Resilient Scotland: A call to action

8/8/2019 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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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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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

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> 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.



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

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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.



> 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

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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

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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.



> 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.



> 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 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

Documents

Resilient Scotland: A call to action