Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to nearly one third of Ukrainians being displaced from their homes. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that more than 7.6 million Ukrainians had been displaced across Europe.
The Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) has taken a closer look at Scotland’s Homes for Ukraine Scheme, six months after it was introduced.
You can read it here: https://spice-spotlight.scot/…/displaced-ukrainians-in…/
A consultation has been launched on how qualifications and assessment should be reformed to ensure learners’ achievements are fairly recognised.
Young people, parents, carers, teachers, education staff and all learners are among those being encouraged to give their views.
The consultation invites opinions on:
The consultation, which will close on 16 December, is part of an independent review of qualifications and assessment announced by Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville in October 2021.
The review is being led by Louise Hayward, Emerita Professor of Educational Assessment and Innovation at Glasgow University, who will provide independent advice for Ministers to consider in March next year.
Professor Hayward said: “This Review of Qualifications and Assessment offers Scotland an opportunity to look to the future.
“We want to ensure that the ways in which we gather evidence about all learners’ achievements, awards and qualifications help every learner to transition positively into the next phase of life, be that in college, employment, university or voluntary work.
“By supporting every learner to become a confident, committed life-long learner, we will help Scotland to grow socially, culturally and economically.”
Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “The aim of reforming qualifications and assessment is to ensure that all senior phase learners have the best possible opportunity to demonstrate the breadth, depth and relevance of their learning.
“This consultation and the other work being done by Professor Hayward to gather a wide range of opinions is crucially important and I would encourage anyone who has an interest, particularly young people, parents, carers and education staff, to give their views.
“The review, and our other planned education reforms, have the clear purpose of doing all we can to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people in Scotland’s education system.”
The consultation on qualifications and assessment will run until 16 December.
Over-50s can book their winter vaccines from tomorrow (October 24) protecting them from COVID-19 and flu and easing pressure on the NHS this winter.
Those aged 50-64 can book an appointment on the NHS Inform website making it simple to arrange a time which suits them. Appointments can also be rescheduled online – with a national helpline available for those without internet access.
More than 870,000 people have already come forward for their COVID-19 and flu vaccines, including healthcare staff, care home residents, over 65’s and those at high risk – with over 1.7 million vaccines being administered.
Over two million Scots are being offered both vaccines during the course of the programme and a nationwide marketing campaign – ‘Don’t let your protection fade’ – is raising awareness of the importance of topping up protection against the illnesses – so far, 93.9% of people have received both flu and COVID-19 jabs at the same appointment.
Public Health Minister Maree Todd said: “Uptake continues to be encouraging showing the people of Scotland are keen to protect not just themselves, but their loved ones and the NHS. People who are vaccinated are less likely to become seriously unwell from COVID-19 or flu.
“We are working hard to ensure Scotland maintains its reputation as a leading nation for vaccine uptake – continuing the huge success of the vaccination programme since it was first rolled out in December 2020.
“The flu virus is always changing and COVID-19 protection can fade over time so I would ask everyone eligible to take up the offer of their winter vaccines so we can all stay safe over the winter months.”
1,741,484 COVID-19 and flu vaccines have been delivered since the winter vaccine programme launched.
Both new bivalent vaccines, which target Omicron and the original variant of COVID-19, are being deployed alongside existing vaccines, though the vaccination individuals receive will depend on age and vaccine availability. Both the current and new bivalent vaccines provide good protection from severe illness and hospitalisation from known COVID-19 variants.
Rearrange or opt-out of your vaccination appointment | NHS inform
Those without access to the internet can call the national helpline on 0800 030 8013.
Anyone aged 12 years and over who has missed an appointment for their initial course of the COVID-19 vaccine can reschedule through the NHS Inform online.
Appointments for children under 12 must be booked/rescheduled by calling 0800 030 8013.
NHS staff in Scotland are set to receive a record pay rise of £2,205 – an average 7% pay uplift – to help tackle the cost of living crisis and retain staff during the tougher winter months.
This increased offer was made after constructive negotiations between the Scottish Government and NHS Unions, which lasted into the early hours of Friday morning (21 October).
The offer would mean the lowest paid seeing a rise of more than 11%, with qualified nursing staff receiving up to 8.45%, helping the lowest paid staff through the cost of living crisis.
If agreed, the pay uplift, which amounts to almost half a billion pounds (£480m), will benefit more than 160,000 employees including nurses, paramedics, allied health professionals and healthcare support staff.
