Nicola Sturgeon is being urged to put in place a clear long-term plan for Scotland’s NHS – with the UK budget set to smash the scaremongering claims she made prior to the Independence referendum, according to the Scottish Conservatives. Continue reading Scottish Tories: Budget will deliver sustainable funding boost for Scottish NHS
New fund for pilot projects
Praise for Active Schools programme
Active Schools is going from strength to strength with figures at an all-time high and 7.3 million participant sessions delivered in 2017/18, an increase of 6% from 2016/17. Local politicians have welcomed the latest figures. Continue reading Record number of schools win SportScotland awards
Waiting times for Urology in NHS Lothian have increased dramatically over the last two years. The number of patients waiting more than 6 weeks has increased from 1,640 in June 2016 to 4,467 in June 2018. Continue reading Urology diagnosis and treatment waiting times soar in NHS Lothian
The Chancellor of the Exchequer must use his Budget statement to make changes to Universal Credit and prevent more people and families being pushed into poverty, Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said today. Continue reading Shirley-Anne Somerville: Universal Credit failings must be addressed in UK Budget
Traffickers are making potentially millions of pounds out of sexually exploiting people in Scotland. Police Scotland has today launched its first ever campaign targeting the perpetrators of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Continue reading Human trafficking campaign launched
Vulnerable people with complex needs who need help to get into settled accommodation are to be supported by funding of up to £6.5 million, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced. Continue reading Housing First: Scottish Government commits £6.5m to tackle homelessness
New digital system to reduce stigma and make it easier to eat healthily
Pre-paid digital smartcards will replace food vouchers, following strong support for changes to the scheme for helping low income families eat healthily.
Healthy Start Vouchers will become known as Best Start Foods and the current paper vouchers replaced by smartcards in Summer 2019.
Respondents to a Scottish Government consultation on changes to the Welfare Foods scheme said the move to smartcards could reduce stigma, increase uptake and be easier for families. They also wanted support and training for retailers to ensure the system was easy for them to use.
The consultation also found overwhelming support for extending the range of eligible foods in the scheme, and providing free milk and healthy snacks to all children in funded Early Learning and Childcare (ELC).
Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said: “Improving Scotland’s health and tackling inequality starts with ensuring everyone can have a healthy diet, especially families with young children. Diet impacts on children’s health, their learning ability and their life chances as they grow up, but too many low income families face barriers to eating healthily.
“There is clear and strong backing for our plans to further support families, through making the system easy to use and by increasing the foods that families can access. This gives us a strong foundation for introducing these changes.”
Welfare Foods consultation summary report
Welfare Foods consultation full report
Powers over Welfare Foods have been devolved to Scotland under the Scotland Act 2016. These powers have not yet commenced and the consultation sought views on how best to take these forward.
Families’ allowances will rise from £3.10 to £4.25 a week, and from £899 to £1,011 in total over the period they receive support.
Consultation respondents also suggested a national awareness raising campaign, through a range of media channels, to raise the uptake of Best Start Foods.
First Minister confirms bursary will rise to £10,000 by 2020.
Nursing and midwifery students’ bursary will rise to £10,000, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced yesterday.
Continue reading “Forward thinking”: Support for student nurses and midwives
Legislative option to form part of forthcoming public consultation
Ministers will consult on how the criminal law might be strengthened as part of efforts to tackle misogynistic behaviour, Cabinet Secretary for Justice Humza Yousaf has announced.
Mr Yousaf said a forthcoming consultation focusing on updating and consolidating Scotland’s hate crime laws will include consideration as to what measures may be needed to better tackle gender-based violence, including misogyny.
Mr Yousaf (above) said: “The Scottish Government is working with a range of partners – through education, legislation and enforcement – to tackle violence against women and girls, including challenging unacceptable attitudes and harmful behaviour.
“We must guard against a pervasive misogyny which, unchecked, impacts on the wider health, wellbeing and safety of our communities – breeding a culture where this type of harm is tolerated – sometimes even condoned – and as a result is allowed to continue.
“So there is a clear need for continued action to be taken to tackle gender-based prejudice and misogyny in Scotland, although there are different views on the specific actions needed.
“We will be consulting later this year on Lord Bracadale’s recommendations for necessary reform to Scotland’s hate crime legislation. We will keep an open mind on the best way to address behaviour motivated by misogyny, including the possibility of new criminal law measures.
“The consultation will be launched in November and will seek views on a number of options, including an aggravation based on gender hostility as proposed by Lord Bracadale. But we will also ask whether, separately, a specific offence targeting misogynistic behaviour could be an effective step in addressing this form of behaviour and the damage it does.”
Lord Bracadale was appointed by the Scottish Government to review hate crime legislation in Scotland and to consider whether existing laws represent the most effective approach for the justice system to deal with criminal conduct motivated by hatred, malice, ill-will or prejudice. On 31 May Lord Bracadale published his review report and recommendations which included consolidation of hate crime legislation and the addition of gender and age hostility aggravations.
Current hate crime legislation allows any existing offence to be aggravated by prejudice in respect of one or more of the protected characteristics of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity. Where a person is convicted of an offence with a statutory aggravation in respect of a protected characteristic it will be recorded and taken into account in sentencing. In addition, there are some stand-alone offences too.
A number of organisations have called for the development of a standalone offence for misogyny to tackle the unique features of violence and harassment against women. They take the view that adding a statutory aggregation for gender hostility will not be helpful in tackling misogynistic behaviour.
The Scottish Government has accepted Lord Bracadale’s recommendation to consolidate all Scottish hate crime legislation into one new hate crime statute and will use his report and recommendations as the basis for consulting on the detail of what should be included in a new hate crime bill. This will include considering how best to tackle misogyny in Scotland.
The United Nations has defined violence against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.”
Read further information about Scottish Government work with partners to tackle violence against women and girls.
