Three projects across Edinburgh and the Lothians have received new funding to offer local young people the chance to get involved in traditional Scottish music and dance– and one of them is based right here in Drylaw.
In partnership with Creative Scotland, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo Youth Development Fundsupports 5-26yr olds in the development of skills in piping, drumming, Highland dance and traditional fiddle playing.
Edinburgh’s Amanda Kane School of Dance is getting ready to host a series of fun Highland Dance classes at Drylaw Parish Hall, while Midlothian’s KIC Arts Development Trust is offering affordable access to online tuition in Highland Dance, drumming and piping, culminating in a showcase concert planned for February 2021.
Sharon Jones, KIC Dance, said: “Through our classes – which will now include live music - we’re delighted to be able to create exciting opportunities for young people in the area to have fun learning new music and dance skills; develop new friendships and build self-confidence at the same time.”
East Lothian’s Dunbar Music School and Dance Discovery are coming together to createa new youth music and dance group. Through online classes and workshops, the group is already working on its first project – a new composition and choreography inspired by the events of The Siege of Dunbar in 1338, and the historical figure of Agnes Randolph.
These three projects are among sixteen taking place across Scotland.
Rucelle Soutar, Chief Operating Officer, The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoosaid: “We’re delighted to see these wonderful projects being delivered from our 2019 Youth Development fund.
“At the Tattoo, celebrating Scottish traditional arts is a key goal, and we wish them the very best of success.”
Colin Bradie, Head of Creative Learning, Creative Scotland said: “Whilst the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are extremely challenging in so many ways and for so many people, it’s inspiring to see how these creative projects have been adapted to continue to offer engaging, high-quality opportunities for young people to create new and exciting work and increase accessibility across traditional Scottish arts.”
Statement given by the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the media briefing in St Andrew’s House yesterday (Thursday 16 July):
Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us again today. I’m joined today by the Deputy First Minister and by the Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nicola Steedman.
I’ll start with the usual update on the Covid-19 statistics.
An additional 11 positive cases were confirmed yesterday – which takes the total now in Scotland to 18,384.
A total of 630 patients are currently in hospital with the virus – either confirmed or suspected. That is 19 more than yesterday but it includes a reduction of 9 in the number of confirmed cases.
A total of 6 people last night were in intensive care with confirmed or suspected Covid-19. That is the same number overall as yesterday but an increase of 1 in the number of confirmed cases.
Since 5 March, a total of 4,138 patients who had tested positive for Covid-19 have been able to leave hospital.
During the last 24 hours, 1 death was registered of a patient confirmed through a test as having Covid-19. The total number of deaths, under this particular measure, is now 2,491.
Now even one death is of course one too many, but for us to have had just one registered death of a confirmed case in eight days is a sign of the progress we have made.
That said, the total number of deaths is a painful reminder of the heavy toll that this virus has taken, so once again my thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one.
We will also today publish updated information about the prevalence of the virus in Scotland.
Our modelling suggests that the R number – the average number of people infected by one other infectious person – remains below 1. And the number of people in Scotland with the virus continues to fall. Our central estimate for last week is that 700 people in Scotland were infectious.
Again, these figures are a sign of the considerable progress that has been made. And so as I always do I want to thank everybody who has contributed to that, including every single member of the public across the country, but in particular our health and care workers for the remarkable job that you do in very difficult circumstances.
There are three issues that I want to cover today.
The first is childcare- an issue which is hugely important for families across the country, and which is also hugely important for the economy – today’s job figures published this morning highlight again the economic impact of the pandemic, and the importance of government and everybody working hard to counter that in the weeks and months ahead.
As you know, childcare services were able to reopen fully yesterday, and so John Swinney will talk a bit more about the childcare which is available now, and which will be available in the months ahead.
Before that, however, I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who works in childcare for all of your efforts to enable children to return safely. It is hugely appreciated by all of us.
I also want to thank parents and carers. I can only imagine how much disruption the closure of childcare settings has caused for you over these past few months. But I want to thank you for understanding why it has been necessary, and for managing throughout this period – sometimes, I know, in very difficult circumstances indeed.
And finally – in the unlikely event that any of you are watching to this briefing! – I want to say again thank you to all of the children across the country who have been affected by the closure of childcare facilities and of schools.
I hope that in the last few days you’ve been able to play with your friends a bit more; and I hope that you are looking forward to going back to nursery or, in a few weeks’ time, going back to school.
But I know how difficult it has been for you to stay indoors for much of the time over the past few months, and I know that not being able to see your friends hasn’t been much fun at all, but you have all been brilliant, and I want you to know that everyone is really proud of you.
The second issue I want to cover is shielding.
The statistics now show that the prevalence of the virus in Scotland is low, and is, at this stage, getting lower. That means that we can update our advice to people who are shielding, in line with the routemap that we set out for you last week.
From tomorrow (Friday), therefore, we advise that you can if you wish stay in any holiday accommodation, including hotels and bed and breakfasts. You can also visit outdoor markets and public gardens.
And in a change that I hope will be particularly welcome, non-cohabiting couples can meet without physical distancing, even if one or both of you is shielding, and even if neither of you lives on your own.
We hope to be able to pause the need for shielding altogether at the end of this month – although even if we do that we will still encourage those in the shielding group to take extra care in things such as physical distancing and hygiene.
I know that the prospect of returning to something more like your normal lives will be welcome for many of you, if not all of you, but I appreciate that it is also likely to be quite daunting.
