Author: Peacock Carter

Keep Scotland Beautiful have published a report revealing the impact of declining local environmental quality on Scotland’s communities.

The report, Local Environmental quality in decline – further analysis, is based on data from over 14,000 surveys across Scotland. It confirms that there has been a marked increase in the presence of litter, flytipping and graffiti in communities across the country, and an overall decline in local environmental quality.

The report also notes with concern, that the country’s most deprived communities are blighted by the highest levels of litter, graffiti, flytipping, detritus and weed growth, and it is in these communities that the decline is greatest, and accelerating.

This report follows one published in March 2016, which identified that standards were falling across Scotland, after years of improvements. Since then standards have slipped further in most indicators, despite some very positive initiatives from across sectors, and a very welcome decrease in dog fouling levels.

Derek Robertson, Chief Executive of Keep Scotland Beautiful, said:

“Overall local environmental quality standards across Scotland have reached their lowest point in over a decade. We are failing deprived communities the most, with 1 million people across the country living in dirty communities blighted by an increase in litter, graffiti and flytipping.

“The national picture is one of declining standards and neglect and has been caused by the perfect storm of austerity, unsustainable consumption, lack of civic pride and concern, and perhaps an increase in irresponsible behaviour. We have always had a problem, but until now we’ve been able to cope and clean up.

“Improving local environmental quality is not just about reducing litter levels and removing graffiti. There are wider consequences of living in a poor local environment. It impacts on health and wellbeing outcomes, contributes towards people’s fear of crime and negatively impacts economic development.

He continues to say: “We recognise that responding to declining local environmental quality is a challenge, and we are particularly sympathetic for hard pressed local authorities which are having to make increasingly difficult decisions on how budgets are prioritised. This is why we are calling for environmental quality to be given priority attention by all of those with a part to play in the solution. From changing the behaviour of those in our society who act irresponsibly and create the problem, to taking political leadership and shared strategic action to formulate a new national plan that will reverse Scotland’s environmental decline.”

It is well established that that local environmental quality is linked to poorer health and wellbeing outcomes, as well as impacting on community safety and economic development in local communities. Keep Scotland Beatiful are calling for political leadership to improve the outcomes and determined national action to reverse the decline in standards.

The Crown Office has announced that no criminal proceedings are to be brought against a cheese manufacturer over an E.coli outbreak in which a three-year-old girl died.

The Crown Office said Errington Cheese Ltd or its owners would not face prosecution over the child's death in September 2016. A criminal prosecution is still possible if new evidence becomes available and a decision to conduct a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) is being carefully considered by the Crown.

The death came during an outbreak of E. coli O157 in 2016 between July and September. A total of 26 cases of the same strain of E. coli O157 were identified as a result of the outbreak, which left 17 people requiring hospital treatment.

The Incident Management Team report on the outbreak published in March this year concluded that the source of the infection was consumption of an unpasteurised cows' milk cheese.

The Incident Management Team found that potentially pathogenic E. coli were able to enter and survive the cheese production process at the food business.

The family-owned Errington, based in Lanarkshire, has never accepted that its unpasteurized Dunsyre Blue caused the outbreak or the death.

A spokeswoman for the Crown Office said: "On 2 September 2016 a three year-old Dunbartonshire girl died as a complication of an E. Coli infection. After giving the case careful consideration, Crown Counsel have concluded, based on the available evidence, that there will be no criminal proceedings brought as a result of the death. Should additional evidence come to light that decision may be reconsidered. The family have been informed of this decision. A decision on whether or not to hold a Fatal Accident Inquiry is currently under careful consideration."

Nicola Sturgeon has announced that work is already underway to implement the country’s first low emission zone (LEZ).

Glasgow City Council is partnering with the Scottish Government to prepare the LEZ design and proposals that will improve air quality in Glasgow.

The final design of the Glasgow LEZ will be informed by the guiding principles that are currently being developed through the Transport Scotland “Building Scotland’s Low Emission Zones” consultation. Preparation for the Glasgow LEZ is underway with a LEZ Leadership Group and associated LEZ Delivery Group already set up.

Commenting on the announcement, Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf said: “We can be proud of the progress we’ve made in tackling air pollution, but our biggest cities, like Glasgow, are determined to create the best possible environment for communities to flourish by improving air quality. I’m delighted that Glasgow is working to have their LEZ in place by the end of 2018.

