But I also know there are premises where that has not been the case.
We’ve had a particular concern over venues where crowding has become an issue – due to poor compliance with physical distancing, or premises exceeding their safe capacity.
We want to do everything possible to ensure that our hospitality sector, now that is has reopened, can remain open safely.
But it is absolutely essential that we guard against future outbreaks. The volume of cases that we are still dealing with in Aberdeen – many of which seem to have been the result of transmission in pubs – shows the importance of that.
So for that reason, two important new measures are coming into force today.Firstly, it is now mandatory for hospitality businesses, including cafes, restaurants, pubs and bars to collect customer and visitor contact details.
That requirement already exists in guidance – and I know many businesses are already doing this. But it is now the law. It is an essential step to ensure that our Test and Protect system can function as effectively as possible.
So from now on, all hospitality businesses must collect contact details for all visitors to their premises. That includes obviously customers and staff but also people such as cleaners and delivery drivers. And let me make this point clear as well, particularly to members of the public, if customers refuse to provide these details, they should not be served in the place that they are trying to be served in.
The second measure, is that we have today issued new statutory guidance relating to hospitality.
By making the guidance statutory – so that premises must take account of it – we are aiming to ensure greater compliance with the guidelines.
The guidance makes clear, for example, that there should be no indoor queuing in these premises. And if there has to be queuing outside of the premises which we are asking premises to avoid, but if it is necessary for safety reasons, people queueing must be physically distanced.
The guidance also states that people should not be standing together in a bar or restaurant. People should be seated only, with table service to them.
Physical distancing must be possible. Customers must be at least, in a hospitality premise, one metre apart – unless they are part of the same household group.
Businesses must therefore review their layouts to ensure that one metre distancing – at least – is possible. They should clearly signpost the requirement for distancing. And they must not admit more people than can safely gather in their premises abiding by the physical distancing rules.
And they are reminded – as customers are – of the current law on indoor and outdoor gatherings. Friends should not be meeting indoors in groups of more than eight people and those eight people should be from no more than three different households. If larger gatherings seem to be forming in a pub or a restaurant, then that should be challenged by those employed running the business.
We also recommend that face coverings should be used for front of house staff rather than face visors because there is now some evidence that they are more effective.
And finally, there should be no background music – or volume from a television because we don’t want people having to shout to be heard or lean in to each other because we know that increases the risks of transmission.
Now let me say on that point, I know, absolutely all of us know, that atmosphere in pubs and restaurants is important, so we are willing to work with the sector to see if it might be possible to agree a more nuanced position based on an acceptable decibel level, but as you will gather just from what I have said there that will not be simple and it will take time.
So, in the meantime the rule is there should be no background music in pubs and restaurants.
I want to stress that most of these changes will not represent new burdens on businesses. They should already be doing most or all of these things. But the changes should now ensure that all businesses are doing everything possible to make their premises safe.
Ultimately, this is in everybody’s interest.
Self-evidently, it’s in the public interest to reduce the risk of the virus being transmitted in pubs and restaurants – and to ensure that where there are outbreaks Test and Protect can contact everybody it needs to contact.
And it is also in the interests of the hospitality trade. The rules and guidance that take effect today are vital in ensuring that the sector can stay open safely now and into the winter period.
Alongside the guidance for hospitality businesses, we are publishing guidance for customers.
This will appear on the Scottish Government’s website, and if you are planning to go to a pub or restaurant I would ask you to take the time to read it, because the responsibility for ensuring that these rules operate effectively does not just belong to government, or indeed to businesses. It lies with all of us.
In particular, I want to remind everyone that the rules on indoor and outdoor gatherings apply, not just in your own homes although they are very important in your own homes or gardens, but they also apply in bars and restaurants.
No more than three households, with a maximum of eight people, should be meeting together indoors, whether that is a house, pub, restaurant or cafe. Outdoors, the maximum group size is 15 people, from no more than five households.
And within any group, people from different households must physically distance.
I know that sticking to that can be difficult. But it is really crucial.
Keeping our distance from other households, is an essential part of minimising the risk of transmission.
And finally, we are asking customers to minimise the number of premises you visit in any one day.
The more settings you go to, the more likely you might be to get Covid, and the more likely you might be to spread it. Visiting lots of pubs in a single day or evening massively increases as well the workload potentially of Test and Protect.
So please think about that. It makes a really big difference if you stay in one pub, or whether you go to several.