The Scottish Government will provide more information for you nearer the time, and we will do everything we can to support you in this transition.
In addition the Economy Secretary has asked the UK Government to ensure ongoing financial support for anyone who has been shielding, and who may not be able to go back to work, or to work from home.
In addition, I think that those of us who aren’t shielding should also think about how we can help all of you during this transition.
Wearing masks in shops and on public transport, making sure we all keep 2 metres away from others wherever possible, that’s the best way we can all help to give shielding people the confidence to go out and about safely.
And if you’re an employer, please be sensitive to the concerns of any employees who may be shielding.
If it turns out that we are able to confirm next week that shielding will be paused from 31 July, please reach out to people who might be going back to work; have honest conversations about how you can support them; and try to think creatively about how you can make your workplace safer for them.
As I’ve said before, the relaxation of shielding measures is good news, but it will be prompting some understandable stress and anxiety. All of us can take sometimes small steps, that might make a big difference for people who are shielding.
The final issue I want to cover relates to mental health. Most of the focus on Covid so far – for very obvious reasons – has been on its physical impact.
However, we are also increasingly thinking about the mental health of people who have had Covid.
There are now, for example, more than 500 people who have been discharged from intensive care or high dependency units in Scotland.
Being in intensive care is obviously a traumatic experience – and many Covid patients have had to go through that, without any prospect of being visited by friends and family at any time while they have been in hospital.
So although we know that most people will make a full recovery, with the help of their loved ones – some people we know will need additional support.
Scotland already has a very effective programme, which is used by several health boards, for helping patients who have been in intensive care.
The Inspire programme uses specialists from different disciplines; it puts former intensive care patients in touch with other people who have had the same experiences; and it encourages them to join community organisations or other groups which can help them through.
And so we plan to learn from that in supporting Covid patients.
I am delighted to confirm today that Dr Nadine Cossette – a psychiatrist with NHS Lothian – has agreed to lead on this work. It is an important way of ensuring that people who have had Covid get the long-term help that they need to recover.
Before I hand over to John Swinney and then to Dr Steedman, I want to stress again today that as the figures demonstrate, we have now got to a position – it’s been hard earned, and it has not been easy – but we’ve now got to a position where, at this stage, there are very low levels of the virus in Scotland.
However, as you hear me say every single day, the only way to ensure that things remain that way, is to continue to stick to the rules.
Every single one of us have a duty – and I think it is a duty that all of us have as citizens – to remember that the decisions we take as individuals right now have an impact on the collective wellbeing of us all. That is more important now as we emerge from lockdown than it has been at any point over the last four months.
So I want once again to remind you all of Facts – the five key, vitally important things all of us should remember in absolutely everything we do.
Face coverings should be worn in enclosed spaces. They are mandatory in shops and on public transport, but our advice is in any enclosed space where physical distancing might be more difficult, wear a face covering.
Avoid crowded places. Not just crowded places indoors – that is especially important – but even outdoors, avoid crowded places.
Clean your hands regularly and thoroughly and if you’re touching hard surfaces clean them too.
Two metre distancing remains the general rule and the strong advice we give to everyone.
and Self isolate, and book a test, if you have symptoms. Remember, if you have a new cough, if you have a fever, if you suffer a loss of or a change in your sense of taste or smell, don’t wait to see if you feel better. Act immediately. Self-isolate and go to the NHS inform website, and book a test. It is by doing that, that you give our test and protect system the opportunity to break the chains of transmission.
So if all of us remember these 5 basic measures, all of us can help to stay safe, protect others, and save lives.
https://youtu.be/Q4t7EjeBHdg
So my thanks, again, to everyone who is doing the right thing, and sticking with these rules. If we all keep doing it then we will continue to make the progress that we’ve seen in recent weeks.
Before I leave today there is one other issue that I want to update you on, which relates to a temporary change to the regularity of these daily briefings.
For the next two weeks we are going to be moving to three briefings a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays. That means there will be no tomorrow or on Monday – I will next see you here on Tuesday.
The reason for that is, when you watch these briefings you see those of us who stand at the podiums, but these briefings involve a lot of work on the part of people behind the camera. This allows us to give people a bit of a break over the next two weekends in the summer period.
We will return to five-day-a-week briefings at the start of August as we go into that period running up to the return of schools, when I am sure there will be a lot of questions, not just from the journalists but parents and young people will want to hear regular updates about our progress.
So we do intend to return to the five-day-a-week briefing, but we intend to give people a little bit of a break over the next two weekends, before we go into next, I’m sure, very busy period.
One other change is that of Tuesday next week when I return for the next briefing, we will be at the slightly earlier time of 12.15 every day and that is likely to be a permanent change. So try to remember, if you are planning on tuning in, to tune in 15 minutes early to get the update that we will give you.
Obviously for Mondays and Fridays over the next two weeks we will put out the daily update through the Scottish Government website.
My thanks to all of you for joining us today and as always for complying with the guidance that we ask you to comply with, and that’s the note that I will leave you on.
We are making so much good progress here and we must make sure it continues, so please remember Facts: Face coverings, avoid crowded places, clean your hands, clean hard surfaces, two metres distance, and self-isolate and get a test if you have symptoms.
I can’t stress this enough: if we all stick to these five basic measures, it is possible for us to keep this virus under control, and get that greater normality back into our lives, with perhaps the greatest prize of all – to have children and young people back in full-time education come the middle of August.
