Talking-up Scotland

(c) GETTY

 I think it is but I’m not sure by how much anymore. Let’s see if the answer to this parliamentary question, on Monday 26^th March, helps?

So, that would be around £30 000 saved for a general/ordinary degree and £40 000 for an honours degree. So, we pay diddly? Is that infinitely less than any amount? Maths pedant approaching!

Ah, but you’ll have to pay an extra £20 per year in income tax in Scotland!

Whit! That’s a damn disgrace. I’m off to make my name (Robinson*) in London! I don’t care if we all get stabbed!

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190325.pdf

• Too many r’s to be rrroalled in Rrroberrrtson.

The author before treatment for colour-blindness

Coincidently, I’ve just been fitted with new ‘intermediate’ specs so I can write this blog without squinting. My varifocals were no use for that bit in the middle, between reading and driving. What about trifocals? Anyhow, the test was free.

I used to take some medication, that was free too. I wonder, if that’s still the case? This answer to a parliamentary question on Monday 24^th March, 2019, should help:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190325.pdf

What, it’s all free? My mum takes umpteen pills. That’s free too?

It’s not fair, she doesn’t pay any tax at all whereas, I, with my hard-earned teacher’s pension have to pay an EXTRA £20 every year.  Free prescriptions, bus pass, free university tuition for my four bairns, free care for my mum, and the top NHS, but they want £20 extra income tax for it? I don’t know.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/2019-03-26/2019-03-26-CWT-Summary.pdf

In the quarter ending December 2018, 94.9% of patients started treatment in 31 days from decision to treat, hitting the demanding 95% target. The 0.1% deficit is not statistically reliable and should be rounded up using BBC Scotland’s editorial guidelines. The 95% target was also hit in the previous two quarters.

82.7% were treated within 62 days of first referral, up from 81.4% in the previous quarter.

I can’t find the specifically cancer-related demand increase, but the overall demand for inpatient care has soared by 34.9% in only 5 years, making the above performance remarkable. See:

http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2018/nr_181025_nhs_overview.pdf

https://www.gov.scot/publications/childrens-social-work-statistics-2017-2018/

By Ludo Thierry:

Interesting and newly minted stats on the news.gov.scot website this morning concerning Children’s Social Work issues – seem to be a fair few numbers showing an encouraging set of trends: Link and snippets below:

https://news.gov.scot/news/childrens-social-work-statistics-2017-18

– an estimated 14,738 children were looked after in 2018, a decrease of one per cent from 2017, and the sixth consecutive year of decline

– the number of children starting to become looked after decreased in 2017-18, while the number ceasing to be looked after increased compared with 2016-17.

– of the estimated 6,109 care leavers eligible for aftercare services on 31 July 2018, 62% were known to be receiving aftercare

– the number of children on the child protection register increased slightly in 2018 to an estimated 2,668, but remains lower than the recent peak recorded in 2014

– around half of children registered were on the child protection register for less than six months, while 16% were registered for a year or more

– 85 young people were in secure care accommodation at the end of July 2018. The average number of young people placed in secure care accommodation during 2017-18 was 81, up from 76 during the previous year. If placements from the rest of the UK are excluded, the average number of young people placed in secure care from Scotland fell by 18% compared to last year

(From the figures I’m assuming that the welcome reduction (18% over the past year) of young people from Scotland in secure care accommodation is allowing the relevant Scottish agencies to be helpful to our friends and neighbours in the non-Scottish parts of the UK and offer some capacity in Scotland to host some of this client group which require very considerable and highly specialist support).

As Jackie lies about violent crime, Reevel prays for retirement before the next survey.

The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is 184 pages long so I feel sure Revoking Scotland will find something bad to report on, but they’ll have to avoid the headline figures, to do so.

What is the SCJS?

‘The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) is a large-scale social survey which asks people about their experiences and perceptions of crime. The 2017/18 survey is based on around 5,480 face-to-face interviews with adults (aged 16 or over) living in private households in Scotland. This report presents the results of the sixth SCJS, with interviews conducted between April 2017 and May 2018.’

The SCJS reports higher levels of crime than those in police statistics.

