Planning permission has now been approved for the creation of a memorial garden, co-designed with West Lothian community members, that will be unveiled in September as the project reaches its final stages.
Remembering Together is a national project that seeks to give each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities the chance to reflect their unique experience of the Covid-19 pandemic with the help of commissioned artists and creative organisations.
For West Lothian, West Lothian Council and Greenspace Scotland, with funding from the Scottish Government, have joined in collaboration with local arts organisation Bespoke Atelier to create a living memorial for those that were lost to the virus, and a space for community members to gather and reflect on their pandemic experience.
Ring-fenced funding for the project has been provided by the Scottish Government and Greenspace Scotland.
The garden at Almondvale Park in Livingston town centre has been co-designed with West Lothian community members and is expected to open in Autumn 2024.
Lead artists from Bespoke Atelier, Marion Parola and Yvonne Elliot-Kelllighan, worked extensively with local groups and communities to generate ideas to inform the development of Covid Community Memorials.
Open and accessible public consultations were held around West Lothian, including creative workshops in printmaking, paper collage and textile design, as well as themed walks that involved participants sketching their surroundings.
This aimed to help local residents communicate through creativity, and create a safe space where they could reflect on a particularly difficult time through art.
These in person consultations were then further supplemented with digital surveys made available online to all residents, seeking to discover more about people’s memories of the pandemic – asking questions such as what the pandemic had helped them appreciate more in hindsight.
The final design has been made possible from collaboration with Mike Hyatt of Landscape Architects at Ratho Byres Forge, as well as artist and stone work specialist David Wilson.
The space aims to reflect that residents felt a renewed sense of appreciation for outdoor spaces and community togetherness following the pandemic, and includes a striking feature piece ‘The Ribbon’ with artistic renderings of plants and flowers that symbolise those from the region who passed away as a result of the virus.
A Scottish Ambulance Service paramedic has been recognised at Buckingham Palace for his volunteer work over the past nine years.
Richard Francis, who is based at Callander Ambulance Station, attended His Majesty’s Garden Party earlier this week (May 21).
Richard was invited to attend along with wife Marina MacKay where he was recognised for being the founder of the Leave A Light On (LALO) support group.
The group was founded on the 23rd March 2020 to provide aid, virtual help and a 24-hour support during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
Since then, it has grown and over the past few years has housed more than 100 NHS staff, keyworkers and those in emergency situations into free of charge accommodation.
Richard said: “What a lovely occasion and celebration. We had the pleasure of being joined by over 2000 very well deserving honourable members of services, forces, politicians, celebrities and many mayors and religious representatives. “It’s an occasion we shall never forget and we feel truly honoured to have been nominated and invited to the event.”
The LALO project has provided an abundance of emergency food hampers via referrals from the social services, child protection and domestic violence charities who almost immediately put their trust in Richard’s project.
Richard, who used to be a chef by trade, said: “The group is very passionate about not only supporting and inspiring our next generation of volunteers but also feels it is equally important to celebrate the work of those going the extra mile in the community or family support within difficult times.”
Richard has always been involved in community work. During Storm Desmond, which devastated Cumbria and parts of Lancashire, Richard began the support group ‘The Big Cumbrian Christmas Day Get Together’ which was initially setup in the hope of providing venues for those that had lost their homes to have somewhere to spend Christmas Day and still have the magical day despite all the devastation around.
LALO recently celebrated its four-year anniversary and has over 5,700 regular followers. The group is now a regular source of help for social service teams, vulnerable adult and child protection teams, food banks throughout the county, discharge teams across the counties’ hospitals, wellbeing officers and key workers for those with specialist needs.
The UK Commission on Covid Commemoration is now considering all responses and final recommendations will be put to Government in Spring
Almost 5,000 people from across the UK took part in the consultation process
The UK Commission on Covid Commemoration is now considering all responses
Final recommendations to be put to Government in Spring
Thousands of people have given their views on how they want the COVID-19 pandemic to be remembered across the UK.