So thank you again very much, and I will see you again on Tuesday at 12.15pm.
Start Spreading The News – #EJBFOnline launches today!
A four day online feast of content marks the dates of our 43rd Festival – (Thursday 23rd – Sunday 26th July).
Featuring new sets made under lockdown, solo home videos, a selection of great content from our video archive and a host of talks, radio programmes, DJ sets and that lockdown staple: a quiz!
Spanning traditional jazz to the avant-garde, the festival features Scottish jazz luminaries and some international friends – we hope you enjoy.
Edinburgh pub worker calls on hospitality staff to join a union
Commenting on the re-opening of indoors hospitality, Roz Foyer, General Secretary of the STUC has reminded employers that workers are preparing to resist detrimental changes to contracts and conditions associated with the safe return to work.
Roz Foyer said: “Indoor hospitality re-opening safely depends on changes to working conditions. But these must not be allowed to come at a cost to workers.
“Workers are the heart of hospitality, but for too long employers have been able to pass the unstable condition of the industry onto their staff.
“We will not forget the businesses who refused to furlough their staff during this pandemic, and who have treated workers callously with attempts to make them sign away their terms and conditions in order to ringfence profit or prevent unexpected costs.
“From cafes like Coias in Dennistoun to cinema chains like Cineworld, workers have come together to win their demands in the return to work period.
“If you are asked to work differently or to sign a new contract, don’t accept, delay, and work out with your colleagues whether you are happy with the proposal. Then join a union and take action.”
Matthew Waddell, 19, who returned to work at the Diggers pub yesterday, urged workers to be prepared to resist the prospect of changes to work and conditions.
He said: “The incoming economic crisis should be a call to all workers to join unions, unionise their workplaces and make sure those unions are active.
“The precarious nature of hospitality work and the effect a COVID recession will have on it makes unionisation all the more urgent.
“The Better Than Zero campaign against precarious work is on hand to give guidance and support for hospitality workers and any other workers who do not have unions.”
Customers can purchase pre-packed bags of groceries designed around the needs of local food banks
Move follows £10m initial donation from the supermarket at the start of the pandemic –
Morrisons is making it easier for its customers to feed people in need by launching food parcels that can be bought and then donated at the checkout.
Food banks are often overwhelmed by products such as rice and pasta and short of other items that people actually need.
The supermarket’s new ‘Pick Up Packs’ cost between £1 and £3 and contain a mix of food products that have been requested by the local food bank based on their local needs.
The packs are the brainchild of Morrisons colleague Michelle Leary from Basingstoke, who noticed that customers struggled with what to donate to food banks.
The pre-packed parcels mean that customers don’t need to spend time browsing the shelves for items to donate. After a successful trial, they are now being rolled out nationally.
Customers can easily pick one up at the start of their shop and pay for it at the till with the rest of their shopping. The pack is then put aside and collected by volunteers working for the food bank.
Rebecca Singleton, Community Director at Morrisons, said:“The UK’s food banks are a lifeline for the most vulnerable in our communities and these parcels are an easy way to donate to them. At Morrisons, we want to play our full part in feeding the nation and ensure nobody gets left behind.”
The ‘Pick Up Pack’ initiative is part of Morrisons drive to restock Britain’s food banks and continue feeding the nation, particularly those who are vulnerable and struggling with the economic fallout of COVID-19.
Additionally, Morrisons, in partnership with the Trussell Trust, has also become the first UK supermarket to trial an online donation mechanism that goes straight into the pockets of local food banks.
Customers can purchase £10 vouchers on the Morrisons Food Boxes website (http://www.morrisons.com/food-boxes) which gets sent directly to a local food bank of their choice. The online scheme was initially piloted with 5 local food banks and has now been rolled out to 50 nationally.
Results from the British Chamber of Commerce’s Quarterly Recruitment Outlook, in partnership with Totaljobs, reveal the impact Coronavirus has had on the jobs market, with the two organisations calling for further action from government to protect businesses and jobs.
29% of businesses expect to decrease the size of their workforce in the next three months
28% decreased size of workforce in Q2 but 66% kept their workforce constant, reinforcing the success of the Job Retention Scheme
The two organisations call for a cut in employer National Insurance Contributions to protect businesses and jobs.
The leading business organisation’s landmark survey, which serves as a barometer of the UK labour market, received 7,400 responses and is the largest of its kind in the UK.
Fieldwork was done prior to the Chancellor’s Summer Statement which announced the Job Retention Bonus, Kickstart Scheme and an Apprenticeship Recovery programme, among other things.
Redundancies expected
29% of businesses expect to decrease the size of their workforce in the next three months before the government’s Job Retention Scheme ends, the highest on record.59% will keep headcount the same and just 12% will look to increase the size of their workforce.
The news comes as businesses across the UK economy announced significant redundancies. The survey found that over the next three months:
18% of micro firms (with fewer than 10 employees) expect their workforce to decrease.
41% of small and medium firms (with 10 to 249 employees) expect their workforce to decrease.
41% of large firms (with over 250 employees) expect their workforce to decrease.
The survey reinforced data from the BCC’s Quarterly Economic Survey of the challenging environment business communities across the UK are facing, with record falls in key indicators of business activity, including domestic and export sales, cashflow and investment.
Recruitment
The percentage of businesses attempting to recruit in the previous quarter fell to 25%, the lowest level on record. Of the firms that attempted to recruit, 65% faced recruitment difficulties, particularly for skilled manual/technical or managerial roles.
