Health Secretary Shona Robison met with schoolchildren to highlight the importance of being prepared for seasonal illnesses at the winter-clad Royal Botanic Garden today. During the event, Ms Robison encouraged everyone to take a few simple steps to ensure they can take care of themselves and their families and have a healthy festive period. Continue reading Wintry launch at Botanics for nation healthcare campaign
Simpler, clearer date labelling and storage advice for consumers, could help Scots cut the 170,000 tonnes of food thrown away from Scotland’s homes every year due to ‘not being used in time’. That’s the message from Zero Waste Scotland and Food Standards Scotland, who have welcomed new guidance for the food and drink industry. Continue reading New guidance calls for clearer date labels to cut food waste
New actions are to be put in place to further tackle rough sleeping this Winter, as recommended by the Scottish Government’s Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Action Group. Continue reading Government moves to tackle rough sleeping
Everyone has a role in stopping fundamental violations of human rights against women and girls Equalities Secretary, Angela Constance will tell parliament today. Continue reading Preventing violence against women: we all have a part to play
A record number of Scots were accepted to a UK university in 2017, figures published today show. Over 36,500 Scottish domiciled applicants accepted a place for this academic year – an increase of over 850 or 2.4%.
All other UK countries saw a decrease in the number of their residents accepted to university.
The figures were released by UCAS in their first End of Cycle Report 2017. It also shows a record number of all applicants accepted to Scottish higher education institutions in 2017 – up 1.7%.
Further and Higher Education Minister, Shirley-Anne Somerville, said: “It is great to see that Scotland is bucking the trend across the UK, with more of our prospective students securing a place at university. This follows on from the record numbers last year.
“It shows that our education system is supporting an increasing number of people to access higher education – giving them the skills they need to succeed.
“This is also another record year for Scotland’s universities, with the highest ever number of applicants accepted to study here. It is testament to the fact that Scotland remains a destination of choice for students, due in no small part to the reputation for excellence that our institutions have worked hard to achieve.”
CULTURE SECRETARY SEEKS CLARIFICATION OVER CAPITAL of CULTURE SNUB
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop has written to Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Karen Bradley MP, and Director General for Education, Youth Sport and Culture at the European Commission, Martine Reicherts, on the UK hosting the European Capital of Culture competition in 2023. Continue reading Capital of Culture stooshie: it’s jist no’ fair!
A strategy to prevent and eradicate violence against women and girls is to be expanded and backed by more than £1 million of additional funding. The Equally Safe delivery plan includes measures to teach school children the importance of consent and healthy relationships and will see Rape Crisis Scotland’s sexual violence prevention programme rolled out across a further 11 local authorities. Continue reading Equally Safe: strategy to address violence against women expanded
A year since the publication of the Fairer Scotland Action Plan, Equalities Secretary Angela Constance today launched the first progress report at WorkingRite, an Edinburgh organisation that received support from the £29 million fund to tackle poverty. Continue reading Working towards a Fairer Scotland: First year progress report launched
Thousands more people across Scotland will benefit from the roll-out of a new and easier screening test to detect symptoms of bowel cancer. The Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT) requires participants to collect one bowel motion sample, rather than the current test which requires samples over three days. Continue reading FIT for purpose: Bowel cancer test simplified to encourage take-up
Health Secretary Shona Robison has ordered an independent review into concerns around A&E waiting times practices and staff pressure at St John’s Hospital. Continue reading Dodgy data? Internal inquiry into emergency waiting times figures