And more generally, if you are going out a lot at the moment, and this is a really difficult thing to ask people to do, but I am going to ask you to think about that. If you are going out to pubs or restaurants or going to other people’s houses regularly because as I have said before this is not easy – nobody’s life should be feeling absolutely normal yet. Nobody’s social life should feel exactly as it was before Covid struck.
The guidance we are publishing today will only work if all of us, as customers, individuals, as citizens, play our part. So I would encourage everybody to read the guidance, think about it, and help our hospitality businesses stay open.
This is not easy and I am very aware as I have just read through the rules and regulations there, that it is complicated. So please, if you are going out, take the time to familiarise yourself with the guidance first and try to stick to it when you are out.
And as I said yesterday, I have said before, wherever you are, assume the virus is in the room with you, because it very possibly is and therefore everything you do in sticking to these rules is denying it the opportunities to spread.
And lastly, just let me repeat my warning yesterday about house parties or gatherings. They pose a real risk and again the data we have from Test and Protect show that they are a driver of transmission right now, just as hospitality premises are.
So remember, in your own home or in a friend’s house, no more than eight people from no more than three households should be gathering together. And you must keep a 2 metre distance from people from different households. It’s pain for everybody to be living this way but it is better than having this virus run out of control.
So please, I am appealing to everybody, to be very conscious about everything you are doing in this regard right now.
And that brings me to the fundamental point but the one I want to end on, and it is one you have heard me make so many times before but it is really important that we all understand it.
Ultimately, the spread of this virus, whether it accelerates again or we manage to keep it under control, comes down to the decisions all of us are making as individuals.
So we need to think very carefully about those decisions. It’s quite simple, if we all stick to the rules and the guidance, then we don’t completely eradicate the risk of this virus because that’s not how viruses work, but we massively reduce the risks of it spreading from one of us to another and from one household to another.
So, please think carefully about this. Aberdeen tells us that we can go backwards in this journey out of lockdown just as easily, perhaps more easily if we are not careful than we can go forwards.
So, I’ll end with my usual reminder of the FACTS campaign. It is so important that everybody follows these five golden rules.
Face coverings, shops, public transport already the law of course, but in any enclosed space
Avoid crowded places. That obviously is really important indoors but it is important outdoors as well
Clean your hands obsessively and clean hard surfaces, that you are touching, obsessively as well
Two metre distancing remains the rule
and Self isolate, and book a test, if you have any of the symptoms.
Let me remind you what the symptoms are because I have heard one or two suggestions in recent days that people are still not familiar with the symptoms to look out for, which is understandable, so let me remind you.
A new cough, a fever, or a loss of or change to your sense of taste or smell. Any one of these symptoms or anything that is worrying you around with that,don’t wait to see if you feel better. Go to NHS inform and book a test straight away and apart from going to get the test, self-isolate immediately because that helps us straight away reduce and break those potential chains of transmission.
So, thank you again for doing all of this and please, my final point before handing over to the Justice Secretary, is for those of you watching this and hearing this directly, please help me get this message to as wide an audience as possible by passing it on to your family members, who might be at work or school, passing it on to your friends, people you work with.
We all have a job to do here to make sure everybody knows what we should be doing and shouldn’t be doing and all of us stick to that.
From today it is mandatory for hospitality settings to collect the contact details of visitors to their premises in support of Test and Protect.The new regulations apply to restaurants, cafes, pubs and hotels in which food or drink are sold for consumption on the premises.
These businesses must now record the name and contact number of an individual – or lead member of each household in a group – that visits the premises.
They must also record the date of the visit, the time of arrival, and where possible the departure time.
The new regulations include customers, staff working on a particular day and visitors such as delivery drivers or cleaners.
Premises must store the information for 21 days and share it when requested to do so by public health officers within 24 hours.
New statutory guidance for the hospitality sector has been published which explains how to keep a record of customer and visitor contact details securely ensuring data protection principles are upheld.
The Scottish Government has also published updated guidance for hospitality customers to reinforce key safety measures.
This includes the need to maintain physical distancing and the strict limits on the number of households that can meet at a time – 8 people from up to 3 households indoors and 15 people from up to 5 households outdoors.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “While many hospitality businesses have acted responsibly by adhering to the voluntary approach of collecting customer details, unfortunately too many others have not, and so – given the established high risk of virus transmission within hospitality settings – we have decided to make this mandatory.