What are the main findings?

https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-crime-justice-survey-2017-18-main-findings/

The equivalent report for England and Wales does not report actual overall figures but says:

‘Over recent decades we’ve seen continued falls in overall levels of crime but in the last year there has been no change.’

In a 76 page document there seems to be no space for the overall figure trend to be presented.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/bulletins/crimeinenglandandwales/yearendingseptember2018#latest-figures

The national results for the Scottish 2018 Maternity Care Survey based on 2 000 women who gave birth in February or March 2018, reveals satisfaction levels with various aspects at between 90% and 97%. Details below, but in the equivalent English survey, the overall level of satisfaction is not reported even though it was measured. Note this careful language:

‘Overall satisfaction with care remains high.’ (page 53) 90%? 80%? 70%? 60%? 51%?

https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/20190129_mat18_statisticalrelease.pdf

An extract from the Scottish report:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/maternity-care-survey-2018-national-results/

Might these results have anything to do with this?

Once again Reevel Alderson looked positively uncomfortable as Jackie bird tried to get some vim and vigour into his report of another supposed crisis in public services. This time it is volunteer and retained firefighters whose numbers are falling. Driven by Jackie’s dramatic prompts such as: ‘These people are crucial!’, he gathered his armoury of facts for one more tilt and we heard some statistics which, of course, jar with the official ones, below.

This isn’t the first time, Alderson has looked uncomfortable in cohort with Jackie and presenting more bad news about Scotland. Here he is listening to Jackie tell a blatant lie about knife crime:

Now Reporting Scotland LIES about violent crime RISING when it FELL

Here are the official statistics revealing staff numbers, especially the ‘crucial’ part-time, retained, firefighters, to be fairly constant. English figures for context, later.

‘Staff Headcount On 31st March 2018 Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) had a total headcount of 7,776 staff, which is down 0.7% on the total last year. The 3,546 wholetime operational staff (full-time firefighters) make up the largest staff group at 46% of the workforce. This was a reduction of 2.7% on last year’s headcount for wholetime operational staff. Retained Duty System staff make up the next largest group accounting for 37% of staff with a headcount of 2,863. This is relatively unchanged on last year. The largest proportional change is in the control staff group which increased by 24 (14.5%) in the last year, bringing the total up to 189.’

https://www.firescotland.gov.uk/media/1316680/sfrs_fso_stats_2017_18.pdf

In England, from 2011 to 2017, the total FTE of firefighters (full-time and retained) decreased from 43,360 to 35,620, 17.8%!

https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/workforce-and-business/workforce-diversity/fire-and-rescue-services-workforce/latest

Comparing Scotland with England:

Scotland has 6 409 firefighters while England has 35 620. So, England has 10 times the population but only 5.5 times the number of firefighters. Before the Tory cuts, the ratio would have been 7 times as opposed to 10 times. Bearing in mind Scotland’s larger area per head of population, that might not seem unreasonable.

And, deaths in fires are falling:

Might a journalist be interested in context at all?

It’s not as good as the previous two sub-polls from Opinium with SNP at 51% and from Ipsos MORI at 50% but it’s still significantly up on the previous six, consistently holding them at 41%.

By Opinium for the Observer with 118 adults for 20^th to 22 March:

• Conservative   26%
• Labour             17%
• Lib Dems         4%
• SNP                  46%
• Greens             1%
• UKIP                6%

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election#2019

By Ipsos MORI with 91 adults for 15^th to 19^th of March, for all respondents:

• Conservative   15%
• Labour             16%
• Lib Dems         10%
• SNP                  50%
• Greens             1%
• UKIP                 2%

Looking only at those certain to vote:

• Conservative   12%
• Labour             15%
• Lib Dems         8%
• SNP                  55%
• Greens             2%
• UKIP                 1%

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-03/ipsos-mori-political-monitor-march-2019-tables.pdf

Opinium for the Observer, 13^th to 15^th March, with 110 adults, online and with The Independent Group included:

• Conservatives              25
• Labour                         8
• TIG                               4
• Lib Dems                     4
• UKIP                             6
• SNP                              51
• Green                          2

https://www.opinium.co.uk/political-polling-13th-march-2019/

I often tire of this but I won’t let the liars lie.