Working together: Holyrood and Westminster committees to talk social security

The successful delivery of the devolution of social security is to be investigated by two parliamentary committees. For the first time a Holyrood Committee and a Westminster Committee will work together to look at the relationship between the Scottish and UK Governments and investigate if it is working effectively. Continue reading Working together: Holyrood and Westminster committees to talk social security

Lentil munchers to the rescue: Scotland’s Budget passed

‘Sandal-wearing watermelons’ save the day!

SNP MSPs have welcome the Scottish Government’s Budget saying that communities across Edinburgh are set to benefit from greater support as a result. They herald £1.3bn for NHS Lothian, as well as £230m to deliver new Sick Children’s Hospital and Department of Clinical Neurosciences in Edinburgh and funding to complete the Queensferry Crossing. Opposition politicians have lambasted the Greens for supporting the budget. Continue reading Lentil munchers to the rescue: Scotland’s Budget passed

BREXIT: UK must compromise, says Sturgeon

‘Prime Minister running out of time’ – FM Nicola Sturgeon

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will call on the Prime Minister to set out how the UK Government intends to reach UK wide agreement on the aims of the article 50 negotiations, when she attends the Joint Ministerial Committee meeting in Cardiff today. Continue reading BREXIT: UK must compromise, says Sturgeon

Job Centre closures ‘wrong-headed’

Scottish politicians have reacted angrily to news that more Jobcentre Plus offices are to close in Scotland. Holyrood’s Minister for Employability and Training Jamie Hepburn said the cuts are disproportionate while both Green MSP Alison Johnstone and North and Leith MP Deirdre Brock said the decision is ‘wrong-headed’.

Continue reading Job Centre closures ‘wrong-headed’

CHILD DEATHS AND POVERTY: GREENS URGE ACTION ON RCPCH REPORT

Alison Johnstone MSP, Health spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, today urged Scottish Ministers to act on the recommendations of a major report which concludes that 400 Scottish child deaths each year are potentially avoidable. The State of Child Health report by the Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health says the Scottish Government should adopt a ‘child health in all policies’ approach to decision making.

The report urges support for families through financial inclusion services, like Glasgow’s Healthier Wealthier Children scheme which Green MSPs have persuaded Scottish Ministers to roll out across the country. It calls for all schools to deliver comprehensive sex and relationships education and also calls for 20 mph speed limits in built up areas to create safe places for children to walk, cycle and play.

Alison Johnstone, Health spokesperson for the Scottish Greens and MSP for Lothian, said: “The link between poverty and poor health is well established and this shocking report shows we need a transformation in how Government approaches the issue. Four hundred preventable child deaths each year must prompt serious action.

“Green MSPs have been pushing for an anti-poverty budget from Scottish Ministers, and we’ve already secured a guarantee that Glasgow’s Healthier Wealthier Children project, which boosts incomes for vulnerable families, will be rolled out across Scotland. We need to see other interventions such as an allowance for young carers, promotion of the Living Wage to stop in-work poverty, and a more humane approach to social security.

“We also need to see a shift in spending to make it easy to be active every day. The lack of funding for walking and cycling while motorways and air travel are set to benefit, and the deep cuts planned to sports agencies and council services, show that Scottish Ministers haven’t grasped how serious the situation is.”

The full report is available at:
www.rcpch.ac.uk/state-of-child-health

State of child health: The report at a glance

This is a comprehensive list of 25 measures of the health of UK children, ranging from specific conditions such as asthma, diabetes and epilepsy, risk factors for poor health such as obesity and a low rate of breastfeeding, to child deaths. The data provide an “across the board” snapshot of child health and wellbeing in the UK.

Key messages

Key actions – UK wide

Recommendations for UK, Scottish and Welsh Governments and decision makers

Key messages

Nearly one in five children in the UK is living in poverty and inequality is blighting their lives, with those from the most deprived backgrounds experiencing much worse health compared with the most affluent. Despite some improvements in the health of UK children over the last decades, there is clear disparity with Europe, and major cause for concern.

Child deaths

The UK ranks 15 out of 19 Western European countries on infant (under one year of age) mortality and has one of the highest rates for children and young people in Western Europe.

There is a strong association between deprivation and mortality, for example infant mortality is more than twice as high in the lowest compared with the highest socio-economic groups.

Smoking in pregnancy

The prevalence of smoking during pregnancy in the UK is higher than in many European countries (for example 5% in Lithuania and Sweden, compared with 19% in Scotland, 16% in Wales and 15% in Northern Ireland).

Smoking in pregnancy increases the likelihood of death, disability, and disease (for example stillbirth, cot death and the risk of respiratory disease across the life-course).