This is the largest pay offer given to NHS Scotland Agenda for Change staff since devolution and will mean they remain the best paid in the UK. If accepted, the offer will be backdated to 1 April 2022, and could be added to pay cheques in time for Christmas.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “I am grateful to trade union colleagues and NHS employers for constructive discussions on pay.
“This has been another exceptionally challenging year for our health service and we have a difficult winter ahead, but I am pleased that we are able to recognise the service and dedication of our healthcare and support staff with this pay offer.
“We owe NHS staff a debt of gratitude for leading us through the greatest public health crisis in recent history.
“This improved pay offer – which is the largest of its kind since devolution – reflects their hard work and will go a long way to help them through the cost of living crisis. We are rightly focussing the biggest increases for those who are the lowest paid, as we know the cost crisis is impacting them disproportionately.”
However the Scottish government’s latest pay offer remains a real terms pay cut for the majority of nursing staff, according to the Royal College of Nursing.
The offer comes after discussions with the health trade unions, Cabinet Secretary, Deputy First Minister, Scottish government officials and employers.
Scottish government failed to take the opportunity to recognise the clinical skill, expertise and leadership of registered nurses.
When compared to the previous offer from May 2022, this offer sees a lower percentage increase for those higher up the Agenda for Change bandings. The RCN has called for an across the board pay increase that is 5% above inflation.
Julie Lamberth said: “Nurse staffing levels are dangerously low. We need fair pay to attract more people into nursing and to keep the skilled nurses we already have.
“We want to be able to provide the best possible care for our patients but too often, the lack of staff and demand on services is standing in our way. Too many of us are making the decision to walk away from the profession. The Scottish Government has the power to stop this. The people of Scotland deserve better, so do we. Please post you ballot back today.”
RCN Scotland Director Colin Poolman said: “Yet again the Scottish Government has failed to listen to our members concerns for the safety of their patients. They have failed to recognise the safety critical role of nursing staff and their essential contribution to our NHS and our nation’s health.
“Under this proposal, registered nurses continue to face a significant real terms pay cut. This is even more stark with the news that inflation reached a 40 year high. Many are making difficult decisions about how to heat their homes, feed their families and travel to work while carrying the burden of being unable to do the best for their patients due to severe staff shortages.
“Our ballot for strike action continues. Today’s offer will make our members more determined to have their voice heard. I would urge members to vote in favour of strike and to post back their ballot papers now.”
The First Minister has convened a second summit with energy companies and advice organisations.
Further actions to support consumers and businesses through the winter have been agreed at yesterday’s virtual summit between energy companies and advice organisations and Ministers.
The energy cost crisis summit discussed this week’s reversals to UK Government measures set out since the previous summit, and agreed longer-term certainty is urgently needed ahead of the anticipated energy price cap increase, currently due in April.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “The curtailing of the Energy Price Guarantee by the Chancellor of the Exchequer earlier this week has eradicated what meagre certainty people and businesses had over their bills and finances in the short to medium-term.
“Even the current cap of £2,500 until April – while better than a rise to £3,500 – is still a very significant increase for households who are already struggling to pay their bills and heat their homes. Without further mitigation the increase to £2,500 under the Energy Price Guarantee will see an additional 150,000 households in extreme fuel poverty.
“The deficiencies in the UK Government’s package mean we are still in an emergency situation. The economic outlook has been made far worse by other aspects of the mini-budget – most of which have now had to be reversed entirely.
“The Scottish Government is working hard within its limited powers and finite budget to support people, business, public services and the economy. Part of that work will involve ongoing engagement with energy companies and advice organisations throughout the winter to see how, individually and collectively, we can alleviate the huge challenges people are facing as well as signposting existing schemes and support that is available.
“It is clear however that more substantial reform of the energy market is needed to address the issue in the long term, and the power to do so lies with the UK Government.”
And therein lies the problem – Ed.
Scottish Energy Retail Summit: update on collaborative action – gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
UNISON, and sister trade unions Unite and GMB, are threatening pull out local government school staff and refuse workers on strike again.
Strike action was suspended after UNISON members voted for an offer which was made to them by COSLA on 2nd September 2022.
Trade union strikes remain suspended but mandates remain live meaning UNISON can legally call their local government members back out on strike, again.
COSLA now claim that the elements of the original deal – an extra days leave and the payment of SSSC registration fees for those working in social work, social care and early years – were only for one year not in perpetuity.
