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STV News
10-06-2025
- Business
- STV News
Swinney calls for more cash to address housing crisis ahead of spending review
The First Minister has urged the UK Government to take more action and spend more money to address Scotland's housing crisis in the upcoming Spending Review. At least 12 local housing emergencies have been declared across Scotland, with the first declared by Argyll and Bute Council in June 2023. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fife and West Dunbartonshire Councils followed suit. The Scottish Government formally declared a national housing emergency on May 15, 2024. The number of people in Scotland living in temporary homeless accommodation is at a record high, according to a report from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA). Pressures have also increased on social housing. Speaking ahead of his speech at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations in Glasgow on Tuesday, the First Minister re-emphasised that Scotland 'faces a housing crisis'. He said the Scottish Government is already investing £768m this year in affordable housing, but he's calling for the UK Government to do more. 'We continue to call on the UK Government to provide multi-year funding for housing to give developers and third sector organisations long-term certainty,' Swinney said. 'The UK Government must also commit to unfreezing Local Housing Allowance rates. These rates set the amount that private renters receive to help with rent. Increasing these rates can be a key lever that can help protect tenants. 'Repegging these rates to the 30th percentile of local rents would mean greater security for many households across Scotland.' Swinney's comments have come less than 24 hours before UK chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to present a major UK spending review. The review technically isn't considered a 'fiscal event' – meaning there shouldn't be any detailed tax or spending decisions. However, the chancellor is expect to plot out her public spending plans for the next three years, department by department. It will reveal Labour's priorities, and could see some areas of public spending cut to provide more money to others – like the NHS or defence. It will also chart a course for spending on things like housing. Reeves will reveal the spending review on Wednesday after Prime Minister's Questions at noon. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Daily Record
10-06-2025
- Business
- Daily Record
John Swinney accused of planning council tax freeze 'bribe' ahead of Holyrood election
EXCLUSIVE: A senior council figure said the First Minister did not rule out a freeze during a meeting with local authority leaders. John Swinney has been accused of planning to 'bribe' voters by freezing the council tax weeks before the next Holyrood election. The First Minister refused to rule out the move in a summit with town hall chiefs last month. The SNP has pushed through a freeze in most of the years they have been in Government since 2007, with critics saying the policy starves councils of cash. A freeze was ditched this year and councils backed average bill rises of 9.5%. It is understood Swinney met council leaders late last month and was quizzed about his final Budget ahead of the Holyrood election. A senior council insider who was at the meeting said the First Minister did not close the door on another freeze: 'It is deeply disappointing that the First Minister has refused to rule out a freeze or cap on council tax next year. It looks like he may be planning yet another pre-election bribe for voters. "All councils in Scotland are facing having to make huge cuts to services and jobs next year yet the First Minister seems to want to deprive us of the only real means we have of limiting these cuts. It is an affront to democracy and yet another clear breach of the Verity House Agreement.' It is understood council umbrella body COSLA will decide this month whether they will continue to be part of a working group with the SNP Government on council tax reform. The insider said pulling out is an option because of Swinney's refusal to rule out a freeze. If a freeze was voted through by Parliament, it would come into force on April 1st - coinciding with the Holyrood election campaign. Labour MSP Mark Griffin said 'The SNP's shambolic approach to local government funding has left families paying more and getting less in return. Years of SNP austerity has forced Scottish Councils to make impossible choices between raising taxes on struggling families or axing local services communities rely on. 'The SNP must treat local government with the respect it deserves and work with Cosla to deliver a budget settlement that protects local services from cuts and doesn't force brutal Council tax hikes on Scottish families.' A senior SNP figure said Swinney wanted to go into the next election showing voters he had made a difference on the cost of living crisis. Central to this agenda is restoring winter fuel payments, abolishing peak rail fares and scrapping the two child benefit tax. Roz Foyer, general secretary of the STUC, said: 'We think the council tax is at root a regressive tax and needs to be replaced. Freezing it is not the answer. A freeze is both damaging to local authorities and to people when there are sudden increases when the freeze is lifted.' Green MSP Ross Greer said: 'Freezing the Council tax rather than actually fixing it would mean more budget cuts for schools, social care and other local services. John Swinney knows that this tax needs to be scrapped and replaced, but doing so would upset some very rich people who live in very big houses, so he won't do it. 'Most people already pay the wrong rate of Council Tax, which is totally absurd. It's those in smaller homes paying more than they should, all while the super-rich get off with an absolute steal. Another freeze doesn't solve that problem, it just harms the local services we all rely on." Lib Dem MSP Willie Rennie said: 'Has John Swinney learnt nothing from Humza Yousaf's disastrous handling of the council tax when he was leader? Instead of meddling with the decisions that should be left to councils, he should focus on improving the NHS and growing the economy, which are his responsibilities.' Tory MSP Craig Hoy said: 'If John Swinney does impose a council tax freeze next year, he must give local authorities the funding to be able to deliver it without decimating essential services. If he failed to do so, this would be no more than a cynical pre-election ploy that would put councils in an impossible position.' A Scottish Government spokesperson said: 'Future local government finance settlements will be set out in the usual way at future Scottish Budgets.'
