Tag: Scottish Government

Citizens Assembly to help shape Scotland’s future

First step to set up new Assembly to help shape Scotland’s future.

The process of establishing the new Citizens’ Assembly to explore some of the major challenges facing Scotland has begun.

A contractor is being sought to randomly select 120 members of the public to serve on the Assembly. The individuals will be broadly representative of Scotland’s adult population in terms of age, gender, socio-economic class, ethnic group, geography and political attitudes.

The Assembly will consider three broad issues:

* what kind of country should be

* how can Scotland best overcome challenges, including those arising from Brexit

* what further work is required to enable people to make informed choices about the future of Scotland

Constitutional Relations Secretary Michael Russell said: “This is the first time a Citizens’ Assembly has been used in Scotland and will bring together a wide range of ordinary people from across our country in a genuine attempt to reach consensus on the issues that we face. Similar models have been used successfully in countries including Ireland, Canada, Australia and Poland.

“It is a bold idea and one I hope everyone, whatever their political view, can embrace. I believe we all want the best for Scotland and if we have learnt anything from Brexit it is the need to make space for people to engage with information and to exchange different views.”

The Citizens’ Assembly is one strand of the Scottish Government’s three pronged approach to chart a distinctive course for Scotland. The others are the establishment of a legal framework providing the option for a referendum and cross-party talks to identify areas of agreement on constitutional change.

The Scottish Government’s approach is based on lessons learned from a range of Citizens’ Assembly initiatives.

Members will be identified by early September, with the Assembly meeting on six weekends between the autumn and Spring 2020.

Assembly members will receive a gift of thanks of £200 per weekend to recognise their time and contribution. Travel, accommodation and other reasonable costs, such as child care, will also be covered.

MSPs, MPs, MEPs, councillors and members of the House of Lords, political party staff, public appointees and senior public and civil servants will be ineligible to sit on the Assembly, as will representatives and officials of relevant advocacy groups.

An announcement on the convenership of the Assembly will be made by Constitutional Secretary Michael Russell shortly.

 

 

Representation on public boards: government hails gender parity

Milestone passed as women break through the glass ceiling

For the first time, women now account for half of all board members appointed to public bodies across Scotland. Of the 680 appointments to boards with regulated ministerial appointments, 341 are now women. Continue reading Representation on public boards: government hails gender parity

Scotland ‘risks a forgotten generation’

  • Report shows children in care treated like second class citizens
  • Calls on importance of independent advocacy to be respected
  • Offers immediate solutions to halt rights infringements

The charity Who Cares? Scotland has published first of their kind statistics, revealing that young people in care across Scotland are continually having to fight for basic rights every single day. These have today been published in a report entitled, “We Don’t Have to Wait.” Continue reading Scotland ‘risks a forgotten generation’

Nurseries rewarded for innovation

New awards recognise Early Learning and Childcare success

A nursery where children built a car out of old tyres and recycled wood is among the inaugural winners of a new awards scheme to boost the quality of childcare.

Other winners of the Scottish Government’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) Innovation Award include a nursery where children set up a café for parents and a nursery where children now grow their own food for lunch.

All six winning nurseries set up new creative experiences to challenge children and improve their social and language skills and self-confidence.

The six are:

  • Clober Nursery, East Dunbartonshire
  • Menstrie Nursery, Clackmannanshire
  • Village Nursery, West Linton, Scottish Borders
  • Bowhouse Early Learning and Childcare, Falkirk
  • Treetop Family Nurture Centre, Fife
  • Innerwick Early Years Setting, East Lothian.

All of the winning nurseries will receive £5,000 to further develop their innovative ideas.

Children’s Minister Maree Todd visited Clober Nursery and said: “Every winning nursery has gone above and beyond to give their children outstanding opportunities to learn and develop.

“Staff have come up with amazingly creative and fun ways to develop children’s understanding of the world around them, with great results already for the children, their families and staff.

“As quality is at the heart of our expansion plans, the awards will showcase best practice and encourage nurseries to share success with each other.”

