Latest news with #CraigHoy
Scotsman
06-08-2025
- Health
- Scotsman
Sickness absence among teachers and council staff hits record high over 'breaking point' claims
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Sickness absence rates for teachers and other council staff in Scotland have surged to a record high as local authorities were described as being left at 'breaking point'. A report by the Accounts Commission, the public spending watchdog, found absence levels among teachers rose in 27 out of 32 councils between 2022/23 and 2023/24, with an average increase of 11.7 per cent nationally. This represents an increase of 85 per cent since Covid. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad For wider council staff, sickness absence increased in 25 out of 32 local authorities, rising by 45 per cent since Covid and an average of 4.5 per cent nationally between 2022/23 and 2023/24. Stress, mental health and fatigue have been cited as key contributors to rising sickness absences | PA A total of 2.65 million days were lost to sickness across local government in 2023/24. This trend is mirrored in the Scottish Government workforce and NHS Scotland, with the latter reporting a sickness absence rate of 6.2 per cent until February last year - its highest level in the past decade. The Accounts Commission referenced a recent report that cited stress, mental health and fatigue as key contributors. 'The Chartered Institute for Personnel Development's Working Lives Scotland 2024 report highlights there is a growing unease across the public sector,' the report added. 'There has been a drop in the proportion of public sector employees saying they feel inspired at work and an increase in the proportion of staff feeling detached from their jobs and motivated only in monetary terms.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Teaching unions have also sounded the alarm over rising levels of abuse and violence in schools. The Accounts Commission said Scotland's councils urgently needed to make progress with workforce plans if they were to protect services and financial sustainability. The body said the number of staff employed by councils had risen, but this had not kept pace with ever-increasing demand. Multiple challenges are affecting Scotland's 260,000 council workers, the commission said, including struggles in recruiting and retaining staff. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Recruiting and maintaining a skilled local government workforce remains challenging and, at the same time, demand for council services is increasing,' it said in a new report. 'This is placing additional demands on the existing workforce and there are indications this is now impacting upon the wellbeing of an ageing workforce, with absence levels rising to a new high.' Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'This eye-opening report exposes the deeply damaging impact years of savage SNP cuts and gross mismanagement is having on Scotland's council workforce. Craig Hoy MSP. 'The record high sickness rates among staff paints a picture of local authorities being at breaking point due to SNP ministers asking employees to do more with less. They simply cannot meet the demands being placed upon them to try and protect the day-to-day services communities rely on. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'With staff costs also rising, this situation is completely unsustainable going forward unless SNP ministers finally get a grip and give councils a fair funding deal. For too long the nationalists have passed the buck to councils and it is clear workers are paying a heavy price for those failures.' Jennifer Henderson, from the Accounts Commission, said: 'We all benefit from a skilled and motivated local government workforce. Staff are the most important resource that councils have. Councils must fundamentally reform how they deliver services and Scotland's 260,000 council workers are crucial to this. 'Councils need to align their existing workforce plans with their priorities so they can ensure their workforces are the right size and shape, and their staff have the skills they will need. In particular, they need to ensure workers have the digital skills necessary for the scale of changes ahead. 'We have seen many councils already responding to this challenge, and there are valuable opportunities for local bodies to learn from each other.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Workforce planning is an operational matter for local authorities. The Scottish Government has provided councils with a record £15.1 billion this year - a real-terms increase of 5.5 per cent.
Scotsman
05-08-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Report for 'doomed to fail' minimum income guarantee cost £1.3m as SNP exercise branded 'waste of time'
Sign up to our Politics newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... SNP ministers spent £1.3 million on a report into introducing a new welfare system despite knowing the scheme was 'doomed to fail'. The Scottish Government commissioned an expert panel to look at how it might implement a policy of bringing in a minimum income for all Scots. Findings from the Minimum Income Guarantee Expert Group included giving single parents in Scotland up to £28,000 in benefits without working. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A general view of the Scottish Parliament building in Edinburgh | PA However, sources close to the project insist there is little appetite to introduce the scheme, branded an 'absurd' policy by opposition parties. Now figures, released under Freedom of Information rules, show the costs for the expert group's final report were £280,000. The group was supported by a government secretariat of five civil servants, making their salary costs over the time of generating the report around £260,000 a year. It took from August 2021 to May 2025 - three years and ten months - to develop the findings. This is despite the fact the Holyrood Government does not have devolved all the reserved powers necessary to introduce a minimum income guarantee. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A recommendation of the report is the Scottish and UK governments should set up a "co-operation commission" to work out what powers would be needed. An SNP insider said the report was a 'waste of time' and 'doomed to fail'. The source said: 'This report is going to be used as a springboard for charities to lobby government for a minimum income guarantee - despite the fact it is impossible to see how we could afford to pay for it. 'We've paid a significant sum for a report we don't agree with and that was doomed to fail, are now likely to distance ourselves from and now are going to be lobbied to implement it. It's not just a waste of time and money, but also a disappointment for the charities involved.' On publication of the minimum income guarantee report, Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the Government would consider the findings after the Holyrood recess. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad SNP Minister Shirley-Anne Somerville hoped to sort housing emergency (Picture: Jeff) Shadow finance secretary Craig Hoy said the report was a 'shocking waste of taxpayers' money'. He said: 'Especially when it was to explore a half-baked policy that everyone knew would be unaffordable and damaging. It's typical that the SNP's reaction is now to try to bury the issue and dodge responsibility. 'They should immediately rule out a minimum income guarantee – an absurd and eye-wateringly expensive policy that they have no powers to introduce. But they also owe Scots an explanation for why they ever devoted public money and civil servants' time to this idea, and a detailed account of how so much taxpayers' cash was wasted on this ridiculous report.' The Scottish Government initially declined The Scotsman's FOI request but, on appeal, gave a partial response. Using the pay bands of each civil servant in the secretariat, the salary costs per year would amount to around £260,000 annually. