Damning report finds public transport in Scotland is ‘too expensive and unreliable’ – Daily Record

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Scotland’s transport system is unaffordable and prevents too many people from finding jobs, a damning report has found.

Campaigners say the fragmented nature of the bus and rail network means many parts of the country lack reliable services, with the poorest Scots left trapped in poverty as a result.

Commissioned by Transport Scotland and carried out by the Poverty Alliance the report highlights how the unreliability and unavailability of public transport particularly impacts families with young children as alternative options are often scarce or unsuitable.

The report is launched at a time of growing hardship across Scotland, with over one million people – including around one in four children – living in the grip of poverty even before the covid pandemic.

While the Scottish Government announced in March that free bus travel would be extended to all under-22s, the report wants it to go further.

The Poverty Alliance published an open letter in May calling on party leaders to support an extension of free bus travel to all under-25s, as well as everyone on low income benefits.

Peter Kelly, director of Poverty Alliance, said:“These findings support what communities have been telling us for many years – that too many families in Scotland are locked into hardship because of our transport system.

“In the just and compassionate society we all want to live in, our public services should help secure a decent life for everyone.

“Yet as this report makes clear, right now our transport system is tightening rather than loosening the grip of poverty.

“That’s why action is needed now to address both the affordability and availability of public transport.

“There are a range of policy solutions that should be implemented, including – as participants in the research told us – widening access to free public transport for people on low incomes, as well as taking steps to better connect communities, particularly rural communities.”

Welcoming the report, SNP transport minister Graeme Dey said: “Our national transport strategy sets out an ambition for everyone in Scotland to have fair access to the services we need.

“The findings from this research highlight the urgent need for us to develop actions to address the interlinked challenges of public transport availability and affordability on a specific and targeted basis.

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“We are already working to introduce the legal changes required to extend free bus travel to everyone under the age of 22.

“The coronavirus pandemic has had a significant impact on our public transport system and the Scottish Government has to date committed additional financial support of up to £1 billion to the transport sector.

“As we work to support a fair and sustainable economic recovery from covid it is imperative that we also introduce a fair system for paying for transport which alleviates the strain on those living in poverty, particularly children.”

Ayrshire patients ‘lying in agony’ as health chiefs urged to fix operations ‘log-jam’ – Daily Record

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Scottish Government blasted for spending £1.2million of public money on cars – Daily Record

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The Scottish Government’s outlay on official cars has questioned after figures revealed it spent more than £1.2m on vehicle costs in the space of a year.

Figures, obtained by Labour, show the cash was spent on purchasing new vehicles and “additions” from February 2019 until January last year.

Nearly £100,000 of these costs (£96,480) was paid to Elon Musk ’s Tesla company, a company specialising in high-end electric cars and dogged by allegations of workers’ rights violations.

Labour questioned why spending on official vehicles was running at almost £100,000 a month during the period for which figures were shared.

The Scottish Government said the cars in question were pool vehicles, used only for official business, and were procured as part of its wider carbon reduction plans.

“To fritter nearly £100,000 on Tesla while thousands of Scots are struggling to make ends meet is a slap in the face to the people of Scotland.

“Of course, the government needs to spend money on vehicle costs, but the amount of money paid in such a short time does not just raise eyebrows, it raises alarm.

“We need answers from the government over this eye-watering wastage of public money, and we need them now.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We are committed to phasing out petrol and diesel cars from the public sector fleet by 2025 and replacing fossil-fuelled vehicles with plug-in or fully electric vehicles where appropriate.

“This is demonstrated by our increased investment in ultra-low emitting electric vehicles, which now make up 51% of the overall current fleet (and 100% of the current Government Car Service fleet).”

Scotland’s children have been terribly let down by the SNP’s pandemic policies – Capx.co

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Scotland’s children have been terribly let down by the SNP’s pandemic policies

In my Sunday Times column this week, I wrote about the difficulties Boris Johnson is having in paying for education catch-up – having commissioned Sir Kevan Collins to produce a money-no-object plan to fill the learning gap, before realising that actually money was something of an object after all.

The Government has pointed out, in its defence, that while it could not fund Sir Kevan’s full £15 billion blueprint, it has put £3.1 billion extra into tutoring. And while this may compare unfavourably on a per-child basis with some other countries, it is more than 155 times what Nicola Sturgeon has managed to find up in Scotland.

Intrigued by this disparity, I looked into what was actually going on. And the more you dig into the topic, the more depressing it becomes.

The SNP’s defence on this is that they have already “invested £400 million in education recovery”. But this doesn’t stack up.

The £400m was spent primarily on introducing ventilation to classrooms, to help children go back to school safely. Which is good! We all know the virus doesn’t like fresh air. But it’s not the same as “education recovery”. It’s stopping the slide, not repairing the damage. Also, even with all that ventilation, Scottish schools were also way slower than English ones to get pupils back into classrooms, meaning more educational damage.