Success of the Job Retention Scheme
While 28% of respondents decreased their workforce in Q2, two in three firms kept staffing levels constant. This reflects data on the success of the Job Retention Scheme, with the BCC’s Business Impacts Tracker indicating that around 70%of businesses had furloughed a portion of their staff.
Beginnings of recovery?
As lockdown lifts, Totaljobs have seen a 30% month-on-month increase in the number of jobs being advertised on their website for June, with the largest volume posted in IT (20k), logistics (12k) and social care (9k).
There were also month on month increases in sectors benefiting from lockdown easing like retail (+51%), travel (+47%) and hospitality (+23%). Skilled trades also started to see growth compared with previous weeks, with jobs advertised increasing by57%.
Unsurprisingly, applications per vacancy were up across all sectors, reflecting continued rises in candidate activity on the Totaljobs site.
Further action needed
The two organisations have called on the government for further action to limit the damage to the UK labour market, including reducing the overall cost of employment, through a temporary cut in employer National Insurance Contributions and support to upskill and reskill employees as businesses adapt to change.
BCC Co-Executive Director Hannah Essex said:“Our research demonstrates the Chancellor’s focus on protecting, supporting and creating jobs is exactly what’s needed to drive the UK’s economic recovery in the coming months.
“Many businesses are suffering from an historic cash crunch and reduced demand, meaning firms will still face tough decisions despite welcome interventions made in the Summer Statement.
“The government should consider additional support for employers before the Autumn Budget to reduce the overall cost of employment and prevent substantial redundancies.Measures could include a temporary cut in employer National Insurance Contributions and support to upskill and reskill employees as businesses adapt to change.”
Totaljobs CEO Jon Wilson said:“The latest figures from the Quarterly Recruitment Outlook make stark reading, especially when compared to what we had grown accustomed to in previous years. It is clear that business confidence is low, with many being forced to make difficult decisions when it comes to their workforce.
“However, the Chancellor’s summer statement outlined a number of measures that will not only support jobs but help create new roles in the economy and give confidence to businesses trying to plan for the future. The interim cuts in stamp duty and VAT should give the hard-hit housing and hospitality sectors a much-needed boost.
“It’s clear that moving forward, adaptability remains paramount for businesses and people, with upskilling, reskilling and utilising transferable skills all key factors during this recovery period.
“To protect jobs and further ease the burden facing businesses, we join the British Chambers of Commerce in their call for a cut in employer National Insurance. We also urge the Chancellor to continue to consider the needs of the sectors and demographics most impacted by Covid-19, to protect people’s livelihoods and help the jobs market and wider economy pick up.”
Commenting on the latest employment figures published today (Thursday), which show around 650,000 fewer paid employees since before the pandemic, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “There’s a national disaster unfolding, with vacancies at an all-time low and more jobs lost every day, but ministers are watching from the side-lines, instead of saving jobs with targeted support for the hardest-hit sectors like retail, manufacturing and aviation.
“The more people we have in work, the faster we will work our way out of recession. If the government doesn’t go all out to protect and create jobs, the economic crisis will be longer and harder.
“We can create jobs by fast-tracking infrastructure projects. This would speed up the delivery of faster broadband, more childcare, green technology, modern transport and housing. And it would create over a million jobs across the UK.”
You can view the full QRO report at the link below:
But Ryanair says it’s just ‘another baseless survey of two men and a dog’
People are suffering serious financial and emotional distress as they struggle to claim refunds for flights and holidays cancelled due to coronavirus, a damning dossier of more than 14,000 refund complaints compiled by Which? has revealed – but a Ryanair spokespersoncalled the Which? report ‘yet another baseless survey of two men and a dog’.
The complaints – which have been passed onto the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as part of its review of how airlines have handled cancellations and refunds in recent months – are collectively worth more than £5.6 million and detail the significant toll that delayed and denied refunds are taking on customers’ lives.
The findings come as Which?’s campaign, ‘Refund Us. Reform Travel.’, demands that airlines urgently refund any passengers still owed money for cancelled flights and holidays.
Under the Denied Boarding Regulations, if a UK or EU airline (or an airline flying from an airport in the UK or EU) cancels your flight, you should be refunded within seven days.
Package holidays are protected by the Package Travel Regulations, which entitle you to a full refund within 14 days if your holiday is cancelled. However, many of the biggest carriers have been openly breaking the law amid an unprecedented volume of cancellations caused by the pandemic.
Since asking affected passengers to report their airline to the CAA through its online tool on 22 May, the consumer champion has received and submitted over 14,000 reports in just under six weeks, of which over 12,600 have been analysed to establish trends in the data.
Those who reported to Which? that they had been denied a refund are out of pocket by an average of £446.40, and have collectively spent a total of 52,000 hours – almost six years – trying to chase their airline for the money they are due.
Collectively, the 12,602 people whose reports were analysed told Which? they were owed £5.63 million in refunds. These reports provide a snapshot of the scale of the problem, with the industry’s own estimates from April this year suggesting that up to £7 billion of consumers’ money is owed in refunds.
The most reported airline was Ryanair, accounting for four in 10 (44%) of the complaints made to Which?, with passengers reporting a combined total of £1.15 million owed. Half of those (50%) reported spending more than five hours of their time trying to contact the airline for a refund.
