Category Archives: Scotland

Education, Government, Scotland, Society

The importance of libraries and our need to rely on them

LIFELONG LEARNING

Library

Public libraries are places for educational and lifelong learning.

Reading is one of life’s great pleasures. Not much comes near the feeling of being engrossed in the pages of a book, growing to love and loathe the characters and becoming familiar with fictional worlds. Often, the difference between fiction and reality is wafer thin.

For some, reading for pleasure involves non-fiction to learn about people, places and subjects, whether it’s sport, hobbies, history, travel, science or study and business-related material.

There is a unique and idiosyncratic joy that comes from reaching the closing chapter and pages of a great book – and sometimes a momentary sadness that our journey into the world of imagination and learning created by the book’s author has come to an end.

Reading for pleasure is one of our nation’s favourite pastimes, but it also has a very important role to play in educational development and the health and wellbeing of individuals and society.

There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the positive impact of reading for pleasure on literacy and attainment, as well as on our emotional wellbeing. Reading also manifests itself by allowing people to experience other cultures and faiths and to develop an understanding, empathy and appreciation of different beliefs and values.

It should go without saying, but literacy is a fundamental and lifelong skill. The nation always needs a population that is ably literate and educated. The ability to read improves chances of employment and leads to better health and higher levels of wellbeing. It also helps people to comprehend and ask questions that otherwise would be missing.

But, for reading to become a lifelong habit, it must be encouraged from a young age and promoted as an enjoyable activity.

Libraries, of course, are not alone in promoting literacy, but they do have a distinct role as a local space where people of all ages and backgrounds can come to explore, learn and discover.

In Scotland, the Scottish Government is currently developing a cultural strategy, with core themes emerging around access, equality and excellence. The library sector will have a significant contribution to make to this discussion for the role libraries play in supporting lifelong learning, skills and appreciation of culture. Libraries across Scotland promote a range of reading displays – with often new books on offer – and the importance of reading for pleasure is recognised at a national level too.

Libraries are also running the Tesco Bank Summer Reading Challenge Scotland. Coordinated by The Reading Agency, the initiative encourages children aged 4-11 to read at least six books over the summer holiday period. Book Week Scotland, an annual celebration of books and reading for readers of all ages, encourages adults and children alike to enjoy the pleasure of reading through library, school, community and workplace events.

In 2016, more than 17 million books were loaned from Scotland’s public libraries, more than six million of these borrowed by children.

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Britain, Government, Politics, Scotland, Society

A £1bn bung to cling onto power will be very costly

BRITAIN: CONSERVATIVE-DUP DEAL

IT has been frequently said that this month’s general election was an unnecessary political plebiscite. Maybe so for the Conservative Party, with the ballot turning out to be an exercise in damage limitation. But there has been debate over this summation, with some arguing that the ballot was in fact necessary, because Theresa May, up to that point, was an unelected prime minister. She had been put into 10 Downing Street only by her peers and parliamentary Conservative Party. The election was also the most expensive in British political history. The logistics alone is reckoned to be costed at around £140million, but that figure is quickly vanishing into thin air as details emerge of the deal between the Conservatives and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland. Having flippantly spent £140m from the public purse to achieve nothing short of humiliation, it has now cost Mrs May a further £1billion in securing again the political power she relinquished by calling an election she was so sure she would win.

Enter Scotland and the devolution settlement. There is a black-and-white way of looking at the deal struck with the DUP to give Belfast an enormous bung in exchange for votes: it’s nothing to do with Scotland, so Scotland is not entitled to a financial kickback. In propping up the formal minority Conservative Government of Westminster Northern Ireland won the election lottery. Scotland didn’t.

But this deal highlights a grey area if not a political anomaly. The Barnett Formula was specifically designed to ensure changes to funding in one part of the UK – in effect, England – are applied proportionately in the rest of the UK. Yet, and here’s the bugbear, its application can be discretionary. Funding can be allocated outside the Barnett arrangement (as has happened recently in Scotland with funding for cities development).

Two factors, however, do leave the deal with the DUP compromised. Firstly, the extra funding for Northern Ireland is to be spent on areas such as health and education, where Scotland and Wales have appropriate claims for equivalent treatment for these devolved responsibilities. The second factor arising is how the Conservatives continue to be increasingly damaged. Their Scottish Secretary, David Mundell, has said he would oppose a deal that “deliberately sought to subvert the Barnett rules”. By implication, this suggests that Mr Mundell must have believed that any deal would be subject to the Barnett arithmetic. What other arrangement did he have in mind if the deal announced doesn’t subvert the Barnett rules? There is no other alternative as to what he could have had in mind.

