Welcome to my latest e-Magazine.

Firstly, with more and more COVID-19 regulations seemingly being added on a daily basis I know it can be hard to keep up with the rules. The House of Commons Library has produced a useful interactive map which should help you keep up to date with local rules.

This month’s update has news from HMRC on the furlough and self employment support schemes as well as local economic figures in the run up to the Chancellor withdrawing much needed economic support to businesses and individuals. There is also some non-COVID related news from Inch Park, Bruntsfield St Oswald’s and Friends of Burdiehouse Burn Valley Park as well as a report from Parliament on the Internal Market Bill.

As ever, if you require any assistance with a local or national issue please get in touch with me.

Email: ian.murray.mp@parliament.uk

Telephone: 0131 662 4520

Facebook: Ian Murray for Edinburgh South

Twitter: IanMurrayMP

Website: ianmurraymp.com

Casework

My mail bag this month was dominated by constituents difficulties accessing tests and test results and the Council’s Spaces for People programme.

Policy

For a full account of my voting please see the Public Whip website.

This month by far the biggest issue policy wise was the Internal Market Bill – you can see my analysis further down the newsletter.

Edinburgh South

Westminster

My video
My video

Grants and Funding

Creative Scotland Launches Youth Arts Small Grant Scheme

Through Creative Scotland’s new Youth Arts Small Grants Scheme, support is available to organisations and local authorities to enable freelance youth arts practitioners to deliver activity for the benefit of children and young people.

The aim of the fund is to support organisations to take ownership of the distribution of funding in their area and strengthen and broaden their links with freelance youth arts practitioners.

The overall budget for this fund is £700,000 with at least £500,000 for music and up to £200,000 for wider art forms.

Grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 are available to organisations and local authorities to distribute grants of between £500 and £5,000 directly to individual freelance artists/creative practitioners.

Applications are invited from local authorities, arts organisations and third sector organisations. Organisations applying do not need to have an arts focus but they do need to have a track record in supporting/delivering youth arts activity and the capacity to deliver a small grants fund.

Applications must be submitted by the deadline of 2 November 2020.

Click here for more information.

Community Recovery Fund Opens for Applications

Third sector organisations in Scotland can now apply for grants to support people and communities through the shift from lockdown to recovery and tackle the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Individual organisations can apply for grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 and partnerships can apply for grants of up to £75,000.

Priority will be given to organisations that:

Operate in areas or with individuals who have suffered disproportionately from the effects of COVID-19.

Work with people who have protected characteristics or the most vulnerable, such as those who were recommended to shield, those furthest away from the job market or encountering barriers due to physical/mental health.

The funding is for implementing changes to facilities, services and activities and can cover a wide range of costs, including but not limited to:

Provision of cleaning equipment/processes to allow for the safe re-opening of community facilities.

Provision of PPE.

Additional staff costs to deliver services for smaller groups.

Staff training on COVID-19 compliance.

Re-designing services.

Maintaining and/or building partnerships.

COVID-19 safety equipment.

Revenue costs of activities related to COVID-19 recovery.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until March 2021.

Click here for more information.

Community Adapt and Thrive Programme Opens for Applications

Applications are now being accepted for a new funding programme aiming to support third sector organisations in Scotland to implement a recovery plan that will allow them to face the challenges presented by COVID-19, so that they can continue to have a positive impact in their community.

Working with an advisor, organisations will develop a plan so they can operate sustainably. This may mean developing new income streams, restructuring the organisation, or changing how services are delivered.

The following types of funding are available to help with the implementation of the plan:

Grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 for organisations with an annual turnover of less than £500,000.

Flexible, interest free loans from £25,000 to £250,000 for all eligible organisations, regardless of turnover. All loans recommendations will be based on an assessment of the organisation’s ability to service debt.

Blended approach of both grant and loans. The minimum loan portion that can be offered is £25,000.

The funding is intended to be flexible and will be awarded on an unrestricted basis.

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis until March 2021.

Click here for more information.

Leaders with Lived Experiences Funding Programme Accepting Applications

The National Lottery Community Fund is offering around 30 to 40 grants of between £20,000 and £50,000 for projects that enable organisations to focus either on the immediate response to the COVID-19 crisis, or on helping communities recover and renew after the impact of COVID-19, or both. The funding is available for up to two years.

The following are examples of projects that might apply for this funding:

Involving lived experience leaders in designing and delivering services that meet the needs of communities most impacted by COVID-19.

Creating time and space for lived experience leaders to think more about strategy, objectives and influencing, or developing strategy in general.

Creating time and space for lived experience leaders to influence how communities recover and renew after the impact of COVID-19, in a strategic way. This might be for a specific geographic area or for a particular sector.