Despite being the third largest operator flying out of the UK, behind EasyJet and British Airways, Ryanair owes over £400,000 more than the two market leading airlines, with its £1.15 million total equating to one in every five pounds that was reported to Which?.
Easyjet was the next most complained about airline, accounting for one in seven (14%) complaints. Customers told Which? they were collectively owed more than £663,000 in refunds, with three in 10 (29%) telling Which? they are yet to receive a response from the airline with regards to a refund.
Virgin Atlantic was the third most complained about, with seven per cent of complaints saying the customer was waiting for a refund from the airline. Over £915,000 is collectively owed to Virgin Atlantic customers who complained to Which?, with the average refund amounting to £1,031.61.
Three in 10 (29%) customers who reported Virgin Atlantic to Which? told the consumer champion they had spent over five hours trying to claim a refund, while a further three in 10 (31%) had spent over 10 hours.
Tui and Etihad customers spent the most time chasing a refund, with four in 10 (both Tui and Etihad – 39%) spending over 10 hours contacting their airline to ask for their money back.
Additionally, nearly half (45%) of Tui customers who made a report to Which? told the consumer champion they had not received a response from the company at the time of submitting their report.
Airlines have cited huge volumes of refunds and limited staff available to process them as an explanation for the delays in refunding customers, however a number of airlines have done a significantly better job of returning money to their customers in a shorter time frame while operating under similar circumstances.
A Which? survey of airline customers in May who had had flights cancelled found that four in 10 (39%) BA customers surveyed had received their money back within the legal time frame, while three in 10 (29%) Jet2 customers who responded were refunded within the seven day window. This was in comparison to only five per cent of Ryanair customers telling Which? they received a refund within the legal time frame, and one in seven (14%) Easyjet customers.
Which? also invited people to report the impact that being denied a refund on their lives has had, as the pandemic has left hundreds of thousands of households in difficult financial circumstances and worried about their health and that of their loved ones.
Lynn Fox, 42, was made redundant in March after her employer went into administration, before her self-employed husband was left without work due to the pandemic.
They had remortgaged their house in January to pay for a once-in-a-lifetime holiday with Virgin Holidays to Florida costing £6,700. But when Virgin cancelled the holiday, Lynn was unable to contact the company and requests for a refund went unanswered.
Both Lynn and her husband have been relying on Universal Credit and told Which? that without the money they were owed, they feared they may struggle to pay their mortgage for the next year. However, after Which? contacted Virgin about her story, she received an email saying her refund is now being processed.
In response to Lynn’s experience, a Virgin Holidays spokesperson said:“Virgin Holidays understands the difficulties that the Covid-19 crisis poses to our customers with upcoming travel plans, and we are offering as much flexibility as possible for those whose trips are affected.
“Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our loyal customers, whether that’s to amend, rebook or cancel plans. As a direct result of the Covid-19 crisis and the global travel restrictions imposed, Virgin Holidays has had to make significant holiday cancellations and we continue to be inundated with an unprecedented volume of refund requests, while working through a backlog, and unfortunately these are taking longer than usual to be processed.
“Our customer centre and finance teams have been working from home with limited infrastructure, so in order to accelerate the process, we have boosted the size of the team handling refunds. These additional staff are receiving training to use the required systems, which is increasing our capacity to process refunds.
“We would reassure all Virgin Holidays customers that if they’ve requested a refund, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority. Payments are being prioritised based on how long the customer has been waiting for their refund, working in order from March 2020 onwards.
“We are committed to completing each refund at the earliest opportunity, but we would assure customers that payment will be processed within an absolute maximum of 120 days, from the date the refund is requested. We are making every effort to reduce this timeframe wherever possible in these extraordinary circumstances and thank all of our customers for their patience.”
Which? also heard from Laura McAdam, 26, who needed to fly back to her family home after losing her job and worrying about becoming homeless.
Laura told Which? she suffers from severe depression and anxiety, and that she eventually stopped chasing Easyjet after spending approximately 12 hours trying to get a refund, as the distress was taking a toll on her on top of everything else going on in her life.
Laura said Easyjet only gave her the option of rebooking or accepting a credit note, and that all her emails to the airline went ignored. She told Which? the £120 – which she is still waiting to be refunded – would make a huge difference to her given how little money she has to live on.
However, after being contacted by Which?, Easyjet said it has contacted Laura to apologise for the inconvenience caused and asked for her refund to be processed immediately.
Alisya Boyraz, 22, and her partner were due to relocate from the UK to China for work in February, having quit their jobs and arranged to move out of their home in January.
However, after Emirates cancelled their flight in March they had to postpone their move – losing their jobs, the apartment they had secured in China, and a significant amount of their savings in the process. They are now also out of pocket by over £1,080 for their cancelled flight, as the travel agent she booked with, Travel2Be, has not refunded them yet.
Alisya told Which? that their Chinese visas have now expired meaning if they do not make it to China, they will have lost a further £1,300 spent on legal fees for the move. They are now having to rely on friends and family for somewhere to live, and that her partner is still out of work, months on from the flight being cancelled.
Alisya said the money owed to them would make a significant difference to their lives while her partner is out of work, and would help cover some of the money lost as a result of their move being postponed.
Which? believes the stories it has already submitted clearly make the case for tough action against airlines that continue to flout the law. But as international travel begins to resume from the UK, Which? is calling on people to continue to submit their complaints to pass on to the CAA to ensure the regulator does not let travel companies return to normal with no consequences for their actions over this period.
