Tag: education

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One of Andy Burnham’s first acts will be to copy John Swinney on digital ID

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In the Guardian today: Andy Burnham is expected to scrap Keir Starmer’s plans for digital ID cards in a “reset of priorities” when he enters Downing Street on Monday. The new Labour leader plans to redirect the resources earmarked for the scheme towards tackling the cost of living, his team indicated on Saturday.https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jul/18/burnham-to-scrap-starmers-digital-id-scheme-in-reset-of-priorities 10 months ago: There’s something missing from all the media coverage of Labour’s Digital ID proposal and it’s darker than any worries we might have about Scots ‘declaring ourselves British.‘ From the Canary factchecker 27 September 2025 ago: As Keir Starmer moves to impose ‘digital ID’ on the UK, … Continue reading One of Andy Burnham’s first acts will be to copy John Swinney on digital ID

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Six unique steps the SNP Government is taking to avert the claim that ‘children will be one of the unhealthiest generations in decades’

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You know what I’m going to say. Yes, no mention of Scotland in this, from the Guardian‘s Health Correspondent, Tobi Thomas. Do you think that means Tobi has done the research and knows that doomy claim applies equally to Scotland? Has s/he flip! The Scottish Government has taken several targeted actions on child nutrition, obesity, and related health issues, which could help mitigate aspects of the UK-wide problems highlighted in the RCPCH report upon which the Guardian report is based. Such as? Here are a selected six of them. Expansion of free school meals to tackle child poverty and improve … Continue reading Six unique steps the SNP Government is taking to avert the claim that ‘children will be one of the unhealthiest generations in decades’

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Fires fall dramatically to lowest in 10 years and staffing climbs to put Prince Street Blaze in perspective

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The Scotsman above pushing the ill-informed scare story about fire service cuts in an evidence vaccuum. Badly mixing my metaphors let me shine some light on that vacuum. From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: March 2026 published today, the above and : Number of fires fell 5% in the last year. In 2024-25, there were 22,925 fires in Scotland, down 5% on 2023-24 and the lowest in the last ten years. There were 36 fire fatalities in 2024-25, down from 42 in 2023-24 and the second lowest in the last decade. The number of deliberate building fires has fallen over … Continue reading Fires fall dramatically to lowest in 10 years and staffing climbs to put Prince Street Blaze in perspective

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The real news – The SNP era sees massive increases in attainment by looked after children with three times as many passing at National 5 and eight times as many at Higher

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In the Herald today, under a frankly creepy image: Scottish Labour has accused the SNP of “breaking The Promise” after new figures showed the attainment gap between looked-after children and their peers has widened in recent years. Looked-after children are young people in the care of their local authority, including those in foster care, residential care, kinship care or some children living at home under formal supervision. How many times have I pointed out that not one credible, peer-review published educational researcher, across the globe, cares about attainment gaps. They care about improvements within disadvantaged groups over time. They know that the middle … Continue reading The real news – The SNP era sees massive increases in attainment by looked after children with three times as many passing at National 5 and eight times as many at Higher

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Nine SNP initiatives to tackle child poverty all unique to Scotland and all of them not news for you apparently

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From: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: Progress Report 2025-26 published yesterday to the above MSM response: Steps taken in the past year to further strengthen the support available to families include: This is in addition to our continued investment in actions delivered over the life of this plan, including devolved employability support, free bus travel for under 22s and disabled people, and our package of social security payments including the Scottish Child Payment. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/tackling-child-poverty-delivery-plan-progress-report-2025-26/pages/3/ In short, these steps are Scotland-only measures designed to tackle child poverty within the devolved framework. They do not apply elsewhere in the UK, though … Continue reading Nine SNP initiatives to tackle child poverty all unique to Scotland and all of them not news for you apparently

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After two decades of SNP Government far fewer per head young Scots are not in employment, education or training (Neets)