Last October, the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration launched a public consultation giving people across the UK the opportunity to say how they think the pandemic should be remembered, with possible suggestions including the adoption of a Remembrance Sunday-style symbol, dedicated memorials and reflective spaces.
During the consultation period, which ran until 5 December last year, almost 5,000 individuals from across the UK gave their views.
The Commission is considering these responses alongside the findings from the various consultation events held with groups and organisations across the UK. The Commission is now turning its focus to agreeing a final report to present to the UK Government in Spring.
The Commission on Covid Commemoration is also looking at issues such as how the pandemic should be taught to future generations and whether a commemorative website should be created to provide details of local memorials and commemorative spaces.
The Chair of the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration, Nicky Morgan, said: “It has been a privilege to see so many people coming forward with suggestions for how they think the COVID-19 pandemic should be commemorated and remembered across the UK. I am grateful to everyone who participated.
The pandemic was one of the most significant moments of our lifetime and will be remembered across the world for years to come, both because of the people we lost and because of the great sacrifices made by so many people to keep our country running.
We have heard a lot of different views expressed in the consultation and it is tremendously important that we take them all into account as we work on our recommendations for the government. It is vital that we get this process right and I am determined to make sure that we do.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Jeremy Quin, said: “The Commission’s work on how the public wants to commemorate the pandemic is vitally important.
“I am grateful to all those who have taken the time to express their views and the Government is looking forward to receiving the final report from the Commission.”
A detailed analysis of how Covid-19 business support funding was distributed during the pandemic is not possible due to gaps in data, according to spending watchdog Audit Scotland.
The Scottish Government provided about £4.4 billion of grants and non-domestic rate reliefs between March 2020 and October 2021, mostly paid out to businesses by councils. The government announced a further £375 million of support in December 2021 following the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Steps were taken to improve the management of funding during the pandemic.
But there was not enough focus on gathering detailed data on how money was distributed and how quickly applicants received funding.
This means:
The Scottish Government does not have an analysis of the total amounts paid out from the more general schemes to different economic sectors
For sector specific funding administered by national organisations such as Scottish Enterprise, around 20 per cent of payments cannot currently be matched to council areas
Similarly, information to enable wider analysis of how funding supported specific groups, such as the female owned businesses disproportionately hit by Covid-19, is not available from Scottish Government centrally held data.
In late 2021, the Scottish Government completed retrospective impact assessments to consider how business support funding addressed inequalities. A retrospective fraud review of funding that councils administered was also carried out.
The government is currently undertaking a large data cleansing exercise to ensure that the datasets for individual funds, including those administered by councils, are complete.
Covid-19 business support schemes were administered at pace in exceptional circumstances.
But knowing where the money went matters, to get future policy development and delivery right.
Stephen Boyle, Auditor General for Scotland, said: “These business support schemes were administered at pace in exceptional circumstances. But knowing where the money went matters.
“To get future policy development and delivery right, it will be important for the Scottish Government to fully understand how funding was used to support specific businesses and groups over the last two years of the pandemic.”
William Moyes, Chair of the Accounts Commission, said: “Councils’ fraud arrangements are generally robust, but they were heavily relied upon to ensure businesses were eligible for funding during the pandemic.
“Councils will need to continue to work closely with the Scottish Government to ensure a better picture emerges of how money was distributed.”
Responding to the Audit Scotland report, Economy Secretary Kate Forbes said: “I am pleased that both Audit Scotland and the Accounts Commission have recognised how quickly the Scottish Government was able to establish a wide ranging business support package in order to help safeguard thousands of businesses and jobs.
“This includes providing direct support to over 4,000 businesses and over 5,000 self-employed people who were facing hardship but ineligible for UK Government funding support.
“I am equally pleased this report reflects the unique and challenging context in which new support packages had to be established, and that despite the speed and scale of our response, we were able to work closely with industry, our enterprise agencies and local authorities.
“This helped to ensure the delivery of the business support funding was a shared endeavour and minimised risk and fraud. Without the efforts of our partners, we wouldn’t have been able to deliver this lifeline support at the scale and pace necessary and I thank them for working so closely with us.
