Resilient Scotland: A call to action
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Transcript of Resilient Scotland: A call to action
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Resilient ScotlandA call to action
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2 Resilient Scotland
Every day, the International RedCross and Red Crescent Movement
helps people in crisis, working in 186
countries around the world.
The Red Cross in Scotland reaches
out to support individuals and
organisations in crisis situations via
our own network o 240 sta and
5,500 volunteers across the country.
As an auxiliary to government, we
provide support to category one
responders and other statutory
bodies in times o emergency. We
also provide support to individuals,
amilies and communities in times o
crisis; medical equipment and care inthe home services; and support and
inormation to vulnerable reugees and
asylum seekers. We are also part o
an international network dedicated
to humanitarian assistance.
All o our work is guided by the
Movements undamental principles
o humanity, impartiality, neutrality,
independence, voluntary service,unity and universality.
The challenges we ace at home
and overseas are many. The
global economic downturn, natural
disasters, disease pandemics, climate
change and conict threaten the
well-being, livelihoods and lives o
vulnerable people in Scotland and
around the world.
By better integrating the expertise
o the Red Cross, and its sta and
volunteers, into civil society, we
believe Scotland can become stronger
and more resilient in times o crisis.
Based on our experience, this
document outlines a series o simple
changes that can maximise the work
o the Red Cross and the support it
brings to Scotland.
Norman McKinley
Director or Scotland
A call to action or astronger Scotland
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Resilient Scotland 3
1 An annual Preparedness Week,operating at both national and
local level, to improve the ability
o individuals, volunteers, groups
and organisations to withstand
and recover rom emergencies
in their area.
2 The right o all asylum seekers
in Scotland to claim asylumin country, through the
development o services at
UK Border Agency Scotland.
3 The inclusion o humanitarian
education in the primary and
secondary schools curriculum,
including basic frst aid skills.
4 Greater involvement o the Red
Cross in emergency planning
and exercises at all levels.
5 Greater recognition and
understanding o the use o
sta and volunteer-led health
and social care services bylocal authorities.
6 A commitment to protect
the Scottish Governments
9 million international
development budget and
the dedication o unds to
emergency international aid.
We call on all political parties
in Scotland to support:
LaytonThompson/BRC
La
ytonThompson/BRC
DerekGordon
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4 Resilient Scotland
It is difcult to predict when an
emergency will take place, but
it is ar easier to ensure that
individuals and communities have
the ability to withstand and recover
rom emergencies. Planning or
emergencies and being prepared will
ensure that Scotland is a stronger and
more resilient country.
Emergencies can appear in all orms,
large and small. The community welive in may be caught up in a national
emergency such as widespread
ooding or a terrorist incident. As
individuals we may fnd ourselves
having to deal with a house fre, road
trafc accident or medical emergency.
There are many ways that leaders
and policy-makers, working with
the voluntary sector, can help
communities to co-ordinate their
resources and expertise in a way
that complements the eorts o
the emergency services and urthers
the work o the Scottish Governments
Resilience Unit.
The most basic o these are raising
awareness and improving education.These activities will encourage people
to plan or a crisis situation, and
prepare themselves by ensuring they
have the resources they need and eel
confdent and empowered to respond
in an appropriate way.
An annual Preparedness Weekor Scotland
Each year, the Red Cross teaches lie-saving frst aid skills to around 20,000
people in Scotland
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> an annual Preparedness Week,operating at both national
and local level, to improve the
ability o individuals, volunteers,
communities and organisations to
respond to risks and emergencies
in their area
> close working between the
Scottish Governments ResilienceUnit, local authorities, the Red
Cross and the wider voluntary
sector to develop this initiative.
A Preparedness Week would
build Scotlands resilience by
orming a ocal point or existing
good practice, including:
> consulting local communities
about their needs
> community saety messages
rom statutory agencies, local
authorities and the voluntary
sector
> promotion o basic lie-saving
skills
> advice or individuals and
amilies, such as how to
prepare emergency kits with
contact numbers and important
documents
> business continuity initiatives
> resilience education in schools.
The Canadian government
co-ordinates an Emergency
Preparedness Week, organising
activities across Canada to raise
awareness o the importance o
having an emergency kit, making anemergency plan and identiying risks
in the region.1
We call on all political parties in Scotland to support:
1 See http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/knw/epweek-eng.aspx
SimonClark/BRC
JonathanBanksk/BRC
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6 Resilient Scotland
Encouraging people to learn what
makes a strong community cant start
too early. There are basic orms o
understanding that can help young
people make their communities work
more eectively together.
Learning basic frst aid skills and
having the confdence to act can
make a huge dierence during anemergency. For instance, immediate
resuscitation (CPR) can double or
even triple the chances o survival
ater a heart attack. 2 Education can
also help inorm young people o the
consequences o their liestyle choices
and support existing work on health
and well-being.
