Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that Scotland’s unemployment rate is 3.4% which is the lowest on record and below that of the UK as a whole at 3.9%. Furthermore, the number of people employed in Scotland is close to the recent record high at 2,676,000. Although, Scotland’s employment rate, at 75.3%, remains below the UK’s rate at 76.1%.

In response to today’s [19 March 2019] labour market statistics figures Scottish Secretary David Mundell said:

“It is great news that employment continues to rise in Scotland.

“Scotland’s two governments are working together to strengthen our economy and create jobs, with initiatives such as our growth deal programme beginning to reap rewards. In the last few weeks we have co-signed the £250 million Ayrshire growth deal and announced £345 million in joint government funding for the Borderlands.

“The UK Government’s investment in growth deals in Scotland is now more than £1.35 billion, and shows our huge commitment to growing Scotland’s job sector.”

For the three months to January, Scotland’s overall labour market provides a mainly positive picture: employment increased robustly (+13,000); unemployment fell moderately (-9,000) and activity has increased slightly (+4,000). However, monthly claimant count numbers are worsening over the month of February, as there are 105,700 people in Scotland claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and out-of-work Universal Credit (seasonally adjusted); this is up 6,600 on the month of January (provisional) and 18,900 up on the year before.

The Home Secretary has boosted funding for next year’s places of worship protective security to £1.6 million to reassure communities and safeguard mosques and other places of worship. This is double the amount awarded last year. In addition a new £5 million fund will be opened to provide security training.

The funding boost, announced in a written ministerial statement, comes after the terror attack in Christchurch claimed the lives of 50 people and injured 40 more. Following the incident, police presence was stepped up at mosques across the UK to reassure communities fearful of similar attacks.

The places of worship fund, established in 2016 as part of the government’s hate crime action plan, provides financial support for physical protective security such as fencing, lighting and CCTV. Government previously committed funding of £2.4 million over 3 years.

So far, more than a third of grants under the places of Worship Protective Funding scheme have been awarded to mosques.

The Home Secretary Sajid Javid said:

The horrific events in New Zealand are a direct attack on the values of tolerance and freedom of worship that unite us all.

Nobody should ever fear persecution of their faith and it’s vital we stand together to reject those who seek to spread hatred and divide us.

I know many Muslim communities are feeling vulnerable and anxious. But they should seek comfort from knowing we are doing everything to tackle hate and extremism.

That’s why we are doubling next year’s places of worship fund – providing physical protection as well as peace of mind.

In addition, the government will open a consultation with faith representatives and organisations including the Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group, Tell MAMA, the Independent Advisory Group and other faith representatives and organisations, on improvements to existing policy to protect faith communities.

To increase uptake in the fund and ensure it reaches those most vulnerable to hate crime, the bidding process will also be simplified so organisations no longer have to prove they have previously experienced a hate crime incident directly. In addition the government will be streamlining the supplier arrangements for bidders, after which the programme will open for applications.

Places of worship, including mosques, will also benefit from a new £5 million fund over 3 years to provide protective security training to build on some of the positive work already happening in communities. This is in recognition that physical protective security is only part of the solution, and institutions, their staff and volunteers need to have security understanding to ensure the protective measures work effectively. We will engage closely with communities on the scope of this new scheme to ensure it meets the needs of all places of worship covering security. We will then undertake a competitive process to determine providers of the training and plan to start delivering in 2019 to 2020.

The founding trustees of a Birmingham based charity have been disqualified by the Charity Commission, following their removal, after an investigation found them responsible for misconduct and mismanagement.

In a report published today, the charity regulator sets out the findings and conclusions of its statutory inquiry into The Suyuti Institute, whose purposes include advancing the Islamic faith.

The Commission’s investigation finds that the founding trustees had transferred liability for repaying the mortgage on a property owned by the wife of one of the trustees to the charity. The regulator concludes that these actions were not taken in line with the requirements of charity law and resulted in significant private benefit to one of the trustees.

