Funding cuts shake up Scotland
Cuts could threaten the arts and culture sector and lack of substantial funding for mental health services in Scotland are a cause for concern.
Our partners have been covering reactions in their communities to the news in relation to the Scottish Governments budgeting decisions for 2024-2025.
In Glasgow, Greater Govanhill Magazine heard from local artists and creatives on the protest bus to parliament (many of whom rely on funding for their own individual projects and/or for for local outreach programmes in their community) as they prepared to join Equity and others in standing up for their right their share of public funds promised in 2023, after they were threatened to be cut.
While in Orkney, The Orkney News did some digging into the cuts proposed for mental health and wellbeing programmes for young people and students, and the negative impact this could have on the groups declining mental wellbeing.
At the bottom of this week’s news letter you can find other local news from elsewhere in Scotland and beyond, including more information on the launch of a new campaign to decentralise Scotland’s government- which has less and much larger local councils than England and many other European countries.
– Devon
The latest from our website…
River Guardians: Guarding the Leven
Meet the River Guardians. Read all about their latest project, guarding the River Leven. And find out more about the forms of life that live in the small but diverse ecosystem their volunteers have been studying for this citizen science project.
‘Scotland’s Mental Health is in a Bad Place’
Shona Robison, Scotland’s Finance Secretary, announced ‘savings of £18.8million ‘ in the Distress Brief Interventions programme, including cuts to student mental health measures and additional Mental Health Officer funding.
Govanhill artists welcome u-turn on Creative Scotland funding, but vow to continue to fight
Govanhill artists joined the unions in their continued fight for arts funding. Though Creative Scotland funding has been reinstated, the arts community remains concerned about future uncertainties…
‘Wake up and do something’: SELECT backs Grenfell Inquiry call
Scotland’s largest trade association, SELECT, has echoed the Grenfell Inquiry’s call for regulation and a shake-up of the construction industry and has urged the Scottish Government to “step up and act on regulation” before tragedy strikes again.
Elsewhere in local news
Clydesider Creative secure funding from the National Lottery Community Fund
Clydesider Creative say they are delighted to have been awarded a third multi-year grant from the National Lottery Community Fund. The grant of £111,724 over two years will allow them to continue publishing Clydesider magazine and also launch and develop Clydesider TV. They said:
“We have a wonderful group of local volunteers who have helped support the magazine since its start back in 2016, bringing together a unique mix of inspirational and solution-focused features and creative content from our community. We're excited to get more people involved as we develop our audio and visual content.
“The new project is due to start in January 2025 and will include community media workshops in film-making and basic editing, in addition to the sessions we currently offer in photography, writing and interviewing.
“We would like to thank the National Lottery Community Fund for recognising there is a need for community-led, solution-focused news and continuing to support our work with their funding, and also to all our wonderful volunteers who have contributed articles to the magazine, helped with distribution, shared ideas, photos, poems and simply make our jobs meaningful and thoroughly enjoyable.”
Building a Local Scotland launches their campaign against the centralisation that has ‘left Scotland as one of the least locally governed countries’
A group of academics, trade unionists, former council leaders and journalists have officially started a campaign to “tackle the creeping centralisation that has left Scotland as one of the least locally governed countries in the world.”
The group, Building a Local Scotland, believes local democracy is not working, even though decentralisation was promised as part of the Scottish devolution settlement: “We must encourage politicians of all parties to honour their pledge before another quarter of a century passes.”
They cite Scotland as having the smallest councillor cohort in Europe, this contrast is especially stark when compared to England’s average of 2,814, whereas the average Scottish councillor looks after 4,155 constituents. Meaning councillors must take decisions about areas they barely know.
And, with the prospect of cuts in public spending, Building a Local Scotland say “it’s likely they’ll [councillors] take community-altering decisions without any locals in the room.”
One of their founding members is Joyce MacMillan who spoke at our event in Edinburgh where this topic was also discussed. You can find out more about the campaign in their declaration here.