Glasgow Times
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Here's why the EIS launched a consultative ballot for strike action
The General Secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) launched the ballot during her address to the EIS Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Aviemore. READ NEXT: Hunt for gang of masked thugs who broke into Glasgow petrol stations Following a wide-ranging annual address, the general secretary Andrea Bradley said the ballot is due to the Scottish Government and COSLA's failure to reduce teachers' class contact time by 1.5 hours per week as well as the lack of progress in pay negotiations for Scotland's teachers. It comes after the EIS rejected a 3% pay rise offer earlier this year. Concluding her speech, Bradley said: 'There are swathes of evidence showing the extent to which teachers are subsiding the system with free work. Patience isn't infinite and neither is the amount of time that teachers can give to their work away from their own families - their own children, their own partners, their own parents and their own friends. 'We've compromised on timescales, we've said we can compromise on phased implementation but the use of the time for preparation and correction is an absolute red line. We've said that from Day One.' 'We have come to the point where we must escalate this dispute. We must now ask our members to stand up and have their votes counted on workload in this indicative ballot.' READ NEXT: More than 16,000 student beds in pipeline across Glasgow A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "The Scottish Government will continue to work with unions and COSLA to agree our approach to delivering a reduction in class contact time, which ultimately requires agreement from the whole Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. 'This is also why we are providing local authorities with an additional £186.5 million to restore teacher numbers, alongside an additional £29 million to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce. This funding has been provided on the clear agreement that meaningful progress is made on reducing teacher class contact time.'
The Herald Scotland
06-06-2025
- Politics
- The Herald Scotland
Gilruth admits the SNP 'should have delivered by now'
Broken promises The first questions asked were unsurprisingly about that workload issue, and the suggestion that the government has 'failed' to honour a manifesto commitment about contact time received applause in the room. For context, the government promised to cut contact time by 90 minutes per week and, thus far, has not delivered. Gilruth was challenged not just on cutting contact time, but on ensuring that teachers decide how to use the extra time. This has been a bone of contention because at least some councils want to take control of at least some of the newly-created non-contact time. The Cabinet Secretary admitted that 'it's tough in our schools just now', adding: 'I know it's really tough.' Of the cut to contact time, she also said: 'I accept we should have delivered by now'. That admission provoked applause in the room. Gilruth argued that cutting contact time would be the key change that would help the teaching profession, and referenced research saying that restoring teacher numbers to 2023 levels would allow for the promise to be met in primary schools. She did not mention secondary schools, and for good reason – cutting contact time there is enormously difficult and there is little prospect of meaningful progress being made any time soon. Again, she accepted, albeit tacitly, a degree of failure from the government, admitting: 'It's not going as quickly as it should have.' She also explained that a proposal to COSLA had been rejected because more work was required, some of which is now ongoing, but insisted: 'We have got to get this over the line.' At this point audible mutters began to spread, and from the back of the room I saw heads starting to shake as Gilruth argued that she has 'upheld her part of the bargain' by securing more money for councils. There was no open revolt in response, but the room didn't seem particularly convinced. A crisis in ASN Questions then moved on to ASN and the lack of support available in schools, with Gilruth asked how she would ensure adequate resourcing in this area. This is a huge issue for teachers, who are struggling to cope with a massive increase in the level of support that they have to provide despite a lack of funding to do so. Gilruth proposed that there is 'still support for the presumption of mainstreaming, but it's about how it is resourced' – a statement that certainly provoked some dissent in the room. She also talked about definitions of ASN having expanded significantly over the years, which is true, but didn't go so far as to suggest that this is a problem. But she did say that we need to 'think again about how to resource ASN in our schools.' She referenced a recent Audit Scotland report that called for wholesale changes to ASN provision, and said that she is 'protecting the budget' but is concerned that the money isn't always getting to schools. The hall then got to see a member of the Scottish Government talking about the importance