Nearly 10,000 calls to a helpline for rape victims went unanswered last year due to a lack of resources, according to Rape Crisis Scotland. A new report by the charity, which runs the helpline, also says that 1,150 people seeking help had attempted to take their own lives after a sexual attack. Such was the demand for help that rape crisis centres struggled to cope, with some even forced to close their waiting lists at times.
Category: investigations
SNP ‘TONE DEAF’ TO PROBLEMS IN OUR SCHOOLS
Revealed: the narrowing options at secondary schools in poorer areas James McEnaney, investigative journalist Children in poorer parts of Scotland – West Dunbartonshire is one
SCANDAL OF YOUNG SCOTS CARE LEAVERS REVEALED
Ten days after her 16th birthday Amy-Beth Miah decided she’d had enough of a care system that seemed designed to do anything but care. She signed the lease on a flat, filled her then-boyfriend’s car with all her belongings and left it for good.She first went into foster care when she was seven years old. When a subsequent foster arrangement broke down, she says it felt like she was passed round every children’s unit in her local authority area.
MoD KEEPS NEW NUKES REPORT SECRET
Staff shortages have prevented an official watchdog from completing all “essential tasks” to ensure the safety of the UK nuclear weapons programme, according to a previously confidential Ministry of Defence (MoD) report. A short extract from a report by the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR) – kept secret by the MoD since 2017 – reveals that the nuclear programme was struggling with shortages of “suitably qualified and experienced personnel”. Four pages of the DNSR annual report for 2015-16 were released by the MoD in the run-up to a freedom of information tribunal in London on 2 December. The tribunal is considering an appeal against the MoD’s refusal to publish the whole report.
HAT’S THE WAY NOT TO DO IT, LORD PROVOST
The payback figure was released following a Freedom of Information request. Glasgow Lord Provost Eva Bolander resigns after expenses row
Lord provost claimed 23 pairs of shoes on expenses. An agreement with the council means she will not have to publish an itemised list of what the repayments are for. When details of her expense claims first emerged, Ms Bolander committed to repay some of the money. She eventually resigned in October, saying that while her spending was “within the rules”, she “apologised unreservedly”.
NUKES PROGRAMME ‘FULLY ACCOUNTABLE,’ SAYS MoD
The Scottish National Party (SNP) and campaigners agree with ONR and are calling on the MoD to release the reports, which have previously revealed “regulatory risks” 86 times at Clyde nuclear bases and elsewhere over ten years. The MoD insists, however, that its nuclear programme is “fully accountable”.