Humanitarian education helps young
people explore the world around
them, particularly in respect to crises
arising rom conict, disasters,
and pandemics. It discusses the
complexities o providing humanitarian
assistance at personal, local,
national, and international levels and
encourages participation as active
local and global citizens.
Through our direct engagement
annually with over 25,000 pupils
in Scotland, and greater numbers
indirectly through training teachers
and creating educational resources,
we develop the knowledge, skills
and values that support a greater
propensity to help others.
Building resilient communitiesthrough schools and lielong
learning
DerekGordon/BRC
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7
> the inclusion o basic frst aidskills as part o health and
well-being in the Curriculum
or Excellence in primary and
secondary schools, and the
promotion o frst aid teaching
resources recognising and
promoting humanitarian
education as an important
tool in building the resilienceo young people and their
communities
> raising awareness o migration
and the positive contribution o
reugees, through support or
the educational resources o
the British Red Cross, making
our Positive Images and
Wee Positive Images toolkits
available to all primary and
secondary schools in Scotland.
We call on all political parties
in Scotland to support:
2 Holmberg M, Holmberg S, Herlitz J, Gardelov B, Survival ater cardiac arrest outside hospital in Sweden,
Swedish Cardiac Arrest Registry,19982
AlexRumford/BRC
JonathanBanks/BRC
DominicCocozz
a/BRC
Humanitarian
education helps
young people
explore the world
around them
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Voluntary organisations can provide
proessional and tailored support
to statutory responders in times o
emergency. Each year we respond
to more than 600 emergencies in
Scotland, and our swit water rescue
team assisted with over 200 rescues
in Cockermouth in 2009.
The Red Cross in Scotland providessupport to statutory responders
managing complex crisis situations;
a frst responders scheme; fre and
emergency support service; inland
water search, rescue and recovery;
support and supplies or communities,
amilies and individuals aced with
personal crisis; and longer term support
to help those aected rebuild their lives.
The Scottish Government has clearly
recognised the contribution o the
voluntary sector in responding to
emergencies and signifcant progress
has already been made in involving
the voluntary sector in emergency
planning both nationally and
locally.
There is scope, however, or urtherwork to be done to build resilience
in Scotland and streamline the
partnership between statutory
bodies and the voluntary sector. We
believe that, by urther developing
this partnership, Scotland can lead
the way in the UK on emergency
response and recovery.
Supporting the Scottishemergency services
LaytonThompson/BRC
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We also support initiatives to
strengthen the publics ability
to respond to crises, including
individual health emergencies such
as cardiac arrest. According to
the Resuscitation Councils 2010guidelines, the scientifc evidence to
support early electrical defbrillation
is overwhelming and the delay
rom collapse to delivery o the frst
shock is the single most important
determinant o survival.3 The latest
resuscitation guidelines state that
trials o defbrillators installed in public
places have demonstrated impressiveresults, with survival rates as high
as 74 per cent as ast response
times are oten possible when an
automated external defbrillator (AED)
is nearby. The Council also states
that an AED can be used saely and
eectively without previous training,
although training is encouraged.
We call on all political parties
in Scotland to support:
> greater involvement o thevoluntary sector in emergency
planning procedures by
ensuring appropriate
representation on the Board
o Scotlands eight strategic
co-ordinating groups
> greater involvement o the
Red Cross and other voluntarysector organisations in
emergency planning exercises
across Scotland within local
authorities, the Scottish
Government, health boards
and emergency services
> a people-ocussed approach
to emergency planning which
allows or equal emphasis on
preparing or the human impact
o emergencies and the cost
and time it takes communities
to recover rom a crisis situation
> the provision o automated
external defbrillators in publicplaces throughout Scotland to
encourage a aster reaction to
cardiac arrests.
3 Resuscitation Guidelines 2010, Resuscitation Council (UK), 2010
Each year, the Red
Cross responds
to more than 600
emergencies in
Scotland
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An estimated two million people inScotland already live with one or more
long-term health conditions4 and
health and social care systems ace
a growing challenge over the coming
years in responding to the needs
o the countrys ageing population.
The demand or support services is
already high, and this can present
problems when these services have
to adapt to respond to crisis oremergency situations.
Ensuring that vulnerable individuals
receive the right care at the right
time can make all the dierence in
preventing the need or readmissions
to hospital or the move to residential
care, and can help prevent urther
expenditure rom tight budgets.
Delivering health andsocial care in Scotland
BobJohns/BRC
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Supporting individuals in making
choices about their health and care
needs can also ensure that people
remain in their own homes and
communities or longer, bringing
stability to their lives and promotingwell-being.
Local sta and trained volunteers
can be an eective way o ensuring
the right kind o help is there or
the individual at the right time.
This stratum o support helps both
individuals and those who care or
them reduce stress and isolation,plan or the long term, manage
emergencies and maintain stability
and independence.