They were also, as Magnus Linklater sets out in this powerful piece for The Times, far, far worse at providing support during lockdown itself. During the initial lockdown, more than half of Scottish students received NO CONTACT FROM TEACHERS AT ALL (my angry caps).

To quote one parent in his piece:

“My niece at state primary school in London received 45 minutes live maths, and 45 minutes live literacy every day online, and her parents got a phone call every week while schools were shut. My children in state primary in Scotland received no live lessons at all, except the oldest, whose German teacher did one live lesson a week. The school has taught them no maths at all since Christmas.”

Oh, and Scotland was also far worse than England at handing out laptops. And, remarkably, they’ve managed to match or even outdo England in terms of screwing up exams, too.

Last week, the Centre for Policy Studies (which I run) and Public First (which I don’t) teamed up for a study on education catch-up in England.

We found that the damage is very real, and concentrated among the most disadvantaged pupils. To quickly run through:

  • Early data from the Education Policy Institute and Renaissance Learning, funded by the Department for Education, showed that pupils had lost up to two months in reading in primary and secondary, and up to three months in maths (primary) by Autumn 2020.
  • The same study found that schools with a high percentage of disadvantaged pupils showed 50% more learning loss.
  • A report by a second assessment company on primary school pupils found that by Spring 2021 there had been a three-month decline in maths and grammar, punctuation and spelling (GPS) performance, and a two-month decline in reading. The biggest falls were in younger year groups (Years 1 and 2). Again, schools with more deprived pupils showed bigger declines.
  • The most recent data from No More Marking, a comparative judgement assessment group, did not find a major average decline in Year 2 pupils’ writing, but did find that the distribution had widened (in other words, some students were performing better than in previous years, and others were performing much worse).
  • A recent survey by Teach First reported that schools serving the poorest were twice as likely to have fallen behind due to the pandemic.

Given the above, the situation is likely to be just as bad in Scotland, or worse.

But here’s the weird thing.

The SNP’s reaction to this so far has been to declare a “national summer of play”. There are two problems with this. The first is that just £20m is being spent on it, which is less a government programme than a rounding error. (Given that there are just under 800,000 school pupils in Scotland, this comes to £25 a head. Not so much a summer of play as a summer of a play, maybe just about stretching to a snack in the interval.)

Police Scotland sends 400 officers to G7 summit in Cornwall – BBC News

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More than 400 officers and staff from Police Scotland are being deployed to help with security at this week’s G7 summit in Cornwall.

About 200 officers left in a convoy from the force headquarters in Tulliallan, Fife, on Sunday morning.

The remainder will travel before the three-day summit begins in Carbis Bay on Friday.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said the deployment would not affect policing requirements in Scotland.

The G7 summit takes place from 11 to 13 June, with the leaders of the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Japan attending.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was planning to use the summit to urge the G7 leaders to help vaccinate the world by the end of next year.

Security for the meeting is being co-ordinated by Devon and Cornwall Police.

Further contingents from Police Scotland will head south in the coming days.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone said he had consistently made clear the “great benefits” of close co-operation among UK police forces.

“This has been evident over many years in Scotland – from the policing operation in relation to the Lockerbie bombing, to supporting the Commonwealth Games, and will be seen again later this year during the COP26 summit,” he said.

“As the UK’s second-largest service, it is vital we continue to demonstrate our support in this regard.

“I approved the deployment following careful consideration and it in no way affects Police Scotland’s ability to meet the policing requirements of our communities in Scotland.”

English delivery driver working in Scotland who was called an ‘English p***k’ by his boss wins £13,000 in race discrimination payout – Daily Mail

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An English delivery driver working in Scotland has won £13,000 in a race discrimination claim after his boss called him an ‘English p***k’ and told him ‘you’ll be going back on the bus like your football team’.

David Hawksworth was subjected to a campaign of racial harassment by Scottish depot manager Patrick Murray, who ‘had a dislike of him’ because he was English and ‘spread lies about him being a sex offender’, Hawksworth claimed.

Within weeks of joining Greencore Food To Go, a food delivery company with a depot in Glasgow, Mr Murray called Mr Hawksworth an ‘English p***k’ and ‘English b*****d’.

Mr Hawksworth, who had moved to Scotland and had an obvious English accent, was also told ‘once Scotland gained independence’ that he would need to ‘go home’.

In another incident during the 2018 World Cup, Mr Murray told Mr Hawksworth that he would ‘soon be on the bus back to England like the football team’.

Greencore Food To Go’s Glasgow distribution centre where David Hawksworth was subjected to a campaign of racial harassment by Scottish depot manager Patrick Murray

Now Mr Hawksworth has sued Greencore Food To Go for racial discrimination by harassment and unfair dismissal and won £13,306.

