No money paid into abuse survivor scheme despite looming deadline – STV news

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No money has been paid into a financial redress scheme for abuse survivors despite the Scottish Government claiming it will be ready to start by the end of the year.

Redress Scotland was set up following the passage of legislation in March, and would offer financial payments of up to £100,000 to those subject to abuse in care before December 2004.

To help fund the scheme, legislation passed earlier this year said funding packages would be negotiated with organisations “who, in making or agreeing to make such a contribution, acknowledge the wrongfulness of, and the harm caused by, the historical child abuse which took place in relevant care settings”.

But the Scottish Government has said it remains confident of opening applications by the end of this year, and negotiations with contributors are in “advanced” stages.

The Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Act 2021 included a controversial waiver which meant those who paid into the scheme could not be subject to legal action from recipients of payouts in relation to past abuse allegations.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney – who proposed the Bill and shepherded it through parliament – said the waiver was a way to ensure organisations would contribute, by protecting them from further financial reparations in the future.

However, a freedom of information request shows no payments have yet been secured, despite the Bill being passed six months ago and a goal of opening for applications by the end of the year.

The response from the Scottish Government said: “No money has yet been contributed towards the funding of redress payments under the Act by any authority, organisation or person.”

No money paid into abuse survivor scheme despite looming deadline

Fatal accident inquiry waiting times ‘increase by a third’ – STV news

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Waiting times for fatal accident inquiries (FAIs) have jumped by more than a third since last year, according to the Scottish Conservatives.

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said last year’s figures include five cases, each lasting five years, which have now concluded, and therefore the data is misleading.

But in response to a freedom of information request submitted by the Tories, COPFS data showed the average time taken to complete an FAI has risen by more than eight months, from 691 days in 2019-20 to 939 in 2020-21 – an increase of 36%.

The Tories said that in 2020-21 only two FAIs were completed within 12 months, and it took more than five years to conclude five inquiries. One inquiry from June 2012 was still open after almost a decade.

COPFS said it concluded 57 FAIs in 2019-20 and 59 between April 2020 and March 2021.

The majority of FAIs are completed between 12 and 18 months, according to the data.

Responding to the figures, Scottish Conservative shadow justice secretary Jamie Greene said: “It is unacceptable that the families of victims should have to wait so long for closure while these inquiries move at a snail’s pace.

“Fatal accident inquiries must be conducted quickly, especially when there is cause for public concern. Nine years and counting is an outrageous length of time.

Fatal accident inquiry waiting times ‘increase by a third’

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Why the SNP must stop hoarding power in Edinburgh – The New Statesman

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As Glasgow prepares to host global leaders at COP26, the eyes of the world are turning towards the city for the first time since the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The pressure is on, and Susan Aitken, the SNP council leader since 2017, is bearing the brunt of complaints about what critics say are dirty streets, the many gap sites and the authority’s troubled relationship with trade unions. In a recent, excruciating television interview, she was repeatedly challenged to admit the streets were “filthy”, finally admitting the place could do with a “spruce up”.

For the past year, as November’s COP26 summit has drawn nearer, Aitken has occupied an elevated status among her fellow regional and urban leaders. She has addressed the World Bank, formed close relationships with the mayors and administrations of many of the world’s great cities, and worked closely with England’s directly-elected mayors such as Andy Burnham and Sadiq Khan. She has also held discussions with private investors, and would like the UK government to stand behind the multi-billion-pound borrowing Glasgow and others need to renew their municipal fabric and create green infrastructure. She sees COP26 as an unmissable opportunity to accelerate the city’s economic resurgence and improve its global profile.

Aitken admits Glasgow isn’t what it could be. Covid, economic challenges, and strained relationships with the unions have all had an impact. And in important ways her hands are tied, not by international institutions or the UK government, but by Nicola Sturgeon. It’s generally accepted that Scottish local government is among the most circumscribed in Europe. Devolution to Holyrood has not been accompanied by devolution from Holyrood, where instead the SNP administration has overseen centralisation of power to Edinburgh.

A council’s ability to raise funds is greatly restricted. Scottish council taxes have been frozen then capped by successive SNP governments, while non-domestic rates are set centrally, collected locally, sent back to the centre then redistributed. Local authorities face criticisms from local people for challenges and cuts they have little power to address.

Why the SNP must stop hoarding power in Edinburgh

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SNP official under investigation over ‘threatening phone call’ claim – Daily Record

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An SNP official is under investigation after claims he made a threatening phone call to a new business owner.

Ian McPherson, a staffer for Westminster MP Allan Dorans, admitted making a “terrible error of judgement” in his call to Ayr painter Craig Hainey.

It followed the opening of Mr Hainey’s new business in Ayr’s North Harbour, to which he had invited Tory MSP Sharon Dowey.

He then claims to have received a call from McPherson asking why Ayr MSP Siobhian Brown had not been asked along instead.

Mr Hainey, who has opened Pro Paints, claims McPherson warned him: “I hope this doesn’t affect your business”.

The SNP worker this week admitted making the call and said he had been “trying to clear up confusion between list MSPs and MSPs”.

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The ‘unhackable’ phones given to prisoners by Scottish Government – which were hacked to buy drugs – ITV news

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So-called ‘unhackable’ mobile phones given to prisoners in Scotland during lockdown by the Scottish Government at a cost of £3 million are now being used for drug deals and other criminal activity, ITV News has learned.

During lockdown when prison visits were restricted, 7,600 inmates in Scotland were issued with their own mobile phone by the Scottish government.

But these supposedly tamper-proof phones were almost immediately hacked by inmates, and, according to the Scottish Prison Service, 728 have been found since August 2020 to operate with illegal SIM cards, used for drug deals and other criminal activity.

