Tag: scottish-parliament

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Homeownership rates among younger people in Scotland far higher than for UK

johnrobertson834

 Institute for Fiscal Studies (June 2024) By stewartb On 20 June 2024 the Scottish Government announced the following: ‘Help for first-time buyers across the country on low to medium incomes’. This is described on the Scottish Government website: ’A scheme to help first time buyers and certain priority groups step on to the property ladder has reopened for applications. The Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme is available across Scotland to first-time buyers on low or medium incomes who cannot afford the full price of a home. (my emphasis) ‘Successful applicants will be able to buy a home without having … Continue reading Homeownership rates among younger people in Scotland far higher than for UK

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Scotland 17 years later and getting more different from the UK – better support for young carers

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson I don’t need to keep on reminding you, I’m sure, of the lower income tax most pay and the range of other indirect benefits of living in Scotland – lower council tax, free tuition, bus passes for the young, the Child Payment, Bedroom Tax compensation, massively subsidised thus cheap ferry travel….. The steady influx of settlers from elsewhere in the UK reinforces the evidence. Today, another Scottish (SNP) Government initiative, within the limits of the devolution settlement: Thousands more unpaid carers in Scotland will be eligible for a new benefit, if regulations laid this week in … Continue reading Scotland 17 years later and getting more different from the UK – better support for young carers

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Reporting anti-semitism in Scotland badly

johnrobertson834

that’s according to Jewish charity the Community Security Trust. It says 68 incidents were recorded here in Scotland. Reporting Scotland, once more headlining a worry about life in Scotland that the website does not feature: Once more, numbers with no context. UK-wide, the CST reported 4 103 cases. With one eleventh of the population, all things being equal, you might expect Scotland to have had around 370 cases but had 68, just over one-sixth of the level. Might that be newsworthy here? What were the Scottish examples in the report? One example of a mass-produced evangelical leaflet sent to a … Continue reading Reporting anti-semitism in Scotland badly

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Better Together BMA Scotland shop steward doesn’t call for GP staffing in Scotland to be lowered to UK average

johnrobertson834

In the Guardian today: The leader of Scotland’s doctors has called for rural GPs to get higher pay and special status to cope with a critical shortfall of medics in the Highlands, islands and rural counties. I have no doubt there are shortages in Scotland’s rural areas. I’m guessing there always were, even before the flood of middle-class settlers used to urban-levels of staffing and ambulance waiting times, from Central Scotland too before you accuse me of Anglophobia, arrived to age self-importantly in our glens and on our islands. The Guardian writer does not, of course, wish to put this … Continue reading Better Together BMA Scotland shop steward doesn’t call for GP staffing in Scotland to be lowered to UK average