of 'transparency', and was reminded that we 'don't exist in a silo' in reference to decisions by the UK government. However, the most interesting part of her response involved Pupil Equity Funding, the more than £100m a year that is sometimes known as 'anti-poverty funding'. This money was always supposed to be additional to core budgets, and used to fund extra services that would 'close the attainment gap', but critics have for years warns that it was in fact being used to plug financial holes that were caused by years and years of cuts. Remarkably, Jenny Gilruth admitted that this additional funding is 'not additional any more.' She went in to reference a forthcoming UK government spending review, and argued that issues of funding for Scottish education 'don't exist in a silo.' But the shout from the floor was: 'Not good enough.' The education secretary was challenged on a number of issues including workload, ASN and violence. (Image: Alan Richardson Violence in schools Another of the pressing issues in Scottish education right now concerns violence and aggression in schools, and it was no surprise that teachers wanted to raise it. The education secretary was asked why teachers have to put up with this sort of behaviour. She was told that if she were assaulted at work then the police would be called, but that in schools there seems to be a level of violence that teachers just need to put up with. She was then asked if it will take a teacher being murdered in their classroom before the government takes 'real action'. In response, she said that violence is a major issue and unacceptable, but was immediately heckled with a shout that 'nothing is being done.' At this point Ms Gilruth became, at best, defensive, and snapped back: 'I'm here listening to you as your Cabinet Secretary.' From there she argued that similar issues are affecting female politicians, and that the issue of increasing violence, as well as misogyny, are wider social problems. 'It's not all about schools,' she said. 'We need a societal response to some of these challenges.' She also referenced her government's Behaviour Action Plan, said that further guidance on 'consequences' would be released soon, and told delegates that exclusion had to remain an option for teachers. But her answers didn't generate any applause in the room.. Music, colleges, and universities On the topic of instrumental music teachers, Ms Gilruth was asked if she would commit to delivering full professional registration for these staff before the next election. She did give an 'absolute commitment', but it was only to engage with the GTCS and 'move this forward' ahead of the election. The penultimate questions of the session concerned tertiary education, referencing real terms cuts to college funding and the ongoing crisis in the 'underfunded and badly managed' university sector. In response, as expected, she praised the work that colleges do and said that they 'must be supported', adding that her government has provided flexibility to the sector and met demands to fund pay awards. She did accept, however, that recent years have been a 'really challenging time' for colleges. On university funding, she defended the Scottish Government's position on free tuition while pointing out that the wider UK sector is currently facing significant challenges. Some of these, she argued, originate with the UK government, with NI increases and immigration rules both cited. She explained that that while she is willing to have a conversation about how universities are financed, that this would remain a red line that they would not cross. Trans rights The final question to the education secretary focused on trans rights, which reflected the concerns of a number of speakers from earlier in the day. In light of the recent supreme court decision, a delegate asked Ms Gilruth what actions she has taken to ensure that transgender and non-binary students are not 'adversely affected'. At this point there was another shift in tone. 'This is a really challenging time for trans staff and pupils,' she said, 'and I want you to hear that from me as a member of our LGBT community.' She then explained that although the government wants to provide reassurance, the Equality Act is reserved and updated EHCR guidance would be for ministers in London, not Edinburgh, to deal with. However, she added that she had raised the issue with her UK Government counterpart, and that she wants people to get in touch with concerns. Summing up Given the chance to make closing remarks, Gilruth (wisely) avoided the sort of speech that many politicians would have been unable to resist – the kind that lists all sorts of supposed achievements in a way that only further alienates them from their audience. Instead, she once again accepted that things are 'tough' in schools, and said: 'If you would like me to come into your school and visit, I will come.' She also offered a 'thank you from the government for all the work you're doing in our schools', and told the room that she was there 'in listening mode' for the rest of the evening. The applause that closed the session would be best-described as polite. But the same can't be said of many of the comments I heard afterwards.