“We have pledged to work with local authorities to introduce low emission zones in Scotland’s four biggest cities by 2020 and this is a positive step towards that vision. This is a decision based on the scientific evidence which demonstrates the link between air pollution and ill health.”

“Our position is that local authorities should be ambitious, and that all vehicles including private cars should be included in a LEZ in a phased manner. Equally, low emission buses are at the heart of improving air quality and the bus sector has a key role to play. I’m proud that the Scottish Green Bus fund has already provided more than £16 million to support the introduction of hundreds of low emission buses. Today, we have again demonstrated our commitment to the bus industry through the announcement that we are providing a further £1.6 million immediately to a Bus Retrofit Programme for Scotland.

“These steps are further supported with record investment in walking and cycling to support our vision of an Active Nation. With the doubling of the active travel budget through the recent Programme for Government, we are well positioned to deliver our green ambitions for this generation and beyond.”

The Scottish Government continues to seek views on ‘Building Scotland’s Low Emission Zones.’ The consultation will be available until 28 November 2017. Views can also be shared on Twitter using the hashtag #lezconsultation.

Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has published revised advice to consumers on eating raw or lightly cooked eggs.

Young children, pregnant woman and the elderly can now safely eat raw or lightly cooked eggs that are produced under the British Lion Code of practice.

The revised advice follows a report from the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food* which highlighted the major reduction in the risk from Salmonella in all UK hens’ eggs since 2001 and showed a particularly low risk for eggs produced with food safety controls applied by the British Lion Code of Practice.

This scientific review has highlighted the significant progress made by egg producers in Scotland and across the UK in reducing Salmonella in hens.

The FSS advice can be viewed here.

Glasgow City Council‘s pilot project to tackle issues around commercial waste in the city centre is to be rolled out in phases across the Glasgow over the next 17 months.

The pilot project began on April 3 in eight city centre locations with the primary aim of substantially reducing the adverse impact of the then current waste collection practices in parts of the city centre to enhance the appearance of the area and make a visit more pleasant.

In addition, the pilot project was expected to tackle issues of accessibility, recycling and reducing the amount of spilled waste and litter on city centre streets and lanes, all with a view to potentially expanding the scheme to the rest of the city centre and out across Glasgow.

Throughout the duration of the pilot project, the council engaged with city centre stakeholders and a survey found strong support from local residents and businesses. The latter period of the pilot project saw the eight locations completely clear of the 460 commercial waste containers that had previously been stored on the streets of these areas.

An evaluation of the pilot project, carried out by Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of the council, found an improvement in environmental conditions resulting in the highest cleanliness score in a decade as a result. This and other data compiled by the council showed a clear need for the project to continue and be extended into other parts of the city.

Councillor Kenny McLean, City Convener for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm, said: “I am delighted by the decision to make a phased roll-out of this project across Glasgow. The pilot showed how adopting these measures made the streets of the selected areas in the city centre cleaner, greener and safer, and I look forward to the expansion of the scheme making Glasgow an even more pleasant place for everyone who lives, works or studies in the city, as well as for our visitors. I would like to thank all of our partners in the city centre who have worked with us to deliver the pilot project, and we will continue to engage with residents, business and other organisations to ensure the project is equally successful across the rest of Glasgow.”

Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick said: “The new arrangements are undoubtedly challenging for some businesses, but this has to be laid against the concerns raised by many of our members about the impact on both appearance and accessibility of large commercial waste containers left in the street during the working day. The city centre pilot has been a success, and we welcome the scheme’s expansion to other parts of the city.”

The timetable for the project’s expansion was informed by public complaints and where enforcement action had to be taken for related issues. Activity in each roll-out stage will be targeted initially at higher population areas in the major and town centres in each part of the city.

Tick and Lyme disease symposium
Christine M Morrison, Chartered EHO, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

NHS Western Isles and the Scottish Health Protection Network held a symposium on Tick and Lyme disease at Sgoil Lionacleit, Isle of Benbecula on 11 August 2017. Over sixty delegates from a number of different organisations attended, in person and across nine videoconference sites.

The day was chaired by Dr. Maggie Watts, Director of Public Health, NHS Western Isles. Presentations were given by Professor Dominic Mellor and Dr. Gill Hawkins, both Health Protection Scotland and Professor Lucy Gilbert from the James Hutton Institute, which examined ticks and Lyme disease from the human, veterinary and ecological perspectives. Dr. Roger Evans, NHS Highland spoke about laboratory testing and diagnosis of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Isabell MacInnes, NHS Western Isles shared information relating to the local epidemiology of Lyme disease and Graham Charlesworth spoke about preliminary findings of “sheet dragging” studies undertaken in areas of South Uist.