An employment tribunal heard Mr Hawksworth, who started as a delivery driver in April 2018, was left ‘offended’ and ‘violated’ by the racial harassment.

A tribunal report said: ‘Within a few weeks of starting work it became clear to him that the respondent’s depot manager Mr Patrick Murray did not value him.

‘On one occasion whilst using the forklift truck to load the vans, Mr Murray referred to Mr Hawksworth as an ‘English p***k’. Mr Hawksworth responded with ‘I beg your pardon’, indicating that he was offended and registering his objection.

‘Mr Murray told the tribunal that ‘p***k’ was his ‘go to’ swear word, but denied that he used the description of the claimant being English. It was clear to the tribunal that Mr Murray did use this phrase towards Mr Hawksworth.’

Mr Hawksworth also accused Mr Murray of ‘spreading lies about him being a sex offender’ after Mr Hawksworth mentioned that he was due to attend court allegations of stalking that were ultimately dropped.

Another colleague, Craig Steen, was said to have called Mr Hawksworth a ‘paedo’ on rounds.

The relationship between Mr Hawksworth and the company broke down over time and he was signed off work for stress.

Mr Hawksworth took on a second job while off work, like others did at the company, but was summoned to a disciplinary hearing and sacked in August 2020.

Employment Judge Sally Cowen, sitting at a virtual Scottish employment tribunal, ruled that Mr Hawksworth was racially harassed on grounds of his nationality and unfairly dismissed due to a flawed procedure.

Judge Cowen said: ‘The fact that Mr Murray chose to add the adjective ‘English’ [on his insults], is a mark of the fact that Mr Murray was identifying Mr Hawksworth as someone of a different nationality and an identifying characteristic.

‘Mr Hawksworth perceived the comment to be intimidating, demeaning and hurtful. The tribunal considered that Mr Hawksworth’s perception of the comment was reasonable in the circumstances and that the comment was harassment.

‘The tribunal is content that Mr Murray did say that Mr Hawksworth would soon be on a bus home to England, like the English football team.

‘Mr Murray did not deny saying it, but the only explanation he could give, was that it was said as banter.

‘Colin Lowe [a Greencore regional director] said that Mr Murray’s behaviour was unacceptable and the Tribunal agree with this view.

‘Furthermore, the tribunal consider that the comment was made due to Mr Hawksworth’s nationality and was offensive and demeaning to the claimant and violated his dignity.

‘The tribunal also found that Mr Murray acted in this way because Mr Hawksworth was English and because Mr Murray has a dislike of Mr Hawksworth on that basis.’

The judge added that the harassment had an impact on Mr Hawksworth’s mental health, financial difficulties due to the prolonged nature of the offending.

She added: ‘The tribunal were satisfied that the acts of harassment amounted to a course of conduct by Mr Murray who did not like Mr Hawksworth and chose to harass him on the grounds of his nationality.’

Greencore Food To Go provide delivery services across the UK and have a depot in Glasgow.

Nicola Sturgeon accused of hiding behind ‘Scottish exceptionalism’ over pandemic mistakes – Yahoo News

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Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of hiding behind “Scottish exceptionalism” instead of admitting she made even worse mistakes than Boris Johnson in the early stages of the pandemic.

Laying out a timeline of key decisions made by the governments in Edinburgh and London, Anas Sarwar argued that the actions of SNP ministers were “often more fatal” than those in the UK.

The Scottish Labour leader said that while the First Minister “has always been better at spinning her failures than Boris Johnson”, much of the “damning testimony” from Dominic Cummings on the UK’s Covid response is as true for Holyrood as it is for Westminster.

Speaking at First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Mr Sarwar pointed towards a range of decisions made by SNP ministers around mass gatherings, herd immunity, care homes and Covid-19 testing that were in “lockstep” or slower than the UK Government.

While both governments sent untested and Covid positive hospital patients into care homes, the UK Government announced routine testing on April 15 – a decision not made by SNP ministers until six days later on April 21.

Other key decisions made in Scotland later than England include mandatory face masks on public transport, asymptomatic community testing and testing for incoming travellers at airports.

It comes after SNP Deputy Westminster leader Kirsten Oswald on Wednesday argued there should be “no crowing from the Tories about their handling of the crisis given the clear mistakes which have been made along the way”.

But Mr Sarwar has urged Nicola Sturgeon to establish a Scotland-specific inquiry into how her government responded.

The First Minister has come under repeated pressure to begin preparations for a judge-led Covid-19 inquiry that is Scotland specific, but SNP ministers say they will wait until a decision is made by the UK Government on the remit and scope of its equivalent inquiry.

“The Scottish people deserve more than just rhetoric, they deserve answers. They deserve more than being told that the government cares, they deserve answers because we can’t allow Scottish exceptionalism to stop us from learning critical lessons,” Mr Sarwar said, arguing that “we don’t need to wait for the UK Government” to do this.