The CAA must now take urgent enforcement action against airlines that are failing to pay refunds, rather than continuing to let them get away with illegally withholding customers’ money given the huge financial and emotional toll it is having on thousands of people’s lives.
Which? also believes the serious problems people have faced in recent months have demonstrated that major reforms to the travel industry are necessary. The consumer champion will set out in the coming months steps that the government should take in order to restore consumer trust in the travel sector.
Rory Boland, Editor of Which? Travel, said: “We are hearing from thousands of passengers who are still waiting for refunds months after flights and holidays were cancelled.
These people are often in desperate circumstances of their own and have told us the stress of being left out of pocket has significantly impacted on their emotional wellbeing and their finances.
“As a first step to restoring lost trust in the travel industry, it’s important that lawbreaking companies are not let off the hook for their actions during this period. The regulator must act swiftly on this evidence and take strong action against those airlines that have repeatedly been exposed for flouting the rules.”
An Etihad spokesperson said:While every effort is being made to process refunds, there have been occasions where it took longer to handle requests. This has been due to the extremely high number of calls and claims received.
“In addition to offering full refunds, we also introduced a generous travel credit option for use against future travel. Extra resources were also brought in to ease the situation, resulting in considerably improved service levels.
“We regret any inconvenience or distress faced by our customers and we thank them for their continued patience and understanding.
An Easyjet spokesperson said:“As the UK’s largest airline, easyJet carries more passengers than other airlines which means we have also had to make more cancellations during this period.
“Throughout this Covid period, we’ve continued to offer our customers a refund option, in addition to free changes or a voucher. We’ve also ensured that the refund request is easy and straightforward, via a dedicated refund webform online. All of these entitlements can be accessed through our online Covid Help Hub.
“We are processing refunds for customers and aim to do so in less than 28 days. But in these unprecedented times, the volume of cancellations compounded by local lockdown restrictions leading to reduced staffing levels in our customer contact centres, means that processing of refunds is taking longer than usual. To help our customers, we have invested extra resources into the call centre to help reduce our queue as quickly as possible.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said:“This is yet another baseless survey of two men and a dog from Which?.
“Ryanair has already processed over €500m in refunds and vouchers since mid-March, which is over 40% of Ryanair’s total backlog of Covid cancellations in March, April, May & June.
“The process time for cash refunds is taking longer due to unprecedented volumes and the fact that we have fewer staff available due to social distancing measures.”
A Tui spokesperson said:“We remain sorry for the delay to customers and have apologised to customers directly who were particularly impacted by the delays during the height of lockdown.
“The world closed around us, retail stores closed and teams had to work from home; we simply couldn’t keep up with the volume of customers we had to help. In total we’ve cancelled holidays for nearly 1.5 million customers.
“We worked day and night to resolve this by building new systems to support retail customers digitally and set up 1000 Retail Advisers to work from home so they could manage cancellations remotely. Once our new systems were built customers were able to request refunds online.
“Since we’ve made these changes, our phone lines have an average call waiting time of 15 minutes, online forms are actioned in real time and customers are refunded within 14 days.
“We really appreciate the continued patience and understanding of our customers.”
In response to the CAA data analysis, Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said:“Virgin Atlantic understands the difficulties that the Covid-19 crisis poses to our customers with upcoming travel plans, and we are offering as much flexibility as possible for those whose trips are affected.
“We’re helping customers with upcoming travel plans to rebook on an alternative date free-of-charge, with the option to change their destination, all the way until 30 September 2022.
“As a direct result of the crisis and global travel restrictions, we have had to make significant cancellations to our flying programme, with a selection of core routes recommencing from 20 July 2020.
To provide immediate peace of mind, where a flight is cancelled, we’re automatically providing a customer credit equal to the value of the trip. This credit can be used to rebook on alternative dates, allowing for a destination change and name change, for travel all the way until 30 September 2022.
“If the rebooked travel date occurs before 30 November 2020, we’ll also waive any potential fare difference. This process gives customers the flexibility and time to decide their future travel plans with Virgin Atlantic when they are ready to do so.
“Our absolute focus remains on supporting all of our loyal customers, whether that’s to amend, rebook or cancel plans during the Covid-19 crisis. We continue to be inundated with an unprecedented volume of refund requests, while working through a backlog, and unfortunately these are taking longer than usual to be processed.
“Our customer centre and finance teams are working from home with limited infrastructure, so in order to accelerate the process, we have boosted the size of the team handling refunds. These additional staff are receiving training to use the required systems, which is increasing our capacity to process refunds.
“We would reassure all customers that if they’ve eligibly requested a refund, it will be repaid in full, and the work to process refunds is our priority. Payments are being prioritised based on how long the customer has been waiting for their refund, working in order from March 2020 onwards.
“We are committed to completing each refund at the earliest opportunity, but we would assure customers that payment will be processed within an absolute maximum of 120 days, from the date the refund is requested. We are making every effort to reduce this timeframe wherever possible in these extraordinary circumstances and thank all of our customers for their patience.
It was with great sadness that, in April this year, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2020 edition of Edinburgh Art Festival was cancelled.
Now, as Edinburgh begins to emerge from lockdown and we reflect on a period of unprecedented global change and upheaval, Edinburgh Art Festival have invited ten artists from previous festival editions, to mark the dates of what would have been their 2020 festival (30 July – 30 August).