The afternoon session allowed delegates to discuss aspects of prevention and awareness, what professionals need to know, tick ecology and management of the environment to help reduce Lyme disease. The event concluded with the identification of priorities for future investigation and research.

REHIS is delighted to announce that one of its newest centres, Cowal Community Hospital has successfully delivered its first REHIS training course.

Candidates working throughout the Isle of Bute locality undertook the REHIS Elementary Food Hygiene Course on 30 August in Rothesay on the beautiful Isle of Bute.

The course was delivered by Pauline Murty, Hotel Services Manager. Pauline recently undertook both the Intermediate Food Hygiene and Advanced Diploma in Food Hygiene courses at City of Glasgow College. She also successfully passed the REHIS Intermediate Train the Presenter course last year.

Comments from the nine candidates were favourable, most of them saying they found the course interesting, well delivered and the content relevant to their job. Pauline stated “I delivered my first Elementary Food Hygiene course on Wednesday 30th August 2017. I felt a mix of both excitement and anticipation.

I was also audited on the day by Raymond Hubbocks (Training Adviser), who guided me and has been a fantastic mentor to me. I also feel I benefitted from undertaking the Train the Presenter course held by REHIS. This course gave me a lot of hints and tips for effective presenting of the course and also gave me confidence. I’m happy to report that all candidates I trained passed.”

The European soft drinks industry, represented by UNESDA, has announced that it will voluntarily cease sales of drinks containing added sugars in secondary schools across the EU.

The new voluntary move expands on the existing decade young policy of banning soft drinks from primary schools and will impact around 50,000 secondary schools and more than 40 million young people.

The commitment for secondary schools is being introduced across the 28 European Union member countries, with complete implementation planned for the end of 2018. From then onwards, UNESDA members will only provide no  and low calorie soft drinks to secondary schools.

Members of UNESDA include Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Red Bull and Britvic. The pledge builds on a 2006 policy to not sell any beverages in primary schools or advertise to children under 12.

It was reported that there has been a 95% compliance with this pledge, covering around 28 million pupils.

The initiative responds to the changing food environment and acknowledges that special care is required in schools.

WHO Europe’s report Adolescent obesity and related behaviours, trends and inequalities 2002-2014 confirms the recent notable decreases in reported consumption of sugared soft drinks.

All food premises in England should be forced to display ‘Scores on the Doors’ ratings, the Local Government Association (LGA) has said.

The body that represents councils in England says the move should be made as part when EU laws governing food safety are converted into UK law after Brexit.

Businesses in Wales and Northern Ireland are already legally required to display their rating. However, in Scotland and England, businesses do not have to display the rating they have been awarded.

The Food Standards Agency conducted a survey in 2012 that showed 43% of restaurants and other food businesses in England put up a score, this dropped to 12% for businesses with a low rating between zero and two.

The government plans to convert EU law into domestic legislation as part of its EU (Withdrawal) Bill and councils want ministers to take that opportunity to strengthen regulation by making all restaurants and takeaways in England display their “scores on the doors” for food hygiene. This would not only improve consumer confidence and raise standards, but also reduce the need for, and therefore cost of, enforcement action by councils.

The LGA believes that businesses – including restaurants, pubs, cafes, takeaways, sandwich shops, supermarkets and delicatessens – that fail to comply should be fined or prosecuted.

An investigation run by the Guardian and ITV News found a supplier of chicken to Britain’s supermarkets had been altering food-safety records.

The investigation involved placing undercover reporters in a 2 Sisters Food Group factory in West Bromwich for 12 days. Their allegations were published on September 28 and captured evidence of:

• Workers altering the date in which the bird was slaughtered.
• Workers altering the location in which the bird was slaughtered, potentially hampering authorities tracking the origins of the meat.
• Workers picking up fallen that had fallen onto the floor and returning it to the production line.
• Returned meat being repackaged and sent out once more to retailers.
• Workers dumping chicken slaughtered on a variety of dates into the same batch.

2 Sisters Food Group are suppliers for Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Mark & Spencer, Aldi among others and it is estimated by The Guardian that a third of all chicken products eaten in Britain have been supplied by the company.

