October 2021 - Page 9 of 10 - Scotland Matters

The death of every child in Scotland is to be reviewed in future in an attempt to reduce the avoidable deaths of young people, the Scottish Government has announced.

Information is now being collected about the death of anyone aged 18 or younger, or up to 26 if they had recently been receiving care.

The mortality rate for under-18s in Scotland is higher than any other country in western Europe, with approximately 300 children and young people dying every year.

A quarter of those deaths are deemed preventable, and the Scottish Government hopes that gathering data about the causes could help reduce the number of avoidable deaths.

Public health minister Maree Todd said: “The death of any child or young person is a tragedy.

“Our ambition is for Scotland to be the best place to grow up, where every child can reach their full potential.

“We have put in place this national system so we can learn and prevent avoidable deaths or harm in the future and I welcome that it is now being rolled out.”

The death data be collected by government bodies Healthcare Improvement Scotland and the Care Inspectorate and will be studied by representatives from the health and social care sector, Police Scotland, the Procurator Fiscal and charities, with the aim of improving services or recommending changes to the law.

Death of every child in Scotland reviewed to reduce mortality rate

‘The SNP has leadership pygmies to choose from post-Sturgeon’ – STV news

5 October 2021/in Politics Matters, Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Government, SNP, STV News /by sm_admin

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Nicola Sturgeon is a “giant among pygmies” in the SNP when it comes to leadership credentials, according to a senior Conservative MP.

Oliver Dowden, the Conservative Party’s co-chairman, took aim at the First Minister as he outlined his hopes for winning seats in Scotland once Sturgeon is no longer SNP leader.

Speaking at the party’s conference in Manchester on Sunday, Dowden said: “I do think there’s a real opportunity for us in Scotland for a couple of reasons.

“First of all, Nicola Sturgeon is not going to be there forever and after Nicola Sturgeon the rest of them – I’m not saying in any way Nicola Sturgeon is a wonderful person, but compared to her comrades as it were, she’s a giant among pygmies, and so I think as she goes they will be very weakened.

“And secondly, I think we have a real opportunity to focus on the actual delivery of the nationalists in Scotland, which has been completely lamentable – whether it’s education, whether it’s health, they are falling massively behind the rest of England.

“Nicola Sturgeon constantly tries to distract from this by talking endlessly about independence.

“We need to bring that focus back on their delivery in Scotland, which is lamentable.”

At Westminster, the SNP currently has 45 MPs compared to six Tory MPs, four Liberal Democrats, two Alba Party, one Labour and one independent from the Scottish seats.

‘The SNP has leadership pygmies to choose from post-Sturgeon’

Anger over Glasgow’s filthy rat-infested streets and alleyways hidden from COP26 delegates – Daily Record

5 October 2021/in Daily Record, Environment Matters, Glasgow Matters, Scottish Greens, SNP /by sm_admin

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These are the filthy, rat-infested side streets and alleyways that COP26 delegates won’t see when they come to Scotland next month.

Refuse collectors have said they can’t cope with cuts that have led to a rise in rancid conditions in Glasgow’s streets – just miles from where world leaders will thrash out a climate change deal.

GMB officials, who have now pleaded with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to intervene in the waste row, took our reporter to some of the worst-hit areas.

Union officials have said the city’s back streets have become Glasgow’s “secret shame”.

They warned staff were risking injury to get the streets tidied up in time for the eco conference.

In a lane near Allison Street, in Govanhill, in the heart of the First Minister’s constituency, we found rat traps, abandoned mattresses and litter. At nearby flats, overflowing bins spilled into common areas, making it a no-go area for residents.

In neighbouring Cessnock, in lanes that run parallel to the main clean thoroughfare, litter lay piled up in common areas.

Fly-tipping has increased after the council introduced a £35 special uplift charge this year.

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Type-31 Frigate Key to U.K. Royal Navy’s Growth – USNI news

1 October 2021/in Defence Matters, United Kingdom /by sm_admin

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Steel for the U.K. Royal Navy’s first new Type 31 frigate was cut on Sept. 24, raising hopes that the service may secure a larger fleet of frontline warships in the long term.

With the fall in the total number of in-service frigates and destroyers in the Royal Navy, the service is expected to reach a record low of 16 to 17 hulls by the mid-late 2020s. The five Type 31 ‘Inspiration-class’ frigates are part of the drive to push the total back to more than 19.

The first ship, to be named HMS Venturer, is due to launch by 2023, with the next four on a drumbeat of one per year starting in 2024. Deliveries of all five ships are expected to be completed by 2028. Prime contractor Babcock is building the ships at its facility in Rosyth, Scotland.

During the steel cutting event, Second Sea Lord Vice Adm. Nick Hine tweeted optimistically: “They said we couldn’t do it – together with Babcock, conceived as part of the National Shipbuilding Strategy, contracted in 2019, steel cut in 2021 and all 5 delivered in under a decade.”

Given that most defense procurement programs experience some kind of cost increase and schedule delay, the projected timeline may not come to fruition. However, the Type 31 has made good progress in the last two years given the troubled start of the project – it failed its first attempt in July 2018, when no bidders could meet the $336 million unit price.

The Type 31 was conceived in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) once the U.K. Ministry of Defence realized it could not afford to replace all 13 of its Type 23 Duke-class frigates with the new specialist anti-submarine warfare Type 26 City-class. Instead, it split the buy and only ordered eight Type 26 ships, with the five Type 31 designated as general purpose frigates.

The National Shipbuilding Strategy (NSS) that Hine referred to is the U.K. MoD’s attempt to move away from relying on a single naval construction company in BAE Systems. BAE Systems is building the Type 26 and has delivered most of the Royal Navy’s existing inventory, but the increasing cost of the Type 26 and the earlier Type 45 Daring-class destroyer led the MoD to try and diversify the industrial base.

The £1.25 billion contract with Babcock for the Type 31 was awarded in November 2019. The contract still has a unit price of $336 million, but with the more costly equipment requirements removed. The actual price per ship is likely to be much higher.

Type-31 Frigate Key to U.K. Royal Navy’s Growth