“It’s always easier to focus on failures elsewhere but we must learn from mistakes here at home,” he added.

In response, Ms Sturgeon suggested the public could judge whether she has an “inability to face up to mistakes” but her focus was now on the vaccine rollout because Scotland could be “in the foothills of a third wave of this virus”.

“I think what they’re hearing from me is a candid admission that we would not – like many other governments across the world – have got everything right, and not just a willingness [but] a desire to face up to that and learn from that,” she added.

Scottish Government accused of ‘inaction’ over new covid variant found in Glasgow – Daily Record

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The Scottish Government should have moved quicker to warn Glasgow residents of the presence of a new covid variant in the city, Labour has claimed.

Nicola Sturgeon used a media briefing on May 14 to announce Scotland’s most populous council area would have to remain at Level 3 of lockdown while the rest of the country moved to Level 2.

It came after a localised outbreak of virus cases was detected in Glasgow’s southside, with the new Delta variant blamed.

Scottish Labour health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said residents should have been warned sooner – but the SNP accused her of making a “ludicrous attack”.

The First Minister had spoken at an earlier media briefing on May 11 to suggest mainland Scotland was ready to move to Level 2.

Glasgow was finally moved to Level as of today – meaning residents can finally legally invite people into their own homes for non-essential purposes for the first time in eight months.

In a written response to a question lodged by Scottish Labour, Deputy First Minister John Swinney confirmed the Scottish Government was initially informed that the B.1.617.2 (Delta) variant of covid-19 had been upgraded from a ‘variant of interest’ to ‘a variant of concern’ on May 6.

Baillie said: “This is shocking evidence of inaction, dither and delay at the heart of the SNP government.

“Instead of taking decisive action to ramp up testing and vaccinations when the threat was first identified, the SNP sat on their hands – potentially prolonging Glasgow’s lockdown through inaction.

“Businesses were allowed to plan to reopen and are now at breaking point. People made plans to see their loved ones that couldn’t go ahead. People’s finances and mental health have been pushed to the brink.

“The people of Glasgow and, indeed, the people of Scotland deserve so much better.

“The Government has a duty to act swiftly to protect the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Scotland – they have catastrophically failed in their duty.”A spokesman for Humza Yousaf said: “This is a ludicrous attack by Jackie Baillie, who either doesn’t grasp the basic facts or is deliberately trying to mislead people.

“The fact the Delta variant was a variant of concern was already widespread public knowledge on May 7, when it was publicly declared as such by Public Health England for all four nations of the UK

“The designation of a variant is a quite separate process from outbreak management, where health protection teams work in local areas to assess the risk and deliver a proportionate response.

“That is exactly what happened in this case with Glasgow, where we continued to monitor the situation and decided not to relax restrictions as a result – the very opposite of the inaction Labour suggest.

“Jackie Baillie should get her facts right, and in the meantime apologise for trying to mislead the public.”

Commercially viable electricity from nuclear fusion a step closer thanks to British breakthrough – Sky News

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The dream of pollution and radiation-free electricity derived from nuclear fusion could be a step closer to reality thanks to a breakthrough by British scientists.

They have developed an exhaust system that can deal with the immense temperatures created during the fusion process and which so far have limited the viability of commercial fusion power plants.

Initial results from the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s MAST Upgrade experiment suggest that the world-first could mean developing fusion energy becomes easier.

Producing electricity using a fusion reactor is still in the experimental stage but experts have said fusion energy – based on the same principle by which stars create heat and light – could be a safe and sustainable part of our energy supply in the future.

A fusion power station uses a machine called a tokamak to enable hydrogen atoms to fuse together, releasing energy that can make electricity.

But fusion reactions can produce a lot of heat and, without an exhaust system to handle this, materials need to be replaced more often.

This limits the operating ability of the power plant and makes energy cost more.

The system used by the MAST Upgrade experiment – the Super-X divertor – helped tokamak parts to last longer, however.

Tests showed at least a 10-fold reduction in heat, a result that could make the power plants more economically viable to run, in turn reducing the cost of fusion electricity.

UKAEA’s lead scientist at MAST Upgrade, Dr Andrew Kirk, said the results were “fantastic”, adding: “They are the moment our team at UKAEA has been working towards for almost a decade.

“We built MAST Upgrade to solve the exhaust problem for compact fusion power plants, and the signs are that we’ve succeeded.

“Super-X reduces the heat on the exhaust system from a blowtorch level down to more like you’d find in a car engine.

“This could mean it would only have to be replaced once during the lifetime of a power plant.

“It’s a pivotal development for the UK’s plan to put a fusion power plant on the grid by the early 2040s – and for bringing low-carbon energy from fusion to the world.”