Edinburgh Reporter
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Edinburgh Reporter
Government announces funding for Ukrainian communities
The latest wave of funding packages was announced by The Scottish Government today with more than £600,000 will support third sector organisations working to support displaced Ukrainians, including community and cultural activities, while a further £3.5m funding for local authorities and COSLA will support displaced Ukrainians, as well as refugees and people seeking asylum, to settle into communities. The monies are intended to support Ukrainian communities and culture in Scotland to flourish as announced by Equalities Minister, Kaukab Stewart. The funding was announced at an event hosted by COSLA, marking a visit to Scotland by a civic delegation of mayors from Ukraine. The Edinburgh branch of the Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain (AUGB)has been awarded funding of £46,786.58. Hannah Beaton-Hawryluk, Chair of the AUGB said: 'The funding we receive from the Scottish Government has been absolutely invaluable. We couldn't have provided the level of support our new Ukrainian community needs without it. Thanks to this ongoing support, we're able to employ a dedicated staff team at the Ukrainian Community Centre seven days a week, offering vital social, cultural, and emotional assistance. Over the last three financial years, this consistent funding has enabled us to build a trusted, safe haven where the community feels welcomed and supported.' The community centre hosts English lessons, choirs, dance troops, teens clubs, coffee mornings, advice/information sessions, knitting clubs, art sessions, cooking together, and community meals and is a safe space for all Ukrainians. Speaking ahead of the event, Ms Stewart said: 'Scotland stands in unwavering solidarity with Ukraine, as it has since Russia's illegal invasion in 2022. More than 28,000 displaced Ukrainians with a Scottish-sponsored visa have arrived in the UK, and we are helping people rebuild their lives here. 'Many of those who left Ukraine shortly after the war outbreak have now been in Scotland for several years, forming thriving Ukrainian communities right across the country. We want those communities to flourish, and this funding will support cultural and social activities and events to strengthen. It will also support services to help people recover from the trauma of fleeing war. 'I'm very pleased to be announcing this funding at the same time as a visit from the Ukrainian rebirth delegation, and I look forward to exploring further opportunities for connection and partnership between Scotland and Ukraine.' COSLA Community Wellbeing Spokesperson Councillor Maureen Chalmers said: 'COSLA is so very pleased to welcome colleagues from Local Government in Ukraine to Verity House today. We are also delighted to be working with Scottish Government to host this event, coming together to show our commitment across government in Scotland. 'COSLA has expressed full support and solidarity to the Ukrainian people and our peers in local and regional government, standing ready to support those affected and play a very active part in Ukrainian refugee resettlement. 'COSLA welcomes Scottish Government's announcement of the continuation of £3.4m resettlement funding for Local Authorities for 2025-26. This funding will play an important role in enabling councils' ongoing work supporting the integration of Ukrainians fleeing Russia's illegal war, as well as other people seeking protection in this country. 'We are also very grateful for confirmation of continued funding for COSLA to support the work that we do with our member councils and with Scottish Government in relation to the integration of people displaced from Ukraine, as well as others who are seeking sanctuary here and migrants who are at risk of destitution.' Scotland stands in solidarity with Ukraine. More than 28000 displaced Ukrainians with a Scottish-sponsored visa have arrived in the UK. Speaking at a @COSLA event Equalities Minister @kaukabstewart announced funding to help Ukrainian communities flourish. — Scot Gov Fairer (@ScotGovFairer) May 27, 2025 A honour to co-host with the Minister for Equalities @kaukabstewart @COSLA a delegation of LG Leaders from across Ukraine. Thanks to @Edinburgh_CC and @AUGBEdinburgh for their contributions today. Ukrainian Mayors are playing a fundamental role in preserving democratic governance — Shona Morrison (@MorayShona) May 27, 2025 Like this: Like Related