Ruth Ewan; Ellie Harrison; Tam Joseph; Calvin Z Laing; Peter Liversidge; Tamara MacArthur; Rosalind Nashashibi; Rae-Yen Song; Shannon Te Ao; and Hanna Tuulikki will each present work as part of this August offering.
Combining archival presentations chosen for their resonance in relation to the current context (local and global), alongside specially conceived responses, the selection includes online screenings and live performances, available via the festival website from the 30th July as well as a small number of projects appearing in public sites around the city.
The selection is informed by and seeks to reflect on the profound personal and societal impacts of this global pandemic – as we look to find new ways of communicating and being together; to confront the urgent inequalities in our society; and to imagine new futures.
Above all, the festival is guided by a desire to connect with artists and audiences, as we look forward with optimism to returning next year: 29 Jul to 29 Aug 2021.
Online and Around the City
Ruth Ewan revisits her Sympathetic Magick (2018) project, where she invited magicians to consider how they might use their magic to change the world; with an online presentation of her short film, Worker’s Song Storydeck (devised with magician Billy Reid), and a special poster series devised with magician Ian Saville, calling upon all of us to join together in a ‘mass action for the radical transformation of society’.
Artist and activist Ellie Harrison (2012 and 2014 festival programmes) presents an up-to-date version of her graph showing the Tonnes of carbon produced by the personal transportation of a ‘professional artist’ at a city centre poster site.
Created through the meticulous analysis of the 3,988 journeys she has made over the last 17 years, Harrison makes connections between literal and social mobility and highlights the consequences of our travel choices for our climate, which have come into focus in all our lives during lockdown.
Tam Joseph re-presents The hand made map of the world, first presented as a billboard in the 2014 festival.
Transforming and subverting the ‘World Political Map’, Joseph playfully renames familiar landmasses (America becomes China; United Kingdom becomes Cuba) to lay bare the destructive quest for territorial control which has dominated geopolitics over the centuries, and critique the supposed ideological neutrality of maps.
Sited on The Meadows, Joseph is drawn to the history of this green space, which in 1886 hosted the International Exhibition of Art, Industry and Science.
Calvin Laing (whose degree show film Calvin and Metro, featured in our 2012 programme) revisits the neighbourhood of his childhood, to present a new online performance Calvin and Jogging.
Reflecting on how lockdown for many has resulted in a return to the family home and memories, as well as taking up reactive activities, the artist explores themes of nostalgia, and the disintegration of public and private space.
Peter Liversidgerevisits his 2013 festival commission Flags for Edinburgh which invited buildings across the city to fly a white flag that reads HELLO.
As we emerge from an extended period of isolation, and look to find new ways to be together, Liversidge invites organisations and communities across Edinburgh, alongside partner August Edinburgh festivals to send a collective greeting to each other and the wider world; with HELLOs flying from rooftops across the city, including libraries, hotels, galleries, museums, consulates, schools and community parks.
Following on from her 2019 Art Late performance at Dovecot Studios, Tamara MacArthur creates a new online performance investigating our desire for closeness and contemporary methods devised to simulate human contact in a time of social distancing.
For It’s All Over But the Dreaming, the artist will perform live from an elaborate theatrical set built in her studio, holding close a hand-made life-size doll, to explore themes of loneliness, yearning and futility in relation to the enforced isolation we have experienced since Coronavirus.
Rosalind Nashashibi shares an online presentation of her two-part film commissioned for the 2019 edition of the festival, following a group of individuals coming together in preparation for an experimental journey into space, to explore the importance of storytelling and love in the building and sustaining of community.
Rae-Yen Song expands on a project for the 2018 festival, to add to an ongoing familial collaboration, Song Dynasty. Presented both online and as a poster at a site in the city chosen for its special connection to the artist’s family, the work draws on autobiography and fantasy to speak broadly and politically about foreignness and the position of the Other, archiving a modern myth that settles and lives through virtual, imagined and public spaces.
Shannon Te Ao’s two screen video installation With the sun aglow, I have my pensive moods, commissioned for the 2017 festival edition, is a poetic meditation on themes of love, grief, sickness and healing.
Taking its title from a tribal lament composed by Te Rohu (daughter of Tūwharetoa chief, Mananui Te Heu Heu), Te Ao counterposes cinematic references, using footage shot at a number of locations within Te Ao’s tribal lands including some of the farm lands which directly encircle the urupa (familial burial grounds) of Te Ao’s family.
Hanna Tuulikki’s Sing Sign: a close duet, commissioned for the 2015 edition, reflects on that innate human desire to communicate and connect, a vocal and gestural suite devised for the historic ‘closes’ of Edinburgh – the small alleyways that lead off either side of the Royal Mile. Tuulikki also presents a special live performance of an extract from the work on-line, with her collaborator Daniel Padden – looking to the performative possibilities of the digital technology which has become such a critical tool for us all in recent months.
This series of responses has been made possible thanks to the support of The Scottish Government Expo Fundand EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.
The festival’s online offering also includes a free art activity series DIY Art – specially designed by artists, inviting children and their parent/carer to get creative at home.
Support for artists in the early stages of their career
Despite the cancellation of the festival this year, we are delighted to confirm that Platform, the festival’s annual showcase supporting artists in the early stages of their careers to make and present new work, returns with a physical exhibition in the Autumn.
