From the Scottish Refugee Council yesterday: Research being presented today in Glasgow shows that Glasgow Clyde College is leading the way in educating young people who have been trafficked or arrived in Scotland alone seeking asylum….On average, five children arrive in Scotland every month who have been trafficked or are seeking asylum, according to the Scottish Guardianship Service who currently work with over 200 young people….Today, new research will be presented in Glasgow which documents what has been learnt through the 16+ESOL project, the specific needs of separate children, and compares this research against international practice. Scotland has a pioneering … Continue reading Scotland has pioneering approach to supporting refugee children

In High Growth Scotland yesterday: A £14.7 million investment in a Glasgow-based satellite company will help create more than 260 jobs in Scotland’s space sector. On a visit to Spire Global, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced the company has received one of the largest funding packages ever provided by Scottish Enterprise. Spire Global builds, tests and operates nanosatellites tracking aviation, maritime and weather patterns. The investment will enable it to move into new 40,000sq ft premises at Glasgow’s Skypark facility and increase its local workforce from 60 to 320 over the next five years. Earlier evidence: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47775175 https://news.sky.com/story/glasgow-leads-britains-satellite-space-race-11343521 8% of … Continue reading Glasgow is centre of space technology in the UK

From the NHS Scotland Information Services Division yesterday: The Scottish Government set a standard that 90% of people referred for help with their drug or alcohol problem will wait no longer than three weeks for treatment that supports their recovery. The quarterly trend for Scotland as a whole over the past three years shows little change in target-busting performance. Of the 10,325 people who started their first treatment in the most recent quarter, 93.2% waited three weeks or less. For the 5,758 people seeking alcohol treatment, 93.0% waited three weeks or less. For the 4,567 people seeking drug treatment, 93.3% … Continue reading NHS Scotland beats drug and alcohol treatment target for three years and Reporting Scotland ignores it for the same period

From Scottish Housing News yesterday: Housing minister Kevin Stewart has welcomed a 15% increase in Scotland’s supply of new housing but has warned that a no-deal Brexit could have a damaging effect on future growth. More than 22,000 homes have become available in the past year – nearly 3,000 more homes than the previous year. This is the sixth consecutive annual increase in the total housing supply, the highest annual figure since 2008-09, and for the first time since 1980, local authority housing stock has also increased. 3 key findings from the Annual Housing statistics update: New housing supply: New housing supply … Continue reading ‘15% increase in new housing supply in Scotland is highest for 10 years’ but not news for BBC

From Regional Manufacturing Outlook 2019: The East Midlands is the lowest for general productivity at 84.7% of the UK average while only hyper-stimulated and subsidised London is higher, at 128.6%. However, London’s manufacturing productivity, at 105.6%, is lower than that of Scotland. After a long period with orders at a lower level than rUK Scotland has recently caught up and in terms of the investment level required for future growth, has begun to pull ahead. Click to access Make%20UK%20Regional%20Manufacturing%20Outlook%202019.pdf Continue reading Scotland second-most productive part of UK

From the NHS Scotland Information Services Division yesterday, for the quarter ending June 2019: 82.4% of patients started treatment within the 62-day period from referral to first treatment, up from 81.4% in the previous quarter. The figure for NHS England was 77.8%. 94.7% of patients started treatment within the 31-day from decision to treat to first cancer treatment compared with 94.9% in the previous quarter. The difference is not statistically significant, and the English figures are not directly comparable as they have a two-week target in addition to the other two. I’ll admit to being unsure how this affects any … Continue reading Reporting Scotland Down misses more Scottish cancer patients treated within target time ahead of NHS England

The MMR immunisation rate in England has fallen for the fourth year in a row to only 87% with in some areas only 67% vaccinated. There have been 230 cases of measles in just the first three months of 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/18/take-up-mmr-vaccine-falls-fourth-year-in-a-row-england-measles#targetText=Data%20from%20NHS%20Digital%20revealed,by%20the%20World%20Health%20Organization. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-49394170#targetText=In%202018%2C%20there%20was%20a,linked%20to%20travel%20in%20Europe. In Scotland the rate is 97% and has been so for 10 years. There have been 10 cases in Scotland, reported so far in 2019. All have been ‘imported’ from England or beyond. Click to access 2019-09-24-Childhood-Immunisation-Summary.pdf ‘Before vaccination, measles was a very common childhood disease in Scotland and deaths attributable to measles were substantial.’ https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/a-to-z-of-topics/measles/#targetText=In%202017%2C%20five%20laboratory%20confirmed,case%20of%20measles%20were%20reported. Scotland is … Continue reading As England faces deadly measles epidemic leading Scottish academic calls again for hard border

There have several major developments in Scotland over the summer: The Beatrice Offshore Wind Farm, Scotland’s largest has started commercial production.  As already reported on this site it is an investment of £2.5 billion and the world’s fourth largest offshore wind farm. The investment by Bairds Malt of £51 million in new facilities in Arbroath and Inverness reflect the growth of our beer and whisky industries DT Gen in Glasgow has secured work on the £64 million health care facility on Orkney. The firm has seen employment grown from 56 to 80 in the past year The Glasgow based Weir … Continue reading How Scotland Thrives – September 2019

Though the Scotsman reads the YouGov sub-poll results quite favourably for the Lib Dems, I find it hard to agree. I know they will probably hang on to their Northern fastness but across the country, they look weak, stuck at 11% from the previous one for 9-10 September. Surely Swinson will fall. Based on a sub-sample of 173 Scots adults with fieldwork on 19-20 September, they suggest Con                  21% Lab                  11% LD                    11% SNP                  45% Brexit              7% Green              4% Click to access PeoplesVote_190920_w.pdf It’s only in one region, ‘Rest of South’ that the Lib Dems lead Labour. As for the … Continue reading As Richard Leonard sweeps back, SNP sweeps forward?

Once more Reporting Scotland reveals a love for the partisan views of trades unionists nakedly pursuing the interests of their members. It’s a sharp and comedic contrast with the BBC’s past disdain for mine and railway worker unions in the 70s and 80s. Unable to land punches directly on the popular and competent Scottish Government, BBC Scotland tend habitually to pounce on any supposed failures in those services – health, police, education – which they are responsible for. Mud sticks they hope secretly. Today, we return to the supposed teacher shortages and undue pressures in the secondary school classrooms. The … Continue reading The state broadcaster’s proxy war against the SNP now uses a dodgy dossier of ‘research’ on teachers