Each year in Scotland, the Red Cross
helps around 22,000 people live more
independently. We supply a number
o social care services in Scotland
including: care in the home services
delivered through contracts with local
authorities; a medical equipment loan
service to individuals and hospitals; a
skin camouage service; a therapeutic
care service; a beriending service; an
advocacy service or individuals; and
residential respite care at our Options
or Independence site in Irvine. Theseservices supplement and support
care delivered by local authorities and,
in order or them to be as eective
as possible, there has to be greater
recognition o the way they operate.
We call on all political parties
in Scotland to support:
> a level playing feld or thevoluntary sector in delivering
services, based on long-term
thinking, multi-annual contracts
and ull cost recovery
> greater recognition and
understanding o the use
o both volunteer-led and
sta-led, volunteer-enhancedservices by local authorities
> greater transparency o the
local authority tendering and
scoring process or health
and social care contracts
> a consistent defnition o
the role o the Red Cross
in emergency care across
Scotlands 32 local authorities,
enabling better planning
or crisis within the public
sector budget.
4 LTCAS, based on 2003 Scottish Health Survey
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Supporting Scotlandsnew communities
The British Red Cross helps people in
crisis, whoever and wherever they are.The principle o humanity underpins
everything we do.
Scotland has long been proud to
welcome and provide sae haven
to those in need o protection. The
Red Cross reugee service and
international tracing and message
service in Glasgow help around 600
people each year. Our volunteer-led
orientation service provides a broadrange o support services to newly
arrived asylum seekers and reugees
to help them integrate into lie in
Scotland. This includes advice on
accessing healthcare and education;
amily reunion; dedicated support
or vulnerable women and destitute
asylum seekers; an international
tracing and message service;
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and the production o a dedicated
newspaper or reugees in Scotland.
New arrivals to Scotland are
particularly vulnerable to destitution
as they oten arrive with no moneyand no support. They have to make
their own way to the nearest asylum
screening unit more than 400 miles
away in Croydon, London, to submit
their claim or asylum without travel
assistance or support.
In order or Scotland and the UK
to meet international obligations toprotect people eeing persecution
and conict, and to ensure our asylum
system prioritises humanitarian needs,
we believe there needs to be reorm.
We thereore call on politicians
in Scotland to press their UK
counterparts or an end-to-end
asylum support structure, including
permission to work, until the applicant
is either removed or granted leave
to remain.
We call on all political parties
in Scotland to support:
> The right o all asylum seekersin Scotland to claim asylum
in country, through the
development o services at
UK Border Agency Scotland
> adoption o the principle that
destitution should not be an
outcome o the asylum system
and, specifcally, that thereshould be additional support
or all destitute reused asylum
seekers with children
> creation o a travel assistance
und (previously provided
by the United Nations High
Commissioner or Reugees)
to support the reunion o
amilies who have been
separated around the world,
and who have been allowed
by the Home Ofce to join their
amilies in the UK
> working with the Law Society
o Scotland to ensure theeective regulation and highest
standard o those providing
legal advice to people in
Scotland throughout the
whole asylum process.
New arrivals to
Scotland have
to travel 400 miles
to submit their claim
or asylum
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Every year, millions o people
throughout the world desperatelyneed humanitarian assistance to
survive. This number is expected to
increase, not least because o the
rise in extreme weather events and
the devastation they can cause.
The International Red Cross and
Red Crescent Movement is a neutral
and independent organisation which
makes up one o the three pillars o
the humanitarian system. It workswith the United Nations, nation
states, and NGOs to ensure that aid
is delivered without ear or avour to
those in greatest need.
Despite this work, many vulnerable
people still go without the help they
so desperately need. This can be
because the crisis situation is taking
Scotlands role in internationalhumanitarianism
AlexWynter/IFRC
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place in a strategically unimportant
part o the world, is not covered
by the media or is complicated by
political or military actors.
The Red Cross in Scotland is alwayson call as part o this international
network to provide support and
assistance where it is needed. Most
recently, we have deployed Scottish
delegates to assist ollowing the
earthquake in Haiti and ooding
in Pakistan.
The Scottish Government has beengenerous in its recognition o the need
or emergency aid when disasters
strike. We would like to see a
continued commitment to emergency
aid so that Scotland and the Red
Cross can continue to reach out to
people living in crisis situations across
the globe.
> a commitment to protectthe Scottish Governments
9 million international
development budget
> a commitment to ormalise
a und or international
emergency aid, standing
alongside the international
development budget.
We call on all political parties
in Scotland to support:
We work with 185 sister National Societies
around the world
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British Red Cross
4 Nasmyth Place
Hillington
Glasgow G52 4PR
Tel 0141 891 4000
Fax 0141 891 4099
redcross.org.uk
For more inormation, please contact
Gurjit Singh at [email protected]
or on the number above.
The British Red Cross Society, incorporatedby Royal Charter 1908, is a charity registered
in England and Wales (220949) and Scotland
(SC037738).
Photo cover and back: Gordon, Derek/BRC