Selected from an open call by artist Ruth Ewan, and curator Sophia Hao, (Cooper Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design), four artists based in Scotland – Rabindranath Bhose, Mark Bleakley, Rhona Jack and Susannah Stark have been selected to take part, with further details being released later in the coming weeks.
Platform: 2020 is made possible thanks to the PLACE Programme, a partnership between Edinburgh Festivals, Scottish Government, City of Edinburgh Council and Creative Scotland.
Black Lives Matter Mural Trail
Edinburgh Art Festival are pleased to also support the Black Lives Matter Mural Trail – a new public trail of artworks by Scottish BAME artists in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, led by creative producer Wezi Mhura. More details will be announced on the festival website shortly.
Galleries start to reopen
As we emerge from lockdown, festival partners are busy making plans to reopen their galleries, studios and production spaces across the city. For further details, click here.
Sorcha Carey, Director, Edinburgh Art Festival said:“It is hard to imagine an Edinburgh without festivals this Summer. We, along with our colleagues in the August festivals, will miss welcoming artists to the city this year and the opportunity to engage with audiences from Edinburgh and around the world – not least because, at a time of such significant global change, art offers a vitally important space for collective reflection, and to imagine new possibilities.
“I would like to thank all the artists who have so generously agreed to contribute a response to our August offering, and have risen creatively to the challenges of presenting work despite the ongoing restrictions.
“We very much look forward to being back next year, and in the meantime we are sending a hello from Edinburgh to friends across the city and around the world.”
Edinburgh Art Festival returns next year from 29 Jul to 29 Aug 2021 – as always working closely with the festival’s partner galleries, and alongside the extended network of August festivals, to celebrate the work of artists with audiences and communities across the city.
Jeshreena now has an MBA as well as a beautiful son!
BUSINESS student Jeshreena Palakkal had a good excuse for failing to turn up for a crucial exam – she had just given birth!
Jeshreena was due to sit the test as part of her MBA in Leadership Practice at Edinburgh Napier University.
However, she had to change her plans after the exam was scheduled for the day she was due to become a mum.
In the event, the heavily-pregnant student felt feverish and her unborn baby’s pulse was high so medics at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary decided to bring him into the world by emergency C-section 10 days early.
And by the time classmates were sweating it out in the exam room, Jeshreena was already getting to know her new son.
Baby Elan recovered well from his premature birth in April 2018 and is enjoying good health. And now, more than two years on, his mother is celebrating becoming a graduate.
Jeshreena, 25, originally from Kerala, south-west India, but now living in Leith, said: “I couldn’t believe it. I only had one exam in the whole year, and it turned out to be the day my baby was due.
“Fortunately I was able to delay the exam until the following April, and I was also able to secure extra time to complete written assignments. It has been hard but I have finally made it to the end of my degree journey and I also have a lovely little boy.
“I feel so proud of myself for getting to graduation and also extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to study here and meet such wonderful people. I am planning to stay in Edinburgh.”
Jeshreena found out she was pregnant just days after getting a visa to come to Edinburgh Napier to study for her Masters after taking her first degree in India.
Her husband Hashim persuaded her she should not give up on her academic dream and they came to Scotland together, Jeshreena battling through morning sickness, giving birth then postnatal depression while safety adviser Hashim – who has since then began his own MBA course at Edinburgh Napier – worked night and day to support them.
Jeshreena said: “There were times when I was in extreme pain due to my C-section stitches but I didn’t rest even for a day, with housework and university assignments to do as well as looking after the baby.
“There were days when I had a feeding baby in one hand and with the other I was typing out an assignment on my laptop, but I finally did it with the support of my husband and my wonderful tutors.”
Dr Paul Langford, lecturer in financial services at Edinburgh Napier, said: “Jeshreena has shown admirable resilience in overcoming the obstacles in her way to graduation – gaining her MBA Leadership Practice is an impressive achievement and we wish her well in her future career!”
Updated guidance on managing the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been published.
As restrictions ease, the way Scotland deals with COVID-19 is now shifting from containing the virus nationally through lockdown to monitoring and responding to localised outbreaks wherever and whenever they occur.
COVID-19: Surveillance and Responsesets out how existing planning arrangements and guidance will be applied to continue to suppress the virus at a national and local level including the timely and co-ordinated sharing of data between key organisations including local health professionals, local authorities and other local responders.
The publication is accompanied by updated Public Health Scotland guidance on the management of public health incidents to reflect the new COVID-19 legislation.
NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect programme will continue to play a significant role in the ability to monitor the ongoing impact of COVID-19 within communities across Scotland.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “As we move into the next phase on easing lockdown restrictions we know that our response to the pandemic also needs to adapt. Monitoring the virus and taking action to suppress transmission is increasingly important.
“Scotland has a world class public health system and our surveillance and response approach, along with NHS Scotland’s Test and Protect programme and local resilience services, will enable us to respond rapidly and collaboratively to any incident or outbreak at a local, regional and a national level.
“Of course, we all need to continue to play our part to reduce the risk of the virus spreading through physical distancing, good hand and respiratory hygiene and the appropriate use of face coverings.
“Though the transmission of the virus in the community is now at much lower levels, we must still ensure that where clusters of cases develop, we find them and act quickly to prevent further spread.
“The rapid and targeted response to the cluster in Dumfries and Galloway by services at both a local and national level demonstrated that Scotland has a well developed and tested approach to the management of public health outbreaks.
“We must all remain vigilant and our surveillance and response approach will ensure that we are ready to react to what lies ahead.”