“Every decision the Scottish Government has taken has centred around ensuring businesses got the support they needed when they needed it – resulting in over £4.5 billion being allocated to businesses across the country, including around £1.6 billion in rates relief – which is more generous than the other UK administrations so far.
“We will now carefully consider the findings of this report and of course any lessons will be learned, but fundamentally this report shows the decisions we took ensured lifeline support reached key businesses promptly and our economy continued to grow by 7.1% despite the necessary public health restrictions.”
The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers of children’s services, has called for greatly increased investment in mental health services as the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the young become clearer.
The call comes as new figures published by Public Health Scotland today (15th March 2022), indicate that at the end of December 2021, 10,021 children and young people had been referred for treatment from specialist child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).
This includes issues such as anxiety and depression and represents a staggering 27.1 per cent increase from the previous quarter (July to September 2021) when the figure was 7,882.
With already under-resourced and overstretched services facing overwhelming pressure due to increased demand, the SCSC has raised concerns over a potential “lost generation” of vulnerable children and young people whose mental health is being impacted by Covid-19.
Even prior to the pandemic cases of poor mental health were at unprecedented levels and in crisis, and there are a growing number of vulnerable children who cannot access adequate support. The pandemic has exacerbated this, leading to unprecedented demand and backlogs, with services struggling to keep up.
In total, 4, 544 children and young people started treatment at CAMHS over the period October to December 2021. This is an increase of 19.8 per cent from the previous quarter (3,792) and only 70.3 per cent were seen within the Scottish Government’s waiting time target for the NHS of 18 weeks from referral to treatment (met by at least 90 per cent of patients).
This is a fall from the previous quarter when the figure was 78.6 per cent. Eight out of 14 health boards failed to meet this target.
A total of 1,570 children and young people had been waiting over a year for treatment at the end of December 2021.
A spokesperson for the SCSC commented: “For some time now, we have raised concerns over a potential lost generation of vulnerable children and young people, whose mental health is being impacted even further by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Too many of our young people are waiting too long for the treatment they need and it is more important than ever that children can access the support required, irrespective of where they live.
“While we welcome the attention that the Scottish Government has given to date on this vital issue, a lack of resources and lack of staff mean it’s becoming an impossible situation to manage. There must be a radical transformation of our mental health services, investing in specialist services and with a focus on preventing such problems arising in the first place and intervening early.
“This is a crisis we can overcome, but as the country comes to terms with the biggest hit to its mental health in generations, it will require a similar energy and commitment to that demonstrated for Covid-19 if we are to achieve this and prevent many young people giving up on their futures.”
Waiting times (with adjustments) for people who started their treatment from October to December 2021, by NHS Board of treatment:
Scottish research into the experiences of deaf and blind people during the coronavirus pandemic reveals a deprivation in the sense of touch.
The results of the ‘Touch Post-COVID-19’ project led by the University of Glasgow informs the development of new technology which supports human interaction.
The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) within UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) rapid response to COVID-19.
Humans maintain large and complex social networks that are essential for not only our success as a species, but for our mental health and overall happiness. So, when the pandemic struck, an easily overlooked but dangerous aspect of social isolation in our newfound daily lives involved the loss of everyday physical touch.
Over the past two years, up and down the UK, thousands of research and innovation projects have been publicly funded to tackle the pandemic.
The University of Glasgow launched an 18-month project to investigate the impact of touch deprivation on the deafblind community during the pandemic. Named the ‘Touch Post-COVID-19’ project, it aimed to develop strategies and policies for people who rely on their sense of touch to discover the world around them.
The study collected audio-visual data such as interviews and audio diaries from participants to understand their experiences of space, memory, and social interactions.
This understanding helped create a tool for audio and visually impaired people to better navigate their surroundings in the post-pandemic world. The results will be used by researchers to develop new technologies to help facilitate safe and reliable communication and interaction with surroundings.