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BBC Breakfast today had the above headline story of 1 012 000 16 to 24 year-olds not in employment, education and training. All things being equal, with 8% of the population, you’d expect the figure in Scotland to be around 81 000. Scotland does not publish a single official NEET figure for the full 16–24 age group using the same definition as the UK-wide Labour Force Survey (LFS). Instead, it focuses on a more comprehensive Annual Participation Measure (APM) for ages 16–19 and the figure for that is around 9 000. https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/2y3ex4it/2025-annual-participation-measure-statistics.pdf On the basis of the above, the Scottish … Continue reading After two decades of SNP Government far fewer per head young Scots are not in employment, education or training (Neets)

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Major increases in school-leaver employment and university access in SNP years

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From Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations, No. 8: 2026 edition, published today, the above table extract and: This statistical publication provides information on the follow-up destinations, nine months after the end of the school year, of 2024-25 school leavers from publicly funded secondary schools in Scotland. https://www.gov.scot/publications/summary-statistics-for-follow-up-leaver-destinations-no-8-2026-edition/documents/ This table shows that as the SNP Government, first elected in 2007, ‘got behind the wheel’ it began to take steps to improve school-leaver employment and HE access and fifteen years alter the results are impressive with 15% improvements in both by 2024/2025. For any who refuse to allow the SNP credit … Continue reading Major increases in school-leaver employment and university access in SNP years

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‘£38.6 million in party funding coming from unknown sources’

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By stewartb There are critical voices raised regarding the financing of politics in the UK but the issue seems to gain little immediate and certainly no sustained MSM attention. (A bit like wider electoral reform?) The Electoral Reform Society on February 19, 2026 published this: ‘Briefing on Political Finance’ (https://electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-and-research/parliamentary-briefings/briefing-on-political-finance/ ) It’s very revealing about political financing in the UK, and worrying for UK democracy especially in the context of Westminster’s FPTP voting system that can give so much power to a party achieving a minority of the popular vote, enabled by huge and often ‘dark’ donations and loans. Examples from the … Continue reading ‘£38.6 million in party funding coming from unknown sources’

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Scotland’s additional stricter regulations mean that none of 18 000 nurses with possible criminal records in England could be registered to work here

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From Nursing Standard, four days ago, the above and: Hundreds of nurses are set to have their registrations reviewed after the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) failed to follow due process for declaring health conditions and criminal convictions for 12 years.  A member of staff raised concerns about an historical failure to consistently refer declarations of health issues and criminal records to an assistant registrar, which led to an initial review of more than 18,000 registrants. That review determined that no further action was required in 17,639 cases. https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/newsroom/news/hundreds-of-nurses-to-have-nmc-registration-info-reassessed-after-astounding-failure-222771?utm_campaign=WEEKLY%20BRIEFING%2001.06.26%20-%20REG&utm_content=ZONE%201%20LINK%201%20NEWS%20Hundreds%20of%20nurses%20to%20have%20NMC%20registration%20info%20reassessed%20after%20%27astounding%20fai&utm_term=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra&check_logged_in=1 Might unique NHS Scotland regulations practices and procedures make this less likely even … Continue reading Scotland’s additional stricter regulations mean that none of 18 000 nurses with possible criminal records in England could be registered to work here

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‘Two decades of havoc’ – Here’s what a real, current, international expert ON EDUCATION knows of the PISA testing loved by Scotland’s only user, Lindsay Paterson

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By stewartb It’s not that hard to find educationalists internationally who are either sceptical or straightforwardly negative about the OECD’s PISA rankings. This from one ‘expert’ in a peer reviewed journal: Zhao, Y. Two decades of havoc: A synthesis of criticism against PISA. J Educ Change 21, 245–266 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-019-09367-x Abstract: ‘The Programme for International Students Assessment (PISA) has become one of the most influential forces in global education. The growing influence has been accompanied by growing criticism. For nearly two decades since the first round of PISA was conducted in 2000, the global assessment program has been roundly scrutinized and criticized by education … Continue reading ‘Two decades of havoc’ – Here’s what a real, current, international expert ON EDUCATION knows of the PISA testing loved by Scotland’s only user, Lindsay Paterson