“Strengthening this requirement to collect and share the data by moving it from guidance into regulations ensures that in the event of an outbreak, through the Test and Protect process, it will be possible to get in touch with anyone identified as a close contact who was present at the same time as an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19.
“This will help us break chains of transmission while continuing to allow us to socialise and support our local businesses.
“It is worth stressing that for those hospitality venues which are already complying with guidance, they will see minimal change to their procedures and operations.”
Chief executive of the Scottish Beer and Pub Association Emma McClarkin said: “The majority of Scotland’s pubs and bars had already gone above and beyond in putting measures in place to keep customers safe during this time.
“These changes today will help ensure those premises which have fallen short no longer do so, and we welcome that clarity.
“We’re all in this together and the stronger we are now, the sooner we will be able to see these restrictions disappear.”
A failure to have the required arrangements in place will be punishable by a Fixed Penalty Notice under the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations 2020. A continuing failure could be enforced by repeated fines of up to £960.
Local charities and good causes impacted by COVID-19 are being urged to apply for up to £20,000 in funding.
Organisations can apply to Postcode Neighbourhood Trust for grants between £500 and £20,000 from now until Wednesday 19th August, when applications will close.
Groups looking to increase their resilience, adapt or expand their services as a result of the pandemic should apply. Funding will support a variety of activities, including covering core costs.
Laura Chow, head of charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said: “Over the past few months we’ve seen the important role grassroots good causes play in communities across Britain.
“There will be challenging times ahead so I’m delighted that players of People’s Postcode Lottery can support these organisations with this funding opportunity. Up to £4 million will be awarded in grants through Postcode Neighbourhood Trust, so I encourage small, local charities to make sure they get an application in by the 19th August.”
A minimum of 32% of each ticket goes directly to charities. Players of People’s Postcode Lottery have raised more than £600 million for over 8,500 good causes across Britain and internationally since 2005.
Groups that may not be suitable for funding through Postcode Neighbourhood Trust can apply to one of three other trusts, also supported by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. People’s Postcode Trust, Postcode Local Trust and Postcode Community Trust all support different themes and more information can be found at the website for each:
Parents in Edinburgh are being urged to give their kids an early lesson on the importance of keeping healthy and hydrated as part of their planning on the long-awaited return to school.
Scots health and nutrition expert Amanda Hamilton is supporting a drive by Scottish Water to ensure that every child’s back to school regime includes a reusable water bottle along with the standard new blazer, gym kit and pencil case.
As part of a family’s daily school regime, it is recommended to fill a pupil’s water bottle at home before getting to classes.
Amanda, a mother-of-two and best-selling author, said although parents should be encouraged at all times to educate their children about the benefits of water – but the start of the new school term, especially after the enforced lengthy shutdown of schools, is the perfect platform.
Amanda said: “Ensuring children to have a regular water intake throughout the school day is a vital aspect to maintain good health and a healthy learning environment.
“It has been proven that through drinking water and staying hydrated children are more attentive and focused during lessons for longer periods of time.
“We are lucky to have safe and delicious water from the tap, we should all be making the most of it. For parents trying to wean kids off sugary drinks, it can help to add a slice or orange, lemon or even a sprig of mint to tap water for extra flavour.
“Like many families, in my home we do all we can do reduce the use of plastic. We’ve made it part of the daily routine to re-fill water bottles from the tap.
“By highlighting the benefits of a reusable water bottle and filling up from the tap, we are helping to instil in children the small daily habits that can make a big difference. The reality is that this is a message for all ages – so using a reusable water bottle is just as applicable for staff returning to workplaces too.”
The advice comes as Scottish Water continues to expand its ‘Your Water Your Life’ campaign which aims to encourage people to top up from the tap to benefit the environment, their health and their pocket.
Brian Lironi, Director of Corporate Affairs at Scottish Water, said: ‘Your Water Your Life’ aims to highlight the importance water plays in the lives of people across Scotland.
“Every child needs to be aware of the benefits of a reusable water bottle – and of just how easy it is to use one to top up with tap water and so continue to enjoy the benefits of our nation’s greatest natural asset.
“We’d always encourage parents and children to make sure they have a water bottle included as a key part of their back-to-school planning, in the same way as sorting out new trainers or a school bag.”
To encourage people to stay hydrated on the go, a network of Top up Taps is being installed by Scottish Water throughout the country. Nearly 30 taps are already sited – the first one being outside the Scottish Parliament – and the aim is to have 70 taps installed at public spaces by March 2021.