There is marked variation in smoking in pregnancy across the UK with a strong association with deprivation; for example in Scotland over a quarter (25.9%) of women in the most deprived areas acknowledged smoking following the birth of their baby, compared with 3.3% in the least deprived areas.

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding in England and Scotland has shown minimal improvement since data recording commenced in 1975, with no improvement over the last five years, and remains lower than many other comparable high-income countries.

At 6 months, only 34% of babies in the UK are wholly or partially breastfed, compared to 71% in Norway

Breastfeeding has substantial health benefits for mothers and babies.

Across the UK, 46% of mothers in the most deprived areas breastfed compared with 65% in the most affluent areas.

Obesity

Across England, Scotland and Wales more than one in five children in the first year of primary school are overweight or obese.

There has been minimal improvement in the prevalence of child overweight and obesity over the past decade.

Obesity leads to substantially increased risk of serious life-long health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.

In 2015/2016, 40% of children in England’s most deprived areas were overweight or obese, compared to 27% in the most affluent areas.

Smoking

The percentage of 15-year-old children smoking regularly is 6% in England and 8% in Wales and Scotland.

Smoking continues to be the greatest single cause of avoidable mortality in the UK.

Starting to smoke during adolescence increases the likelihood of being a life-long smoker.

The prevalence of child smoking is much higher amongst children from the most deprived areas; for example in Scotland’s most deprived areas, at least 1 in 10 young people are regular smokers.

Alcohol

In 2013/2014, 13% of 15-year-olds surveyed in Wales, 11% in England and 13.5% in Scotland reported drinking alcohol at least once a week.

Alcohol abuse continues to be a problem across the social spectrum.

Key actions – UK wide

  • Each UK Government to develop a child health and wellbeing strategy, coordinated, implemented and evaluated across the nation
  • Each UK Government to adopt a ‘child health in all policies’ approach
  • UK Government to introduce a ban on the advertising of foods high in saturated fat, sugar and salt in all broadcast media before 9pm
  • Each UK Government to develop cross-departmental support for breastfeeding; this should include a national public health campaign and a sector wide approach that includes employers, to support women to breastfeed
  • An expansion of national programmes to measure the height and weight of infants and children after birth, before school and during adolescence
  • A reversal of public health cuts in England, which are disproportionately affecting children’s services
  • The introduction of minimum unit alcohol pricing in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, in keeping with actions by the Scottish Government
  • UK Government to extend the ban on smoking in public places to schools, playgrounds and hospitals
  • UK Government to prohibit the marketing of electronic cigarettes to children and young people
  • National public health campaigns that promote good nutrition and exercise before, during and after pregnancy

Recommendations for Scottish Government and decision makers

SOCH recommendations – Scotland 

 

State of Child Health – full report 

Human rights post-Brexit: discuss …

Brexit: rights, risks and responsibilities – What’s at stake for human rights in Scotland?

In conjunction with the Scottish Human Rights Commission, The Foundation is organising a meeting to raise awareness of the importance of human rights and social protections as the UK takes steps to leave the EU, and the opportunities to strengthen the protection and implementation of rights in Scotland.  You are invited to attend and the details are:

Wednesday 22nd February 2017 in Glasgow City Centre – venue TBC

Registration and refreshments 4.15 onwards, with meeting starting at 5pm and concluding, with a Q & A, at 7.30pm.
Registered delegates will receive a briefing paper 10 days prior to the event.

Registration is FREE just go to the Eventbrite page at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/brexit-rights-risks-and-responsibilities-whats-at-stake-for-human-rights-in-scotland-tickets-31392554977.

The Foundation gratefully acknowledge the support given by the Scottish Human Rights Commission in the organisation of the seminar

Bob Thomson (Convener)

It’s President Trump: God bless America

President Donald Trump’s inauguration address in full:

Chief Justice Roberts, President Carter, President Clinton, President Bush, President Obama, fellow Americans, and people of the world: Thank you.

We, the citizens of America, are now joined in a great national effort to rebuild our country and to restore its promise for all of our people.

Together, we will determine the course of America, and the world, for many, many years to come.

We will face challenges. We will confront hardships. But we will get the job done.

Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power, and we are grateful to President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent.

Today’s ceremony, however, has very special meaning. Because today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another, or from one party to another – but we are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.

For too long, a small group in our nation’s capital has reaped the rewards of government while the people have borne the cost.

Washington flourished – but the people did not share in its wealth.

Politicians prospered – but the jobs left, and the factories closed.

The establishment protected itself, but not the citizens of our country.