The Food Standards agency issued a statement on September 29, the day after the allegations came to light, stating they had sent inspectors into the 2 Sisters Food Group plant on September 28 in response to the evidence presented by the two news organisations. The inspectors had found ‘no evidence of breaches’ but their investigation would continue.

Heather Hancock, Chairman of the FSA said: “It is the responsibility of a food business to ensure that the food it sells is safe and what it says it is. We take any allegations of inaccurate labelling and breaches in hygiene regulations very seriously.

“Should we find any evidence of any risk to public health, any products on the market which we believe to be a cause of concern will be urgently removed from sale. We would always encourage consumers to take note of our advice on safe cooking, handling and storage of chicken and other poultry meat.”

2 Sisters Food Group have published a statement on their website advising that they have launched their own internal investigation at the West Bromwich plant. Their investigation has shown instances of non-compliance with their quality management systems and have since decided to temporarily shut operations at the site.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) hosted its conference in Glasgow on the 13th September with the aim of strengthening the partnership approach across Scotland’s health and safety system.

The conference was supported by the Scottish Government, Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Healthy Working Lives (HWL), Scottish Hazards, Scottish Chamber of Safety and others, the event sought ideas and commitments from attendees as to the part that they and their organisations could play to improve health, safety and work.

The central theme of “acting together” was discussed in the context of delivering the Scottish Plan for Action on Safety and Health. Launched by the Partnership on Health and Safety in Scotland (PHASS) last year, the plan sets out the devastating impact that work-related fatal accidents, injury and ill-health have on individuals and families, the damage caused to businesses and the demands placed on the NHS and other public services. Indeed, the cost to the Scottish economy is estimated to be £1.04billion a year in health and care costs, loss of income and productivity.

The one-day conference, which took place at the Hilton Glasgow, was chaired by George Brechin, a non-executive board member of the HSE and chairman of PHASS. It featured an opening address by Clare Adamson MSP, convenor of the Cross Party Group on Accident Prevention and Safety Awareness at the Scottish Parliament.

Presentations were given by Martin Reid, unit head, Fairer Workplaces, Scottish Government; Martin Taulbut, public health information manager, NHS Scotland; Robert Atkinson, organisational lead (occupational health and safety), NHS Health Scotland, Health and Work Directorate, HWL; Dave Watson, head of policy and public affairs, Unison Scotland; and, Karen McDonnell, head of RoSPA Scotland and RoSPA’s occupational health and safety policy adviser.

Ian Armstrong, health and safety manager, Multiplex Construction Europe, and Amanda Stewart, health and safety adviser, William Tracey Ltd, were both interviewed about their approach to preventing injuries and ill-health at work.

Discussion tables focused on the fair work agenda and its links to health and safety; health outcomes by occupation and industry in Scotland; and the health and safety needs of an ageing workforce.

Karen McDonnell said: “My hope is that the connections we made and strengthened through the conference will help us move forward as a health and safety community across Scotland. Going forward together is a great thing, and we have a great community. We now need to keep the pace going.” Sarah Jones, head of the HSE’s Scotland Director’s Office, said: “The Scottish health and safety community has been acting together since our partnership was first established in 2005. Recently we've taken it to another level working across governments, business sectors, trade unions, professionals and the voluntary sector. That's what HSE's Helping GB Work Well strategy is all about. RoSPA's support in bringing everyone together at this conference cemented existing networks and created a platform for fresh ideas to improve health, safety and work."

Agenda and speaker presentation can be found here.

Source: https://www.rospa.com/media-centre/press-office/press-releases/detail/?id=1542

Key stakeholders in tobacco and health in Scotland have agreed for the first time that using e-cigarettes is definitely less harmful than smoking tobacco. Based on the current evidence, the consensus is also clear that using e-cigarettes while still smoking (dual use) does not provide health benefits. NHS Health Scotland led the consensus with over 20 partners in the NHS, Scottish Government, third sector and academia. Its aim is to clarify any confusion around the harms and benefits of using e-cigarettes.

Recent research has shown an emerging perception among the general public that e-cigarettes are just as harmful to health as tobacco is. This is a not the case – we know from current evidence that vaping carries less risk than smoking tobacco. So it would be a good thing if smokers used e-cigarettes instead of smoking tobacco. To be absolutely clear, e-cigarettes are useful for public health and health service purposes only as a potential route towards stopping smoking completely. Access to e-cigarettes needs to be controlled carefully; they are not products for children or non-smokers.

Dr Andrew Fraser, Director of Public Health Science at NHS Health Scotland.