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A plan to bring in a minimum income for all Scots has been under consideration for several years. Supporters claim it would make for a fairer society with a reduced level of poverty if every Scot had a definite basic income, with the suggestion it would 'would effectively end poverty for those in receipt'. Opponents, however, claim it is too expensive a policy to implement and raise concerns that people would not work if they did not have to earn additional income. The report from the independent expert group, which included representatives from 16 groups such as social mobility organisations, universities and charities, recommended the base income be £11,500 for a single adult. A couple would receive £20,000 while a couple with one child or a lone adult with two children would receive £28,000. As their earnings rose to exceed the minimum income threshold, the payments would taper off. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The group laid out a series of plans to be rolled out over the next decade that would pave the way for Scotland to introduce a minimum income guarantee from 2036. At the launch of the report in June, Satwat Rehman, one of the members of the group and chief executive of One Parent Families Scotland, said: 'A minimum income guarantee would provide a lifeline, ensuring no single-parent household falls below a dignified minimum income – whether in or out of work, studying or training – and ensure families and children thrive and not just survive.'
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Scotsman
01-08-2025
- Automotive
- Scotsman
The near 100-mile-long major Scottish road targeted by new dualling campaign after fatal crashes
Route links England with Northern Ireland ferry ports. Sign up for the latest news and analysis about Scottish transport Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A key route between England and the Northern Ireland ferry ports in Dumfries and Galloway should be fast-tracked to become a dual carriageway following a series of fatal crashes, the Scottish Conservatives have urged. The call follows at least five deaths on the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer this year. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The single carriageway A75 is a key freight route which spans Dumfries and Galloway | Stuart Walker/SWSTA The single carriageway road, which is nearly 100 miles long, links the M6 with Cairnryan, from where Stena Line and P&O operate to Belfast and Larne. Transport Scotland last year announced work on options to bypass the last villages on the road - Springholm and Crocketford - thanks to funding from the UK government, even though it is not responsible for roads in Scotland. However, South Scotland Conservative MSP Craig Hoy and Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson launched a campaign on Thursday for emergency legislation to dual 'key sections' by 2031, and the rest 'as quickly as possible thereafter'. Fatalities this year include a 77-year-old woman who was a passenger in a car that collided with a van on May 28 at Auchenlarie, between Newton Stewart and Castle Douglas. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Weeks earlier, a 67-year-old female car driver died in a collision with another car on May 3 between Castle Douglas and Bridge of Dee. At least three people were taken to hospital after two crashes on the road this month, between East Riggs and Gretna, and near Creetown. New temporary average speed cameras on a seven-mile stretch between Newton Street and Creetown are due to start operating in mid-August to boost camera van enforcement. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The MSPs said the proposed emergency law would include measures to speed up environmental impact assessments, which they said could hold up work, and to establish 'infrastructure investment partnerships' to help attract private investment. Mr Carson said: 'As someone who has lived along the A75 my whole life, I know just how important it is and how desperately we need to see it fully dualled. The SNP are full of warm words, but continue to treat the A75 as a low priority. 'Motorists' lives are at risk every time they drive this road due to the SNP's inaction. It is disgraceful they fail to recognise the importance of the A75 for the local and national economy, given the port at Cairnryan. 'If this road isn't finally dualled, then there is a threat of businesses taking their trade elsewhere, which would be a hammer blow for south-west Scotland.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Mr Hoy said: 'Despite sustained calls from local campaigners, communities and businesses, successive SNP transport ministers have been asleep at the wheel and failed to deliver the upgrades they promised.' Transport Scotland said it was focusing on the Springholm and Crocketford upgrades, where work was 'proceeding at pace' on the design and assessment of options. Crocketford is one of the last two villages on the A75 to be bypassed | Stuart Walker/SWSTA The body's spokesperson said: 'We will continue to press the UK government to support future stages of this project, which is vital for improving the road connection between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. 'The strategic importance of the A75 to Scotland's economy is recognised by the [Scottish] Government. It provides a critical link to the markets in the rest of the UK and Europe. That is why we have already completed six major roads improvement projects with a total value of over £50 million.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad
Daily Record
01-08-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Campaign for emergency laws to all parts of A75 to be dualled within six years
Tory MSPs Finlay Carson and Craig Hoy want new legislation introduced to allow the Euroroute turned into a dual carriageway as quickly as possible. Emergency laws could allow parts of the A75 to be dualled within six years. Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson and Tory colleague South Scotland MSP Craig Hoy have joined forces to campaign for new legislation to have the Euroroute turned into a dual carriageway as quickly as possible. Their proposals would reduce the time it takes for an environmental impact assessment to be carried out and create infrastructure investment partnerships so that more private investment could be found for the scheme. Mr Carson said: 'As someone who has lived along the A75 my whole life, I know just how important it is and how desperately we need to see it fully dualled. 'Our emergency law would speed up the process of dualling this route and encourage more private investment into the road. 'If this road isn't finally dualled then there is a real threat of businesses taking their trade elsewhere, which would be a hammer blow for south west Scotland. 'Craig Hoy and I are determined to campaign for this vital upgrade and for full dualling. It is clear that only the Scottish Conservatives can be trusted to dual the A75 in full.' The need to upgrade the A75 was identified in the Scottish Government's second Strategic Transport Projects Review and the UK Government's Union Connectivity Review. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Last week, the UK Government announced an extra £3.45 million was being put into a feasibility study into bypassing Springholm and Crocketford, having previously allocated 'up to £5 million' to the scheme. Experts were appointed to carry out the work last year – but earlier this year Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop warned it would take two years for the study to be carried out.