Developing networks of support and collaboration between lived experience-led organisations, to create strategies that resolve intersections in lived experience. For example, working with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) care leavers, or disabled people in lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer + (LGBTQ+) communities.

Helping lived experience-led organisations become more resilient and sustainable. For example, through training, personal or professional development, planning to hand leadership over to others, improving digital capacity, or support packages to improve wellbeing.

Supporting existing projects or creating new projects that help lived experience-led organisations and leaders to meet the needs of the communities they serve during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Supporting existing work or creating new projects that help to prevent crises like COVID-19 from impacting some communities (such as disabled people and BAME communities) more than others.

The funding can be used for a range of items, including but not limited to office equipment, one-off events, staff costs, training costs, transport, utilities and running costs, and volunteer expenses.

The deadline for applications is 13 October 2020 (5pm).

Click here for more information.

Film and TV Charity Launches COVID-19 Recovery Fund

The Film and TV Charity has launched the new COVID-19 Recovery Fund to distribute funding to UK film, TV and cinema workers who have been hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, helping to sustain them and their careers through and out of the current crisis.

The new fund will seek to protect the industry’s diverse talent pipeline by focusing on supporting those at greatest personal and professional risk. It will distribute up to £2 million, using funds donated by Amazon Prime Video, BAFTA, Netflix and the BBC, among others.

Support will be targeted at workers who are the worst hit, the least financially resilient, and those who are the most at risk professionally and personally. Grants of £750 a month for up to six months (to a maximum of £4,500) will be provided, supplemented with a package of financial advice, wellbeing support and industry access.

UK residents who work in film, TV or cinema may be eligible to apply. They must have been in paid industry work for at least 40 days in the last 18 months and currently be in financial difficulty due to COVID-19. Applicants must have earned less than £30,420 in the previous financial year (2019/20).

The deadline for applications is Monday 12 October 2020 (17:00 BST).

Click here for more information.

Garfield Weston Foundation’s New £25m Culture Fund to Open on 5 October

The £25 million fund is designed to support mid to large scale cultural organisations in the UK to help them restart work, re-engage with audiences, adapt to changed circumstances and generate revenue.

The fund is specifically for charitable organisations with a pre-COVID regular annual income of £500,000 or greater; smaller organisations will be able to apply for the regular grants programme via the Foundation’s website as usual.

Full details of the fund will be available when the fund opens.

Applications will be accepted from 5 October until 9 November 2020.

Click here for more information.

Funding for Schools to Organise Events during British Science Week

British Science Week (BSW), an annual programme of science, technology, engineering, and maths events and activities, will be taking place between 5 and 14 March 2021. Applications have now opened for the BSW Kick-Start Fund for Schools which aims to widen access to events and activities and help the learning and development of children through science and engineering-based activities.

The Fund is open for applications from schools that meet at least one of the following criteria:

Have a high proportion (over 30%) of pupils eligible for pupil premium, early years pupil premium, or equivalent.

Have a high proportion (over 30%) of pupils who are from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Be a small school based in a remote and rural location.

Four types of grants are available:

Kick Start Youth grant: A grant of £150 for a group of three or more students aged 10 to 19 to organise and lead an event or activity in their school during British Science Week. The event should involve other students in the school or the local community.

Kick Start grant: A grant of £300 for a school to run an activity during BSW.

Kick Start More grant: A grant of £700 for a school to run an activity which involves students and the local community. The community can comprise families/carers, children at other schools, members of local community groups or local businesses. There are a very limited number of these grants available and the Fund is looking for proposed events which engage with the wider community in innovative and effective ways.

Combined Kick Start + Youth grant: A grant of £450 for a school to run an activity during British Science Week and an additional event or activity organised and led by a group of students aged 10 to 19.

There are no restrictions on the activities or events that can be run using the funding.

Given the coronavirus/COVID-19 situation, face to face engagement may be limited this year, and therefore applications for activities that remotely engage with other groups are welcome.

Examples of activities that can be funded include:

Online presentations from invited speakers or volunteers on science and/or engineering topics.

Zoom family days where family projects and initiatives are showcased.

Student-led building projects such as a school garden, community lab or pond.

The deadline for applications is 5pm on 9 November 2020.

Click here for more information.

Creative Scotland Opens Youth Arts Access Fund

Building on its Access to Music Making Fund, this new scheme from Creative Scotland is designed to support music-making initiatives among children and young people aged 0-25. The Youth Arts Access Fund will support an increased range of projects, as well as introducing those which deliver across wider art form areas.

The overall budget for the fund will be £1.2 million with at least £800,000 for youth music and £400,000 for wider youth arts. Applicants can apply for between £5,000 and £30,000 to deliver projects for up to one year.

Examples of activities that might be supported include (but are not limited to) the following:

Group based activity that covers any aspect of youth arts/music making.