Their victories have not been your victories; their triumphs have not been your triumphs; and while they celebrated in our nation’s capital, there was little to celebrate for struggling families all across our land.

That all changes – starting right here, and right now, because this moment is your moment: it belongs to you.

It belongs to everyone gathered here today and everyone watching all across America.

This is your day. This is your celebration.

And this, the United States of America, is your country.

What truly matters is not which party controls our government, but whether our government is controlled by the people.

January 20th, 2017, will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again.

The forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.

Everyone is listening to you now.

You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement the likes of which the world has never seen before.

At the centre of this movement is a crucial conviction: that a nation exists to serve its citizens.

Americans want great schools for their children, safe neighbourhoods for their families, and good jobs for themselves.

These are the just and reasonable demands of righteous people and a righteous public.

But for too many of our citizens, a different reality exists: Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities; rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation; an education system, flush with cash, but which leaves our young and beautiful students deprived of all knowledge; and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealised potential.

This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.

We are one nation – and their pain is our pain. Their dreams are our dreams; and their success will be our success. We share one heart, one home, and one glorious destiny.

The oath of office I take today is an oath of allegiance to all Americans.

For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry;

Subsidised the armies of other countries while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military;

We’ve defended other nations’ borders while refusing to defend our own;

And spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.

We’ve made other countries rich while the wealth, strength, and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon.

One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind.

The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.

But that is the past. And now we are looking only to the future.

We assembled here today are issuing a new decree to be heard in every city, in every foreign capital, and in every hall of power.

From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land.

From this day forward, it’s going to be only America First, America First.

Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.

We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies, and destroying our jobs. Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength.

I will fight for you with every breath in my body – and I will never, ever let you down.

America will start winning again, winning like never before.

We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.

We will build new roads, and highways, and bridges, and airports, and tunnels, and railways all across our wonderful nation.

We will get our people off of welfare and back to work – rebuilding our country with American hands and American labour.

We will follow two simple rules: Buy American and hire American.

We will seek friendship and goodwill with the nations of the world – but we do so with the understanding that it is the right of all nations to put their own interests first.

We do not seek to impose our way of life on anyone, but rather to let it shine as an example – we will shine – for everyone to follow.

We will reinforce old alliances and form new ones – and unite the civilised world against radical Islamic terrorism, which we will eradicate completely from the face of the Earth.

At the bedrock of our politics will be a total allegiance to the United States of America, and through our loyalty to our country, we will rediscover our loyalty to each other.

When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice.

The Bible tells us: “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”

We must speak our minds openly, debate our disagreements honestly, but always pursue solidarity.

When America is united, America is totally unstoppable.

There should be no fear – we are protected, and we will always be protected.

We will be protected by the great men and women of our military and law enforcement and, most importantly, we will be protected by God.

Finally, we must think big and dream even bigger.

In America, we understand that a nation is only living as long as it is striving.

We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action – constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.

The time for empty talk is over.

Now arrives the hour of action.

Do not allow anyone to tell you that it cannot be done. No challenge can match the heart and fight and spirit of America.

We will not fail. Our country will thrive and prosper again.

We stand at the birth of a new millennium, ready to unlock the mysteries of space, to free the Earth from the miseries of disease, and to harness the energies, industries and technologies of tomorrow.

A new national pride will stir our souls, lift our sights, and heal our divisions.

It is time to remember that old wisdom our soldiers will never forget: that whether we are black or brown or white, we all bleed the same red blood of patriots, we all enjoy the same glorious freedoms, and we all salute the same great American Flag.

And whether a child is born in the urban sprawl of Detroit or the windswept plains of Nebraska, they look up at the same night sky, they fill their heart with the same dreams, and they are infused with the breath of life by the same almighty Creator.

So to all Americans, in every city near and far, small and large, from mountain to mountain, and from ocean to ocean, hear these words:

You will never be ignored again.

Your voice, your hopes, and your dreams, will define our American destiny. And your courage and goodness and love will forever guide us along the way.

Together, we will make America strong again.

We will make America wealthy again.

We will make America proud again.

We will make America safe again.

And, yes, together, we will make America great again.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you. God bless America.

Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States

Ben Macpherson: Scotland must choose it’s own path if all attempts to compromise are rejected

Tuesday’s statement by the Prime Minister’s made it clear the UK is heading for an ‘economically disastrous hard Brexit’, according to local MSP Ben Macpherson. He said Scotland voted overwhelming to remain in the EU – with Edinburgh voting 74% to Remain – and the Scottish Government is doing all it can to make sure the Tories cannot ignore and act against Scotland’s interests. Continue reading Ben Macpherson: Scotland must choose it’s own path if all attempts to compromise are rejected