ITV News has been given exclusive access to Scotland’s largest prison, Barlinnie, where addiction is described as “worse than ever before.”

John McTavish, Prison Officer at HMP Barlinnie told ITV News: “You give a prisoner a phone, and they’re very, very ingenious. If they put their mind to something, they can do anything at all. Within hours, the tamper proof was gone.”

The prison officier estimates about a third of phones have been tampered with.

“I checked the phones in one of the halls here in March time, and of the 300 prisoners that were there, it was probably about 100 phones tampered with altogether.”The drugs bought with these phones are often simply thrown over the prison walls, but inmates are finding ever more complex and covert methods to smuggle in drugs, including legal letters soaked in drugs that the prisoner then dissolves in water and drinks.

Scottish Government warned about race row comic Janey Godley’s offensive tweets months before hiring her for Covid ads – The Sun

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THE Scottish Government hired race row comic Janey Godley for a TV health campaign despite being alerted to offensive tweets about Asian people in June, it has emerged.

Four Twitter posts were flagged up in a complaint three months ago, including two calling for people to “speak English”.

It came after Godley, 60, was booked for an anti-litter push between the Nats administration and the Zero Waste Scotland agency in May.

But the Scottish Government told a woman who complained that “due diligence” checks were carried out on the comedian and pro-indy activist — and that ministers could not “intervene” in her role.

An official added the complainer should contact cops if she had a hate crime to report.

Godley was later paid £12,000 of taxpayer cash to front the “Stop the Spike” Covid ads but was axed when posts about the disabled and black celebs came to light.

Tory MSP Russell Findlay called the latest revelation “staggering”.

He said: “The Scottish Government decided to hand an SNP- supporting comedian a large sum of public cash despite these vile posts being flagged directly with officials.

“This confirms the suspicion that there’s one rule for protected SNP cronies and another for the rest of us.

“Nicola Sturgeon must apologise immediately. Why were racist tweets ignored when awarding a lucrative contract for a crucial public health message in the fight against Covid?”

Labour MSP Foysol Choudhury said the tweets were “deeply troubling”.

But he added: “What raises more serious questions is the government’s response to this. The public deserve answers.”

Janey Godley apologises over ‘deeply hurtful’ tweets as it emerges she’s being paid £12k by taxpayers for Covid campaign – The Sun

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AN SNP-backing comic has made a grovelling apology over highly offensive tweets as it emerged she’s being paid £12,000 by taxpayers for a Covid social media campaign.

Janey Godley apologised for Twitter jokes using terms with language that mocks disabled people – including “spazzy” – after her lucrative deal with the Scottish Government sparked anger online.

The use of Ms Godley to front a pandemic health push also prompted controversy as she is seen as a “divisive” figure due to being a strident pro-indy political activist who has been involved in multiple online spats.

Critics also pointed to past tweets from Ms Godley where she made jokes using the word “mongo” and used “Chernobyl” repeatedly as an insult.

After her agent was approached by The Scottish Sun about the criticism, Ms Godley issued a statement on Wednesday – also posted online – where she apologised for past comments, but insisted some were faked.

The Scottish Government said Ms Godley was being paid £10,000 plus VAT for her work on a “multi-channel campaign” urging people to “stop the spike”.

In one 30-second ad posted on the Scottish Government’s official Twitter with the hashtag #StopTheSpike, Ms Godley appeals to Scots to do twice-weekly lateral flow tests.

The comedian says: “That’s Covid cases rising again, and we cannae just let this virus run riot like your gran in the supermarket reduced section.

To see how Scotland has changed under the SNP, click here: https://www.scotlandmatters.co.uk/category/scotland-under-the-snp/

Hungry school children queue at Scots soup kitchen as they desperately seek dinner – Daily Record

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Hungry school pupils queued up for their dinner at a Scots soup kitchen, leaving the organisers “heartbroken.”

The two children, thought to be aged between seven and eight, were served at the Glasgow city centre soup kitchen on Tuesday night.

Run by Homeless Project Scotland, the service operates on Argyle Street and feeds hundreds of homeless people every week.

The two kids were brought there by their mum, and were said to be “excited” and “extremely grateful” for their food.

The heartbreaking scenes has prompted calls for urgent talks on child poverty.

Colin McInnes, who is the chairman at Homeless Project Scotland, said: “The queue was much bigger than normal on Tuesday night – there were around 130 people there.

“I started to see someone trying to push through the queue which obviously isn’t allowed to it caught our attention.

“It looked as though someone was trying to push their way down the middle.

Edinburgh pub refuses entry to customers from the Scottish Family Party – Edinburgh Live

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Exclusive: Staff from the Outhousebar in Edinburgh say they felt “uncomfortable” after finding out that a group of people affiliated with the Scottish Family Party had booked a table at the venue.

Three customers were refused entry to an Edinburgh pub after staff found out that they were affiliated with the Scottish Family Party.

The management team at the Outhousebar on Broughton Street Lane confirmed that they denied entry to the group – which included Scottish Family Party Leader Richard Lucas – as their political views ‘do not align with the venue.’

The Scottish Family Party policies include ’promoting marriage, opposing transgender ideology and abortions.’

Their website states: “We respect life, opposing both abortions on demand and assisted suicide, We promote marriage, We oppose transgender ideology, especially the confusing of children.”

Assistant Manager Rob told Edinburgh Live how the group booked their function room on Thursday night (September 2).

It is understood that they did not disclose to the venue that they were affiliated with the political party and instead described themselves as a ‘small group of academics.’

To see how Scotland has changed under the SNP since 2007, click here: https://www.scotlandmatters.co.uk/category/scotland-under-the-snp/

Police Scotland: Why there are concerns that the force is being politicised – The Scotsman

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