UNISON have now written to COSLA to say: “It is frankly outrageous that the draft pay circular sent to us on 7th October sought to time limit elements of the offer that had no time limitation on them in the original offer letter or in the discussions we had prior to it.
“That this remains unresolved should be a source of deep embarrassment. As has previously been advised our strike mandates remain live and we are all under increasing pressure from members, who are rapidly losing faith in their employer, to lift the strike suspensions if a resolution is not achieved quickly.”
Council staff are still waiting for their increased pay uplifts to be included in their pay packets.
Johanna Baxter, UNISON Scotland head of local government said: “This is appalling behaviour – either the employer did not even understand the offer they themselves were making – or they did and are now trying to renegue on it before its even been implemented. Either way it will be our members that suffer if they are allowed to get away with it.
“We have made clear to the employer and the Scottish Government that our strike mandates remain live and all three trade unions are under increasing pressure from members, who are rapidly losing faith in their employer, to lift the strike suspensions if a resolution and call members out if a resolution is not achieved quickly.
“Our members will rightly be questioning the value of COSLA if they cannot be trusted to draft an offer that they understand or uphold one that they do understand.
“It should be a source of deep embarrassment to COSLA that more than six months since the pay implementation date and in the middle of the worst cost of living crises our country has seen, waiting on their pay rise”
Following the news about the closure of the Modern Two art gallery in Edinburgh until next year due to rising energy bills, Sarah Boyack MSP, Scottish Labour’s Spokesperson for Culture and MSP for Lothian, highlighted the wider issues the sector is facing and called on the Scottish Government to deliver urgent action.
The Scottish Labour MSP commented: “Our arts and culture organisations are on the brink of collapse – many are fighting for survival, they are struggling to cope with the perfect storm of reduced incomes, skyrocketing energy bills and inflation.
“Earlier this month, we found out that Falkirk Town Hall, the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, the Belmont in Aberdeen and the Edinburgh International Film Festival have all gone under.
“The Scottish Government reassured us that Scotland’s National Collections will remain open to the public free of charge. However, the reality on the ground tells us a very different story.
“Instead of rhetoric and empty promises, we need the Government to deliver the urgent action the arts and culture sector needs at this moment of crisis.”
In his written response to Sarah Boyack MSP, on 30th September, Culture Secretary Neil Gray said: “the National Collections are an important part of Scotland’s culture.
!”As part of setting and reviewing annual budgets for grant in aid, the Scottish Government maintains close contact with National Museums Scotland and the National Galleries of Scotland about their cost and revenue, in order to continue to ensure that their permanent collections remain open to the public free of charge.”
Drug support services are benefitting from a £65 million boost to drive down the number of drug deaths each year.
Life-saving organisations which help people who use drugs turn their lives around and offer support to their families are invited to apply for this Government funding which will help people on their road to recovery.
The cash will go to initiatives like Aberdeen Alcohol and Drugs Action which was given almost half a million pounds earlier this year to deliver a “Sharp Response Service” to people in their homes, ensuring they were given immediate access to advice and support to help them get back on track.
The money, from the additional £250 million national mission funding, is being channelled through the Local Support Fund which is open all year round and two further funding pots, which are reopening today (20 October) – the Improvement Fund for organisations delivering residential rehabilitation and associated services and the Children and Families Fund which gives financial help to those working with the loved ones of those affected.
All funds are administered through the CORRA Foundation, a charity which aims to make grants available to projects which make a difference to people and communities.
Drugs Policy Minister Angela Constance said: “The number of lives lost to drugs is still too high in Scotland and these funds are vital for those services working on the frontline to help those affected and their families.
“These organisations save lives and we want to support them so they can extend as far into their communities as possible and offer people the support they need when and where they need it.
“£65 million of the additional £250 million set aside for the national mission on drug deaths over the course of this Parliament will go directly to these funds and we are determined to make every penny count.”
Aberdeen Alcohol and Drugs Action Service Manager Simon Pringle said: “The Drug Improvement Fund has allowed ADA to offer a more flexible service to clients who find accessing mainstream or statutory services – including treatment – difficult.
“Since receiving the funding we have offered help to over 150 individuals helping them access support, engage with NHS Medication Assisted Treatment (MAT), re-engage with services and receive sterile injecting equipment.
