Latest Policy and Equalities Bulletin

This fortnightly publication provides a brief update on a wide variety of both local and national and policy news and equality updates. 

It also brings you closer to important and sometimes critical updates from Aberdeenshire Council as well as the latest publications from the Scottish Government. 

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In terms of national news, the bulletin looks at the publication of the National Care Service Bill which has been described as the biggest reform to public services since the creation of the NHS.  Responsibility for the running of social care services is currently with local councils, under the new bill it will move to care boards which would operate in a similar way to NHS boards.  It is expected to be up and running by 2026 and will cost £527m to establish.  The new service will be accountable to Scottish ministers, with services designed and delivered locally.  

Meanwhile, local authorities have been given new powers to run their own bus services. Since 1985, local transport authorities have been prevented from running services, but this has been reversed by changes to existing legislation.  Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth said she hoped the move would give councils flexibility and would revitalise local services. Councils will not have to run services themselves under the new set-up, and can instead opt for a partnership or franchise approach.

In other national news, the bulletin looks at:

• Legislation proposing the permanent adoption or temporary extension of some measures enacted during the pandemic to support Scotland's recovery from Covid-19 has passed its first stage
• A further £3.6 million being made available to support the expansion of Hospital at Home services, with the aim of doubling current capacity by the end of 2022
• A new CPAG research report on ending the need food for banks called: 'You have to take it back to the bricks'

In more local news, the Shaping Places for Wellbeing programme - an Improvement Service (IS) and Public Health Scotland (PHS) project - is growing to include Fraserburgh and Rutherglen into its work to boost wellbeing and reduce inequality across the country. These new towns

increase the number of parts of Scotland benefiting from the programme to six.  The overall ambition of the programme is to improve Scotland's wellbeing and reduce inequalities through enabling partnership-based system-wide action at a local level. 

Aberdeenshire Councils £1.9 million of new investment to help improve places across the region has also been announced. Nine local projects aimed at improving communities and places across Aberdeenshire are to share around £1.9 million in new funding to help improve local facilities and town centres and to support regeneration activity. This funding is coming from the second-year allocation of the Scottish Government Place Based Investment Programme.

And we also look at Aberdeenshire Council in partnership with the Press and Journal and Evening Express burying a time capsule full of children and young people's memories of lockdown in 2020 and 2021. 

Also published in this issue of the bulletin are a number of external consultations including:

• Proposed Disability for Scotland Commissioner Bill
• Electric vehicle charging infrastructure
• Data Strategy for health and social care  
• Delivering Scotland's circular economy: A Route Map to 2025 and beyond
• School uniforms in Scotland - Scottish Government

If you have an idea or initiative for the next bulletin or just want to share your experience for future editions, these can be sent to Corporate Policy Aberdeenshire