News – Page 44 – Stirling UNISON

Courses for 2021

See our calendar for details of all our courses for the remainder of the year (August and September Organising Stewards courses are full).

Download or view the 2021 programme calendar July to December

All courses will be tutored by UNISON Scotland Tutors and will be
hosted on the Zoom platform

How do I apply for a course?

You can get a form from your Branch Secretary, Education Officer or from the UNISON Scotland website www.unison-scotland.org/learning/.
Complete the form and get it signed by an appropriate Branch Officer and return without delay, but at least 14 days before the course begins.

If you do not have access to the Internet please leave a message for the Activist Education team on 01463 715891 or email activisteducationscotland@unison.co.uk.

Online Application form

View or Download the Online course application form

LG Update 04 August 2021

Further guidance will be provided to businesses to help them adopt measures to mitigate risks, including ensuring good ventilation; maintaining good hand hygiene; practising respiratory hygiene; getting vaccinated; and continuing to engage with Test and Protect.

Beyond Level 0

Further detail about measures announced .

Some baseline measures will remain in place:

it will continue to be the law, subject to exceptions, that face coverings must be worn in indoor public places and on public transport
Test & Protect will continue to contact-trace positive cases. To assist with this there will be a continued requirement for indoor hospitality and similar venues to collect the contact details of customers. Anyone who is required to self-isolate will, if eligible, continue to have access to support
we will work closely with local incident management teams on appropriate outbreak control measures
we will continue to use travel restrictions, as and when necessary, to restrict the spread of outbreaks and protect against the risk of importation of new variants
for now, we will continue to advise home working where possible, recognising that some staff will start to return to offices in line with staff wellbeing discussions and business need. we will encourage employers to consider for the longer term, as the Scottish Government is doing, a hybrid model of home and office working – which may, of course, have benefits beyond the need to control a virus
we will, for a limited period, keep in place a gateway process through which organisers of outdoors events of more than 5000 and indoor events of more than 2000 will have to apply for permission. This will allow us and local authorities to be assured of the arrangements in place to reduce risk
we will continue to issue appropriate guidance to assist individuals and businesses to reduce the risk of transmission as much as possible, such as rigorous hygiene, including regular hand washing.

More information can be found here https://www.gov.scot/news/scotland-to-move-beyond-level-0 and here https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-update-first-ministers-statement-3-august-2021-1

Asymptomatic Testing Programme Update

Please view a letter that has been sent to local authorities asking that they include communications around on-return asymptomatic at-home testing in their plans for return to schools in the coming weeks.

An update on the asymptomatic testing programme is also included.

Ecouraging participation examples 29-july-2021

Letter to directors and testing leads 29th July 2021

Revised Schools Guidance

Following the First Minister’s statement today the revised schools guidance can be found here: Coronavirus: reducing risks in schools guidance

To allow time to monitor the impact of a new policy on self-isolation for U18s, and to take account of the unique features of the school environment at the time of return, the guidance advises the continued application of most of the existing mitigations for a period of up to 6 weeks; for example, the position on physical distancing in schools should effectively remain the same, despite the wider changes to these requirements.

As with previous versions, the guidance will be kept under constant review, and if data and evidence suggest that any specific mitigations can be removed at an earlier stage advice will be provided to that effect.

Mental Health

Two new reports (below) from the Bargaining & Campaigns team are about supporting branches to tackle work-related mental health problems at source.

Don’t Just See Me, See All Of Us

– makes the arguments for mental health to be dealt with as a collective workplace issue and sets out the relevant legislation and policies in Scotland.

Mental health tool kit

– provides practical tools, resources and tips from UNISON branches. It includes case studies of branches across sectors which have organised around the causes of workplace stress such as workload and violence at work.

Scottish Union Learning has organised a summer programme.

Scottish Union Learning has organised a summer programme of learning for reps and union members to develop their skills and knowledge.

The following sessions are being offered over the months of July and August:

28^th July – Presenting Yourself Online with LinkedIn

4^th August – Deaf Awareness Session

12^th August – Employment Law: An Introduction

19^th August – Equalities Legislation: An Introduction

25^th August – Women & Autism in the Workplace

31^st August – Human Rights Legislation: An Overview

Please click here for more information, including times and a link to sign up to these sessions.

Easing of Covid restrictions

The First Minister announced that from Monday 19th July, all parts of Scotland will move to level 0. There though will be certain modifications made to level 0 rules, with hospitality venues required to close at midnight, physical distancing to remain in outdoor public places and people encouraged to work from home until at least 9 August. Read the full statement here.

Guidance on COVID-19 Protection Levels has also been updated yesterday (13th July). The guidance sets out what you can and cannot do at each level.

Early learning and childcare: statutory guidance – July 2021

Statutory guidance to education authorities to support them in exercising their functions in relation to the delivery of early learning and childcare from 1 August 2021 has been published today here.

This statutory guidance is issued under section 34 of the Standards in Scotland’s Schools Act 2000 (the 2000 Act) which empowers Scottish Ministers to issue guidance to education authorities on the exercise of their functions in relation to the delivery of early learning and childcare. This statutory guidance applies from 1 August 2021.

This guidance replaces previous guidance and circulars; and should be read in connection with the legislation to which it relates.

The main part of the statutory guidance follows the provisions as set out in Part 6 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014, as it is through these functions that early learning and childcare is defined. To complement this the document also sets out additional guidance on key related legislation and policy that are out-with the scope of section 34 of the 2000 Act under which this statutory guidance is issued.