Scottish news bulletin 8th April 2009
- Reform Scotland
- 8 April 2009
All newspaper references refer to Scottish editions.
Economy
RBS job cuts: The Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to cut nearly 1000 jobs in Scotland as part of a worldwide move to save £2.5billion. 4500 staff throughout the UK as a whole and 9000 globally are expected to be affected. (The Herald page 1 & page 2, The Scotsman page 1, Martin Flanagan in The Scotsman, The Guardian page 22, The Courier and Advertiser page 1, The P & J page 1, The Sun page 1, The Times page 1, The Daily Express page 4, The Daily Telegraph page 1, FT page 1, Daily Record page 1)
Crime
Youth curfews: Northern Constabulary Police force has asked that Scottish ministers allow them to impose a curfew on individual youths known for anti-social behaviour or repeatedly committing crime. (The Herald page 1, The Scotsman page 11)
Health
Community care merger: Proposals to merge the roles of district nurses and health visitors in Scotland into one position have been rejected by nurses themselves, a study commissioned by the Scottish Government has claimed. (The Herald page 13)
Skin cancer: Cases of malignant melanoma north of the border have gone up by one fifth to at least 450 every year. (The Daily Express page 1)
Pneumonia research grant: Researchers from the University of Edinburgh have been awarded £1.36million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to conduct research in how to tackle childhood pneumonia. (The Scotsman page 7, The Courier and Advertiser page 9, The Sun page 35, The Daily Mail page 8)
Hospital chaplaincy services: The National Secular Society has claimed that chaplaincy services in Scottish hospitals are costing the NHS more than £3million per year and has made calls for churches to fund them instead. (The Scotsman page 10)
Education
Head teacher plans: Parents have condemned a move by the Scottish Borders Council to share a head teacher between two primary schools 23 miles apart in order to save money and solved recruitment problems. (The Scotsman page 9)
Politics
Savings targets: Savings targets set for Scottish Government departments as part of the public sector efficiency drive have been met by all ministers other than those who most pushed for the them, it has been claimed. Finance Secretary, John Swinney, and First Minister, Alex Salmond, have both fallen short of them. (The Scotsman page 16)
Tobacco display ban warning: MSPs have been warned that their support of a ban on tobacco displays in shops could cost them their seats in light of concerns that corner shops could lose custom as a result. However, anti-smoking campaigners have dismissed this claim as ‘scaremongering’. (The P & J page 9)
Reform Scotland is an independent, non-party think tank that aims to set out a better way to deliver increased economic prosperity and more effective public services based on the traditional Scottish principles of limited government, diversity and personal responsibility.