Mr Mundell’s unease is symptomatic of the situation the wider Conservative Party find themselves in. Mrs May’s authority is undermined, her leadership is faltering, and her days as prime minister do look numbered. Clinging onto power now comes at a staggering price of £100,000 per vote in the Commons, and the only part of the UK where this move will be popular is Northern Ireland. Throwing good money after bad could become Mrs May’s political legacy.

ANALYSIS

. Under the ‘confidence and supply’ arrangement, the DUP’s ten MPs from Northern Ireland will vote with the Government not just on the Queen’s Speech and the Chancellor’s Budget, but also on security policy and, crucially, all aspects of Brexit.

. They will also back Theresa May on all confidence motions, meaning it is far less likely that her Government will fall. The Conservative Party’s 318 MPs and the ten DUP MPs make 328 – more than half of the 650 MPs in the House of Commons.

. In reality, the support of the DUP will give the Prime Minister an effective working majority of 13, given that Sinn Fein does not take up its seven seats, while Speaker John Bercow and his three deputies – two of whom are Labour MPs – do not take part in votes.

. The DUP will get £1billion in additional funding over two years – equal to a 5 per cent rise in the province’s budget – with the option to come back for more.

. The deal breaks down as £400million for infrastructure, including a new motorway interchange; £150million to provide ‘ultrafast’ broadband; £300million for health and education; £100million to tackle deprivation; and, £50million to be spent on mental health.

. Conservative pledges to scrap the triple lock on pensions and means-test the winter fuel allowance will not go ahead. But both of these measures were already heading for the exit in the wake of the general election result.

. Defence spending will continue to meet NATO’s 2 per cent target and cash support for farmers will remain at current levels until the next election.

. The open-ended nature of the deal could see the DUP coming back for more money in the next few years – or even holding the Government to ransom over key votes.

. Cuts to air passenger duty at Ulster’s airports and special corporation tax status could also be demanded.

. Some Conservatives also fear the alliance with the DUP could prove ‘toxic’ because of the party’s deeply conservative stance on issues such as gay rights and abortion. However, these do not come under the deal as powers are devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont.

 

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Government, Politics, Scotland, Society, Technology

Digital interfacing must be embraced by public sector

PUBLIC SECTOR

Digital Interfacing

Digital interfacing within the public sector would allow public bodies to greatly cut costs while providing efficient services. With budgets constrained like never before, politicians must now embrace and incorporate digital platforming into the public sector.

Intro: Digital platforming would help public bodies to provide efficient services by cutting costs.

Over the last 10 to 15 years digital platforms like Google, Amazon and Twitter have been utilised by almost everyone to such an extent that they have disrupted our daily lives.

Part of that disruption has been negative. How many people have you seen looking at their mobile phones when they should have been paying more attention to the world around them? Predominately, however, the disruption caused by the digital era has been positive. Digital technologies clearly deliver a benefit – if they didn’t we wouldn’t use them to the extent that we do.

Consider Airbnb, the digital platform that allows users to make a fast and cheap way of booking accommodation. This interface has three million listings across 65,000 destinations. It’s fast and cheap because it provides a digital link between hosts and guests and removes the need for an intermediary.

These platforms offer ways to receive a service: users identify with the platform rather than the organisation. They are also orientated and focused on customer need as witnessed through the design and delivery of the service.

They also establish trust by offering value that increases with the breadth of services offered and the number of users registered. Most importantly, they remove unnecessary waste and duplication, eliminating tasks, activities, intermediaries and sometimes even whole organisations out of the service.

These radically changing business models have had far reaching implications for the workforce and they will continue to do so. That’s been illustrated through Uber’s impact on local taxi firms and the complexity of protecting workers’ rights and tax revenues in the ‘gig economy’.

In the public sector, digital developments have provided a route to delivering better quality for less cost. Addressing ever-increasing demand of services with reduced budgets is here to stay. NHS Scotland recently created the TURAS platform, one which is geared to support education and training of healthcare workers. It automates processes and allows clinicians to self-serve on training and education material. The net effect has been a cut in administrative overheads.

Government to citizen services need to follow this lead. Public bodies and the services they provide must move to become technology related businesses. Whilst Registers of Scotland have made good progress in this direction, the vast bulk of the Scottish public sector requires wholesale transformation. Substantial changes are needed that will require careful thinking about the right purpose, strategy, culture and structure.

The public sector in Scotland will also need a specific focus on balancing the face-to-face contact needed for some services and by making provision for those people not digitally connected. This will need new investment in connectivity and infrastructure.

Such challenges should not be used as an excuse to avoid embracing digital. Public Sector bodies should be specifically focused on removing unnecessary tasks and activities that might well lead to the closure of entire business units. This must happen where they no longer have a role in delivering services to citizens.

Politicians in Scotland should be bold in realising the changes that are now needed. They could remove some of the barriers around legislation and by promoting partnership with the private sector.

 

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