The work by the team at the University of Glasgow forms part of a £550 million COVID-19 rapid investment programme by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) – the largest public funder of research and development in the UK.
The diversity of UKRI-funded projects is vast – from the world’s first COVID-19 treatments and vaccines to projects that help us understand and mitigate the impact of the pandemic on our economy, environment, education, arts sector and mental health.
This funding builds on decades of public investment and research expertise which have provided the backbone to our national COVID-19 response.
Dr Azadeh Emadi, lecturer in Film and Television at The University pf Glasgow, who was part of the project comments: “The project aims to understand and reveal the relevance of deafblind experiences of touch and touch deprivation during COVID-19 to a larger general population.
“In collaboration with deafblind community, we gathered audio-visual data, in the form of audio diaries and interviews, about their experiences. From gathered data, we have been developing creative works, a policy brief, and a prototype device that enhances situational awareness through haptics technology informed by radar sensors.
“Our research data shows that COVID-19 has increased the intimacy and reliance on the relationship with close partners and guid communicators, but endangered broader access to social and cultural life.
“To rethink touch and address the increasing isolation of deafblind individuals require a new interdisciplinary framework, one that is based on mutual communication and inclusion of the community.”
The Scottish Government’s record on climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic will be under the spotlight when the Scottish Parliament’s Committee Conveners meet later this month to quiz the First Minister.
For the first time in Session 6, the Conveners Group will hold a public evidence session with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon MSP. The session will take place on 15 December.
The session, which will last almost two hours, will also see the First Minister take questions on the Scottish Government’s budget.
Speaking ahead of the session, Deputy Presiding Officer and Chair of the Conveners Group Liam McArthur MSP said:“The Scottish Parliament’s Committees play a crucial role in our democracy by scrutinising the Scottish Government and making sure those in charge of running the country are being held to account.
“This session will allow Conveners collectively to raise cross cutting matters of real concern such as climate change and the COVID 19 pandemic with Nicola Sturgeon. As such it is a welcome addition to the various ways in which the Parliament carries out its role.
“I expect there will be robust questioning and some spirited debate. As the new chair of Convener’s Group I’m looking forward to it immensely.”
Study suggests relocations took place with little consideration of people’s needs and adversely affected their health and wellbeing
Asylum seekers who were moved to temporary accommodation during the Covid-19 pandemic have faced unsafe conditions, mobility restrictions and a lack of communication from service providers, according to a new study.
Edinburgh Napier researchers said the asylum seekers’ accounts – in which they likened their hotel-type accommodation to detention centres – “pointed to a provision that was inattentive towards their needs, vulnerability and wellbeing.”
The study, which focuses on accommodation in Glasgow, is particularly critical of a “mothers and baby” unit in the south of the city, which was opened last October. Mothers, who were moved there by Home Office accommodation contractor Mears Group who run the facilities, criticised the cramped and noisy living conditions, unsuitable furniture and inadequate washing facilities.
The report authors call for an independent assessment of the facility to be carried out as a matter of urgency, and say no more families should be moved there until this has taken place.
Other recommendations in the interim report include calls for risk assessments for individuals in advance of any relocation, the minimising of stays in hotel-type accommodation, a review of limits on travel luggage, and the lifting of restrictions requiring residents to stay ‘on-site overnight’.
Edinburgh Napier researchers carried out the study, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, as part of UK Research and Innovation’s response to Covid-19. They worked with migrant-led grassroots organisation Migrants Organising for Rights and Empowerment (MORE) to explore the impact of the pandemic on those placed in temporary accommodation in Glasgow.
Around 350 asylum seekers were moved from their settled flats into various hotels in the city centre following the outbreak of Covid-19 in March last year, which Mears Group claimed was an attempt to curb the spread of the virus.
Researchers spoke to more than 50 asylum seekers and followed closely the lives of 14 participants of varied ages and backgrounds from December 2020 to June 2021, during the ‘second wave’ of the virus in the UK, through weekly online meetings.