“We have been able to target those most at risk and see them quickly – usually the same day – therefore reducing the risks of overdose or other harms. Without the fund we wouldn’t have been able to achieve this.”
Responding to the latest figures showing the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh sees only 40.6% of A&E patients within 4 hours, Foysol Choudhury MSP said: “The figures for patients being seen at A&E within 4 hours in Edinburgh remain alarmingly low, even before the anticipated winter crisis hits.
“The Cabinet Secretary for Health has said that ‘recovery from Covid will not happen overnight’, but we are yet to see any evidence of recovery at all. The 4-hour figures for NHS Lothian last averaged above 90% in March 2021, while the figures for Edinburgh Royal last averaged above 90% in October 2020. The trend has been downwards since then.
“Hard-working NHS staff are doing their best for patients in very difficult circumstances, but they are being let down by long-running structural failures which remain unresolved by this SNP-Green government.
“The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action now to arrest two years of decline in our health service, or risk putting patient safety in jeopardy over winter.”
The Scottish Conservatives said: “This week, A&E waiting time figures showed 1506 patients waiting more than half a day in emergency departments.
“Hardworking NHS staff are being pushed beyond their limits and patients are suffering needlessly as a result of SNP inaction.”
Mr Yousaf said: “A&E departments are working under significant pressure and, in common with other healthcare systems across the UK and globally, the pandemic continues to impact performance.
“Recovery from Covid will not happen overnight, which is why we are continuing to work with boards on a number of measures to reduce pressure this winter.”
Comparison Table: NHS Boards and Scotland
Date ↓ NHS Board Attendance % within 4 hours
09-Oct-2022 NHS Ayrshire & Arran 1,818 67.2
09-Oct-2022 NHS Borders 577 60.5
09-Oct-2022 NHS Dumfries & Galloway 956 78.6
09-Oct-2022 NHS Fife 1,328 63
09-Oct-2022 NHS Forth Valley 1,145 39.7
09-Oct-2022 NHS Grampian 1,923 62.5
09-Oct-2022 NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde 6,471 63.6
09-Oct-2022 NHS Highland 1,257 78.4
09-Oct-2022 NHS Lanarkshire 3,793 54.3
09-Oct-2022 NHS Lothian 4,488 61.7
09-Oct-2022 NHS Orkney 95 93.7
09-Oct-2022 NHS Shetland 187 92.5
09-Oct-2022 NHS Tayside 1,546 90.4
09-Oct-2022 NHS Western Isles 100 96
09-Oct-2022 NHSScotland 25,684 64.2
A new single rate for the national minimum wage to reflect the increased cost of living, and more effective employment law to protect workers’ rights underpin plans to build a fairer labour market in an independent Scotland, according to Deputy First Minister John Swinney.
Following publication of the paper Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence, Mr Swinney said the powers of independence would allow the Scottish Government to build a fairer, more equal future for all workers. This includes new measures to improve access to flexible working and better industrial relations.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Improving job security, wages and work-life balance are essential to delivering a more socially just Scotland. The UK labour market model has generated high income inequality while failing to drive productivity growth.
“Compared to independent European countries similar to Scotland, the UK has a higher prevalence of low pay, a bigger gender pay gap, longer working hours and significantly lower statutory sick pay.
“The Scottish Government is committed to Fair Work, but we could go much further to strengthen that agenda in an independent Scotland, developing a legal framework that more effectively addresses the workplace challenges of the 21st century. It would give us an opportunity to redesign the system to better meet the needs of Scotland’s workers and employers.”
Specific measures proposed in the paper include:
The paper outlines how it would be easier for an independent Scotland to deal with labour market shocks.
In responding to the global financial crisis and pandemic, other countries were able to quickly draw on existing institutions and initiatives. This could include a permanent short-time working scheme, modelled on the German Kurzarbeit programme which provides compensation for private sector workers whose hours are reduced because of economic difficulty. A scheme like this in Scotland could help retain skills, reduce long-term unemployment and the associated costs and allow for more rapid economic recovery.
Job Security Councils, modelled on a Swedish initiative, could provide support to workers who have lost – or are at risk of losing – their jobs. These non-profit foundations led by social partners, employer representative bodies and trades unions, would help workers find new employment by providing a range of advice and high-quality retraining.
Building a New Scotland: A stronger economy with independence is the third paper in the Building a New Scotland series which will form a prospectus to enable people to make an informed choice about Scotland’s future before any referendum on independence takes place.
