Tag: Press Release

The press release issued by the Scottish Government on 14 October 2022.

A new fund for those affected by violence against women and girls has supported nearly 20,000 survivors in its first six months.

The Delivering Equally Safe (DES) fund provided £9.5 million to 121 projects in its first six months. These projects give one-to-one emotional and practical support, as well as refuge, legal or financial advice and other services. Many of the organisations also run training and outreach programmes aiming to prevent violence against women and girls.

Equalities Minister Christina McKelvie visited the Saoirse project in Blantyre, run jointly by the charities WASLER and Liber8, to learn how it supports women in Lanarkshire who have been affected by both substance use and domestic abuse.

Ms McKelvie said:

“The projects supported through our Delivering Equally Safe fund offer a lifeline to survivors of violence and abuse. Tackling violence against women and girls is a core priority for the Scottish Government, and this fund is a key element ensuring innovative projects can support survivors and tackle the root causes of violence and abuse.

“I have been moved and inspired by conversations with the women supported by Saoirse. By bringing together specialist services for both domestic abuse and substance use, Saoirse targets the multiple, complex issues that these women may be going through, helping them rebuild their lives.

“This is just one of 121 projects across Scotland that we are supporting through this fund. I am deeply grateful to all the organisations involved for the extraordinary work they do, and for supporting 20,000 survivors in just six months.”

Heather Russell, Chief Executive of WASLER (Women’s Aid South Lanarkshire and East Renfrewshire), said:

“The importance of funding and sustainable funding for our sector cannot be understated. Limits on service delivery and development of services to meet the true needs of women, children and young people we support is a daily grind. It makes the funding of our Saoirse service all the more essential.

“Delivering Equally Safe funding has allowed us to partner two distinct specialisms to develop a needs-led initiative. In bringing together specialist domestic abuse and substance use support services we are able to provide holistic support for women facing multiple and complex challenges.

“The very decision to fund this new partnership illustrates a strategic understanding of domestic abuse and its dynamics. Without DES funding we simply would be unable to deliver prescribed support to women who through no fault of their own need it. Gender-based violence is a threat to the lives of women and girls. Any funding for specialist organisations to support recovery and empowerment of those women is another life saved.”

Kaylie Allen, Director of Funds, Inspiring Scotland, said:

“Organisations funded through Delivering Equally Safe deliver vital support for people experiencing gender-based violence alongside crucial education and prevention work.

“We are proud to work with this diverse group of organisations as Fund Managers for the Scottish Government, and are pleased the immense work of the funded groups can be acknowledged through this report. We want to thank funded groups for their hard work reporting on the impact of their activity.

“The learning gained from their reporting confirms not only the difference they are making to the lives of women and children across Scotland, but also the increasing demand for the services they offer.”

The press release issued by the Scottish Government on 13 October 2022.

Projects receive funding through Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund.

A range of projects aimed at tackling climate change and enhancing competitiveness in the agriculture and food production sectors have received funding of more than £370,000.

The seven awards are part of the Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund (KTIF) with funding focussed on projects which help maximise resource efficiency, cut emissions and enhance viability.

These KTIF projects support knowledge transfer and learning, as well as innovative on-the-ground improvements in agricultural competitiveness, resource efficiency, environmental performance and sustainability.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said: “We have ambitious targets across the agricultural sector in terms of net zero goals, enabling the essential role of agriculture and addressing the need for food security.

“These are issues that affect us all and investment in these successful projects will contribute to meeting these targets.”

Background

 

The successful projects are:

Project 1: ‘Data driven decisions in Potatoes’ facilitated by Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS). KTIF Award – £36,095.00.

Overview: This knowledge transfer based project seeks to improve the productivity and competitiveness of Scottish ware growers. To support potato growers to become more productive and sustainable, reducing their impact on the environment/biodiversity.

Project 2: ‘Trustable IoT’ facilitated by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). KTIF Award – £62,832.85.

Overview: The innovation based project seeks to develop a set of open source standardised processes for IoT sensors and digital devices that measure and triangulate biodiversity baselines and improvements.

Project 3: ‘Reducing Inputs’ facilitated by Soil Association (Scotland). KTIF Award – £24,000.00.

Overview: This knowledge transfer project aims to inspire and inform farmers and growers to reduce their use of external inputs including synthetic nitrogen-based fertiliser, pesticides and herbicides; to reduce carbon footprints, tackle disease resistance, improve soil health and ecological performance, protect natural capital and boost financial resilience.

Project 4: ‘Decarbonising Scottish Malting Barley production’ facilitated by Scottish Agricultural Organisation Society (SAOS). KTIF Award – £ 36,905.25.

Overview: This knowledge transfer project’s primary aim is to raise the awareness and understanding amongst farmer producers of the emissions associated with producing malting barley.

Project 5: ‘Agroecology: enabling the transition’ facilitated by Nourish Scotland. KTIF Award – £112,500.00.

Overview: This knowledge transfer based project builds the previous project ‘Agroecology – facilitating mindset change’ and its design builds on the learning from that programme. It aims to widen and deepen understanding of agroecology specifically through a farmer to farmer/crofter to crofter cooperative learning programme.

Project 6: ‘Wader Friendly Farmers: Building a Stronger Network’ facilitated by Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). KTIF Award – £27,825.00.

Overview: Another knowledge transfer based project which will look to increase the number of farmers and landowners who are engaged with the Working for Waders Initiative, increase the area of land positively managed for waders and improve data collection from the projects.

Project 7: ‘Farm Carbon Storage Network’ facilitated by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). KTIF Award – £85,970.00.

Overview: This innovation based project seeks to develop a representative farmer group that will estimate their farm carbon stock using soil testing and LiDAR surveys.

The press release issued by the Scottish Government on 12 October 2022.

Over a million vaccines have been delivered to protect against the latest strains of flu and COVID-19 in the latest efforts to relieve pressure on the NHS over winter.

Frontline healthcare staff and the country’s most vulnerable have been immunised at speed – with 80.2% of all care home residents being fully vaccinated since the rollout began in September.

The next groups in line for their vaccines – over 65s and those at high-risk – are receiving a scheduled appointment and 50-64 year olds will soon be invited to book an appointment. Anyone who has missed an appointment can reschedule through the NHS Inform online booking portal.

The COVID-19 vaccine is being given at the same time as the flu jab where possible, and so far 94% of those invited have had both at the same appointment. Over two million Scots will be offered both vaccines over the next three months – a pace that aims to maintain Scotland’s place as a leading nation on vaccine uptake.

Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said:

“This impressive uptake is testament to the frontline staff who got us through the pandemic and continue to protect our population and NHS from the threats that winter brings.

“Scotland remains steadfast in the effort to protect everyone – continuing the huge success of the vaccination programme since it was first rolled out in December 2020.

“COVID-19 has not gone away and I call on everyone to take up the offer of a booster as soon as their invitation arrives to protect themselves, their families and the NHS.”

BACKGROUND

1,369,270 COVID-19 and flu vaccines have been delivered since the winter vaccine programme launched.

Both new bivalent vaccines, which target Omicron and the original variant of COVID-19, are being deployed alongside existing vaccines, though the vaccination individuals receive will depend on age and vaccine availability. Both the current and new bivalent vaccines provide good protection from severe illness and hospitalisation from known COVID-19 variants.