Louise McHugh, an ELC practitioner from Clober Nursery, said: “Outdoor learning is an exciting and daily part of Clober Nursery.

“We strive to provide children with opportunities to learn and develop their risk-taking strategies, educate them to understand where food comes from as well as providing them with the opportunity to use their imagination with loose part play.

“We are only at the beginning of our outdoor learning journey and we cannot wait to see where the children’s investigations take us.”

New support for families of children starting school

Full Best Start Grant package now available

A brand new benefit for low income families is now open for applications.  The £250 School Age Payment is for families with a child old enough to start primary school  this August.

The payment is part of the Best Start Best Grant, a package of three payments for families in receipt of eligible benefits – including Universal Credit, Income Support, Housing Benefit and tax credits – to help at key stages in a child’s life.

The Best Start Grant package also includes the Pregnancy and Baby Payment, which has been open for applications since December 2018 and the Early Learning Payment, which launched in April.

Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: “Covering the costs of a child starting school puts pressure on family finances, and we have created this new payment to help ease that burden, putting more money into the pockets of families at a time when they need it most.

“We are committed to doing all we can to make sure Scotland is the best place for a child to grow up.  We want to increase financial support to families, bringing equality to children by giving them help towards a fairer start.

“We also want to encourage everyone who is entitled to a payment to apply, so will be working with services to promote the benefit to ensure as many people as possible are aware they can access this new additional support.”

  • applications for the School Age Payment open today (Monday 3 June) and will remain open to 29 February 2020
  • eligible families can apply for a payment if their child was born between 1 March 2014 and 28 February 2015
  • there is no requirement to take up a place at school to be eligible for the payment
  • parents who have deferred school entry so their children will start school in August 2020 should still apply in the 3 June to 29 February window
  • Social Security Scotland is using a single application process for these payments so families can apply for any Best Start Grant Payment in one form. Applications can be made online, over the phone or by post
  • parents/carers will be eligible if they live in Scotland, are responsible for a child and receive certain qualifying benefits
  • the qualifying benefits include: Universal Credit, Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, Income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit
  • the introduction of this benefit means that the Scottish Government is now delivering four new benefits. These are: Best Start Grant Pregnancy and Baby Payment, Early Learning Payment, School Age Payment and Carer’s Allowance Supplement.
  • Social Security Scotland came into being as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government on 1 September 2018
  • further information can be found at mygov.scot/benefits or call 0800 182 2222

 

 

Scottish Government acts to cut disruption on roads and pavements

Communities will face less disruption with new standards to manage road works and speed up the installation of fibre broadband. A national code of practice will see the standardisation of faster and more modern techniques for trench digging for improving utility services.

The development of more compact cables has seen modern techniques, such as requiring narrower holes and less excavation required, increasing the speed of delivery. The technique also safeguards the roads by reducing the need for return visits to repair failed trenches.

As well as broadband cable installation, this will mean shorter periods of disruption for power, water and gas works who use this technique.

Connectivity Minister Paul Wheelhouse (above) visited a Virgin Media dig to see a new broadband installation taking place and discuss the new code with the installation team. He said: “The Scottish Government has listened to the views of companies who tell us that narrow trenching can help companies deliver fibre broadband faster and with less disruption to communities.

“We understand that utility companies operate in a competitive market. They are therefore constantly looking for ways to improve their efficiency and to reduce their costs in order to keep ahead of their competition. This has led to innovation in how infrastructure, such as broadband, is deployed.

“We have updated the code to enable narrow trenching to take place consistently, and in a manner which protects our pavements and road network, and this has the added benefit that will result in the faster deployment of broadband across Scotland and a reduction in the disruption communities face during the roll out itself.”

Julie Agnew, Regional Director for Scotland at Virgin Media, said: “As Virgin Media continues to invest in bringing ultrafast broadband to more areas of Scotland, this new code gives much needed clarity for networks to be built in a fast, flexible and efficient way with minimal disruption.

“We thank the Scottish Government for working with us and creating an environment that encourages and supports broadband builders like Virgin Media.”

The Code of Practice comes into force immediately.