Daily Mail
12-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE SNP's debt mountain as cost of Holyrood borrowing soars to record £500m a year!
Taxpayers will have to foot the bill for an eye-watering £500 million of debt run up by John Swinney's SNP government, MailOnline can disclose. Plans to borrow a record amount of money to pay for infrastructure and building projects have led to claims that the SNP is 'mismanaging the nation's finances'. Finance Secretary Shona Robison has promised 'efficient public spending' and also threatened tax rises including a possible wealth tax. But her Medium Term Financial Strategy (MTFS) also revealed plans to borrow millions of pounds, leaving the bill for repayments and interest soaring to an astonishing £499 million a year by 2030/31. The jump in borrowing has sparked accusations that the Finance Secretary is using debt to fund a pre-election spending spree before next year's Holyrood poll. Figures buried in the appendices of the MTFS reveal the ever-rising cost to the public purse of servicing Scotland's growing mountain of debt. This year, the public will have to stump up a record £302 million for repayments and interest on the debt run up by the SNP since 2017, when the Scottish Government was first given borrowing powers. But costs to the taxpayer are set to soar even higher. According to the government's own forecasts, by 2030/31 the bill for repayments and interest will have rocketed to £499 million a year. Scottish Conservative finance spokesman Craig Hoy said: 'The plans for record borrowing tucked away in the small print suggest that the SNP hopes to hand out some sweeties before next year's election. 'It fits in with their abysmally irresponsible record of failing to live within their means. 'We're already paying hundreds of millions just servicing the debts the Nats have run up. Instead of trying to find last minute bribes to keep themselves in office, they should be tackling bloated and wasteful spending, and cutting the tax bill for hard-pressed Scots.' The UK Government last week published an analysis showing that the recent spending review by Chancellor Rachel Reeves would mean an additional £9billion for Scotland, including almost £6 billion extra for Holyrood thanks to higher UK spending on health, as well as £2 billion for education. And Labour's finance spokesman Michael Marra said: 'The SNP is borrowing more and receiving record sums from the Labour government but it's hard to see what we're getting in return. 'Public infrastructure is crumbling and flagship projects are in chaos as a result of the SNP's mismanagement and waste. The truth is the SNP cannot be trusted with public money.' Ms Robison unveiled the MTFS at the end of last month, telling Holyrood: 'Growing the economy is a top priority.' She also pledged reforms 'to increase value for the public purse', with efficiencies and improved productivity in the NHS and across the public sector. Ms Robison also warned of future tax rises, saying: 'We will also take forward work on considering future reform to the tax system, including developing our thinking on longer term issues such as wealth taxation.' Wealth taxes – which are also being discussed at a UK level – are intended to reduce economic inequality by targeting the wealthiest in society. The idea is to tax all, or most of, an individual or household's total net wealth, including assets such as savings, investments and property, rather than just income. Although no specific proposals have been drawn up, such a tax could involve an annual charge levied on the richest based on the value of assets owned. However, Ms Robison's speech to MSPs failed to mention her plans for plunging Scotland further into debt. The scale and cost of the SNP's borrowing is only revealed in the appendices of documents published alongside the minister's statement. Figures show that this financial year Ms Robison is borrowing a record £472 million extra to fund capital projects – taking Scotland's accumulated debt to a total of £2.8 billion. Forecasts show that the country's overall debt will soar to £3.6 billion within five years. A Scottish Government spokesman said: 'By following a fiscally sustainable approach to borrowing, the Scottish Government has been able to maximise capital funding this year, helping deliver new infrastructure and supporting economic growth.'
