Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to my favourite, nearly 100 year-old, paper-based, to your door, Scots Independent newspaper, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/ How much have they already got in those usable reserves? At 31 March 2023, local authorities held £4,532 million of usable reserves. https://www.gov.scot/news/local-government-expenditure-and-income-in-2022-23/#:~:text=At%2031%20March%202023%2C%20local,be%20repaid%20from%20future%20revenues. £4.5 BILLION! Talking-up Scotland costs nothing so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ or take out a subscription to my favourite, nearly 100 year-old, paper-based, to your door, Scots Independent newspaper, at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/product-category/subscriptions/ Continue reading Local authority funding fact check – they had a SURPLUS of almost £100 million last year from SNP Government support to add to the £4.5 BILLION they already have!

From Public Health Scotland today: There was one case of laboratory-confirmed measles reported in 2023, in the last quarter of the year. This case was acquired outwith Scotland. Prior to this, the last laboratory-confirmed case, the first since 2019, was a single case in 2022 which was imported from outside the UK.   https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/immunisation-and-vaccine-preventable-diseases-quarterly-report/immunisation-and-vaccine-preventable-diseases-quarterly-report-october-to-december-2023-q4#section-2 Why are measles getting little media attention in Scotland? It’s not looking better together as England reports third-world levels of vaccination. Continue reading News you’re unlikely to hear 4 – Thanks to better vaccine uptake there was one case of measles reported in 2023 and it was acquired outwith Scotland

From Public Health Scotland today: 83.8% of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 75.6% for the previous quarter and from the 70.4% for the same quarter ending December 2022. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS. 4,531 children and young people started treatment at CAMHS in Scotland. This is a 3.3% decrease from the 4,686 starting treatment in the previous quarter, and a 19.7% decrease from the 5,641 starting treatment in the quarter ending December … Continue reading News you’re unlikely to hear 2 – 84% of children waiting for mental health services seen within target time despite increased demand and after 11% improvement

From Public Health Scotland today: 80.6% of people of all ages started their treatment within 18 weeks of referral, compared to 79.4% of people for the previous quarter, and 81.4% of people for the quarter ending December 2022. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of people should start their treatment within 18 weeks of referral to psychological therapies. 50% of the people of all ages starting treatment started within 3 weeks of referral. Continue reading News you’re unlikely to hear – 81% waiting for psychological therapy see within target time and 50% within only 3 weeks

The above are Holyrood election polls since last August for the Regional or List Vote. In the Constituency vote, the polls do not include Alba and have never predicted a Labour lead. In the Regional vote, Alba get between 0 and 4% and Labour get a lead over the SNP in 7 out of 27 polls. There’s a pattern. Redfield and Wilton always record at least 2%, never 1% or zero, for Alba. They also found three of their five 3% predictions and their only 4%. Labour have 7 predicted leads and 4 of these are from Redfield & Wilton. … Continue reading Why does this pollster find a bigger Alba and Labour