Youth led projects where young people design and lead activity.

Projects that promote partnership working.

Delivery of project activity working across early learning, schools, and other family support and community settings, focused on tackling inequality through targeting priority groups of children and young people.

Applications can come from organisations and individuals based in Scotland or who are delivering programmes within Scotland for the benefit of the people of Scotland. Applications that propose specific actions and partnerships to tackling inequality will be prioritised.

The deadline for applications is Thursday 12 November 2020.

Click here for more information.

Funding for Youth Work in Scotland

A new £3 million Fund has launched that seeks to support young people in some of Scotland’s most vulnerable communities.

Community learning and development services can apply for grants of between £20,000 and £60,000 to engage or re-engage young people with youth work activities that build their confidence and skills, support their health and well-being and address the poverty-related attainment gap.

Eligible projects should achieve at least three of the following outcomes for young people:

Improved literacy and numeracy.

Improved health and wellbeing.

Increased attendance at school.

Increased engagement in learning.

Overcoming barriers to learning.

Developing skills, including interpersonal skills.

Developing employability skills and/or readiness for work.

Securing positive and sustained destinations.

Raising attainment through recognition of wider learning and achievement (eg, youth awards).

Regionally organised applicant support sessions will take place between 22 September and 28 September to support partnership working and to allow potential partners to make contact and share ideas:

Forth Valley and West Lothian: 22 September, 10am – 11:30am.

Northern Alliance: 22 September, 1:30pm – 3pm.

South East: 23 September, 10am – 11:30am.

South West: 23 September, 12 – 1:30pm.

Tayside: 24 September, 11:30am – 1pm.

West Partnership: 28 September, 10am – 11:30am

Commenting, YouthLink Scotland CEO, Tim Frew said:

“This fund presents an opportunity for the sector to continue to innovate and develop new models of practice in collaboration across the public and voluntary sectors, alongside our partners in schools and colleges.”

The deadline for applications is 14 October 2020.

Click here for more information.

Media

Noticeboard

Flu Vaccination- Update from Director of Primary Care Transformation

The flu vaccination programme for 2020/21 is expected to be over 50% bigger than last year. Public demand is likely to be higher and new eligible groups have been added. The programme will begin from late September. In the past most of the programme was delivered by general practice. However, that is changing under the new GP contract and Health and Social Care Partnerships are taking over responsibility. Edinburgh has moved furthest in implementing this change.

In Lothian the ways of delivering most of the flu vaccine are as follows:

Edinburgh – Adults, most will be through drive or walk through services provided by Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership

Edinburgh – Children will be through dedicated children’s clinics at various locations in the City

East Lothian – Adults over 65 will be through GP practices

East Lothian – Adults under 65 at risk will be through clinics provided by East Lothian Health and Social Care Partnership

East Lothian – Children will be through local children’s services

Mid Lothian – Adults will all be through GP practices

Mid Lothian – Shielded will be through clinics provided by Mid Lothian Health and Social Care partnership

Mid Lothian – Children will be through local children’s services

West Lothian – Adults will all be through GP practices

West Lothian – Children will be through local children’s services

There are small groups of patients who do not fit into these broad categories and local arrangements will be in place for them.

Many patients receive a standard national letter advising them about flu vaccination. In the past most of the programme was delivered through general practice and patients were either contacted by the practice or invited to contact the practice. However, given the changes underway in Edinburgh this is no longer exclusively a practice responsibility, although practices remain closely involved in patient communication and Practice Nurses in delivering the service.

NHS Lothian has worked with NHS Inform to ensure their flu advice pages on the internet have up to date and accurate information on how to access a flu vaccination https://www.nhsinform.scot/ including a list of all drive through and walk through locations serving each GP practice in Edinburgh. Patients can also visit their practice website

For those who don’t have access to the internet the advice to is to call NHS Inform on 0800 22 44 88. Patients are encouraged not to phone their practice unless their letter or the nhsinform website specifically asks them to.

However, there have been a number of examples of patients unable to get through to NHS Inform, of missing information on the NHS Inform flu pages, of advice on practice phone messages and websites not being fully up to date.

We have identified these issues and have addressed them with NHS Inform. We are also re-issuing information to practices and asking them to update their websites and phone messages. All patients should be advised to check their practice website and re-check on nhsinform before travelling to a clinic in case arrangements have changed.

Craigour Park Primary School

This month I was saddened to hear of the retirement of Craigour Park Head Teacher, Carol Cameron.

Carol has been an absolutely wonderful and transformative Head Teacher first serving in the old Fernieside Primary before taking over as head of the newly formed Craigour Park Primary following the merger of Fernieside and Moredun Primaries.

What she has done for the school and wider community has left a lasting legacy on thousands of local people.

Thank you Carol and happy retirement!

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