REHIS News

Under One Roof, with generous support from the SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust, is again hosting a series of webinars in 2021-22 to give landlords and letting agents in Scotland interactive, free, and independent information they can use to address the issues faced in managing tenement flats.

The twice-monthly, one-hour sessions will feature specific topics and general sessions related to tenement flat management, such as organising common repairs in a tenement block, and making repairs or improvements to a specific flat.

The UK Treasury has announced £19.2 million funding for a UK-wide pilot scheme to adopt a ‘One Health’ approach to the surveillance of foodborne pathogens and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

The number of alcohol-specific deaths has increased by 17% to 1,190 in 2020, up from 1,020 in 2019, according to statistics on deaths by various causes published today by National Records of Scotland.  

These figures show a return to the recent upward trend in the number of alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland following a decline in the previous year. This is the largest number of deaths due to alcohol recorded since 2008.

Scottish Advice Note: Determining the fire risk posed by external wall systems in existing multi-storey residential buildings has been published.

On the 9 August, the legal requirement for physical distancing and limits on gatherings was removed and all venues across Scotland were able to re-open including nightclubs.

The Food Standards Scotland (FSS) COVID-19 webpage has now been updated following the move into beyond COVID-19 Level 0 allowing all venues and businesses to open with most legal restrictions removed. However, a baseline set of mitigation measures is to be retained across all sectors, and these are detailed in 

From 1 October 2021 the legal requirements for labelling food sold prepacked for direct sale (PPDS) will change in Scotland. The new labelling will help inform and protect consumers by providing ingredient and allergen information on the packaging. 

The National Food Strategy Part 2 has been published which sets a proposal for a tax on sugar and salt sold for use in processed foods or in restaurants and catering businesses.

In total the report makes 14 recommendations, including the sugar and salt reformulation tax as its number one recommendation in a bid to tackle obesity and health problems such as heart disease.

The Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (Scotland) Regulations 2021 will come into force on 1 September 2021.

The Regulations replace previous legislation covering pet sales and dog breeding and introduce new licensing requirements for cat and rabbit breeders, animal welfare establishments (such as animal sanctuaries and rehoming centres) and other pet rehoming activities, subject to operators meeting the licensing threshold for each activity.  

Changes are being made to self-isolation rules for close contacts of COVID cases to allow essential staff in critical roles to return to work to maintain lifeline services and critical national infrastructure.

It will be possible to apply to exempt those who work in critical roles where staff shortages are in danger of putting essential services, such as health and social care, transport and the provision of food supplies at risk.