Accommodation for asylum seekers during the pandemic has long been a controversial topic. A mass outbreak of Covid at the repurposed Napier military barracks in Kent last winter and a mass stabbing at the Park Inn Hotel in Glasgow the previous June sparked debate and criticism of the government’s handling of asylum housing from parliamentary select committees.
The interim findings of the new Edinburgh Napier study suggest relocating asylum seekers to hotel-type accommodation had a negative impact on their health and wellbeing, and that they found social distancing almost impossible in their new environment.
Individuals living in hotels also faced a number of restrictions. They were unable to cook their own food or have visitors, had their weekly allowance withdrawn, and were told they could not spend nights away from the accommodation. The food served was said to be of poor quality, and it did not reflect their religious or cultural backgrounds.
The Glasgow-based mother and baby unit, the only such facility in the whole of Scotland, was reportedly noisy – with doors frequently banging and staff knocking, and had small beds, insufficient room ventilation and furniture which was unsuitable for breastfeeding. One mum told of her humiliation when the driver taking her to the unit told her she had too many belongings for a “destitute” asylum seeker.
The report said relocations to temporary accommodation took place with little consideration of people’s needs and with no consultation with asylum seekers themselves. There were cases of people being given less than 15 minutes to get ready for their move, and of individuals being threatened with deportation if they resisted.
Dr Taulant Guma, Principal Investigator and lecturer in Edinburgh Napier’s School of Applied Sciences, said: “While issues around asylum accommodation have received a significant amount of media and public attention since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, little attention has been paid to the experiences and perspectives of asylum seekers themselves, who are directly and mostly affected by these housing arrangements.
“As a collaboration with a grassroots organisation, our study offers a unique and in-depth insight and understanding into the day-to-day realities of asylum seekers’ housing experiences during the pandemic.
“In the context of the current Afghan crisis and discourses of ‘warm welcome’, our findings offer a timely reminder of the cold realities that may await Afghan asylum seekers and refugees once they are relocated to their accommodation across the country.”
Robert Makutsa, Community Researcher with MORE, said: “The asylum accommodation system is broken because the level of duty of care that is required does not need to be met. Think about it; what legal action can an asylum seeker raise against Mears or the Home Office in their failure to adhere to the accommodation provision? None.
“Their lives are defined and controlled by their agents and often it is us, migrant led organisations and grassroots groups, who put pressure on Mears when asylum seekers make complaints.”
Julie Lamberth, RCN Scotland Board Chair, said: “I wanted to highlight statistics which have been published today from NHS Education for Scotland, which show a worrying rise in NHS Nursing and Midwifery vacancies.
“Across Scotland a record high of 4,854 nursing and midwifery posts are vacant, which is 7.1% of posts, while in NHS Lothian, 750 nursing and midwifery posts are vacant, which is 6.9% of posts.
“Staffing levels are reaching crisis point across Scotland. As well as these vacancies, a significant number of nursing staff are on work related sick leave through stress and other mental health issues. Unless this is addressed, proposals to remobilise services and increase elective capacity are simply unachievable and the NHS Recovery Plan’s proposals to recruit 1,500 additional staff woefully inadequate.
“RCN Scotland members are clear about what needs to be done. Out of the 39% of members who have told us they are thinking of leaving the nursing profession, 73% of respondents said “improved pay” and 49% said “better staffing levels” would make them feel more valued.
“Implementation of the Health and Care (Staffing) (Scotland) Act 2019, fair pay for nursing staff in all settings and robust workforce planning are needed urgently to ensure Scotland has the nursing staff it needs to remobilise services as we continue to deal with Covid-19.”
Lothian MSP Miles Briggs said: “The number of Nursing and Midwifery posts that we have vacant across NHS Lothian is extremely concerning.
“NHS Lothian staff work incredibly hard to care for everyone who comes through their door, but the current position is unsustainable. These vacancies need to be filled for health boards to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic.
“SNP Ministers have failed to workforce plan pre-pandemic and we are seeing the consequences now, with many nurses considering leaving the profession.”