The decision was taken when the charity accepted the transfer of assets and liabilities from a private trust connected to the mother of one of the trustees. That trust owned a plot of land in Manchester, on which an old cinema building had once stood, but was also responsible for repaying the mortgage on a property owned by the same trustee’s wife.

The cinema building in question had been demolished several years prior to the charity accepting the transfer.

Both founding trustees are qualified solicitors and the inquiry concluded that it was reasonable to expect that they would have understood their legal duties and responsibilities as trustees when considering whether to accept the assets and liabilities of the private trust.

The Commission used its legal powers to suspend and then remove the two individuals as trustees of the charity, which means they are disqualified from being trustees, or from holding senior management functions in any charity in England and Wales.

Michelle Russell, Director of Investigations, Monitoring and Enforcement at the Charity Commission said:

The public rightly expect those running charities to live up to the highest standards of behaviour and attitude. That includes demonstrating scrupulous financial probity and being able to show that all decisions are made in the best interests of the charity and its beneficiaries.

The two founding trustees of this charity failed to fulfill those expectations and were responsible for serious breaches of their charity law duties, which is why we removed them.

The regulator has since been monitoring the work undertaken by the charity’s newly appointed trustees, who have secured repayment from the former trustee for funds he owed to the charity, implemented new financial controls and who are now producing a strategy for the charity’s future, having put its activities on hold during the investigation.

Michelle Russell added:

The Commission’s purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust, and I am pleased that, working with us, the new trustees have returned the charity to a firmer legal footing and are considering its future activities.

The Charity Commission is the regulator and registrar of charities in England and Wales. Its purpose is to ensure charity can thrive and inspire trust so that charities can improve lives and strengthen society.

The inquiry opened in January 2017 and concluded on 19 March 2019, with the publication of the inquiry report. The full inquiry report is available on gov.uk.

The Suyuti Institute was registered as a charity in April 2013.

ENDS

Notes to editors

Charity Commission concludes its statutory inquiry into The Suyuti Institute

A programme supporting families with complex problems has reduced the proportion of children going into care, adults claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and juvenile convictions, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP has today (19 March 2019) confirmed.

Evidence from the National Evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme shows that the scheme has improved outcomes for families and helped reform local services.

Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP commended the positive effect the programme is having in communities across the country by working with whole families to provide additional stability, practical support and help them overcome complicated issues including ‘worklessness’, uncontrolled debt and truancy.

When compared to a similar control group, the programme of targeted intervention was found to have:

• reduced the proportion of children on the programme going into care by a third
• reduced the proportion of adults on the programme going to prison by a quarter and juvenile convictions by 15%
• supported more people on the programme back in work with 10% fewer people claiming Jobseekers Allowance

Speaking at the Centre for Social Justice, Communities Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:

We all need support and commitment to achieve our full potential. We’re all the product of other people’s kindness. That starts with stronger families – as the cornerstone of stronger communities – and this is the driving spirit of the Troubled Families programme.

Fresh thinking is needed now more than ever to meet the challenges we face – like knife crime and gang culture. This programme is proving it has a valuable role to play as we look forwards to the upcoming Spending Review.

It’s inspiring to see agencies working better together to help people succeed but the real story is the thousands of people who’ve taken control of their own lives. People are being helped to help themselves.

The Troubled Families Programme supports families with complex, interconnected problems such as anti-social behaviour, mental health problems or domestic violence.

Rather than responding to each problem, or single family member separately, assigned Troubled Families keyworkers engage with the whole family. Through this approach they coordinate support from a range of services to identify and address family issues as early as possible rather than merely reacting to crises.

Dame Louise Casey said:

Since 2012, the first and current Troubled Families Programmes have – very deliberately – shaken up the way families with complex problems are supported, ensuring they are identified earlier to get the help they need, which is completely focused on helping families live better lives.

Helping families to help themselves so their kids are not taken into care or family members ending up in prison and getting more people from the programme into work is testament to what frontline staff can do with the right resources and backing.

This evaluation shows it was absolutely right to have invested so much in this approach since 2012.

Last month, a £9.5 million fund was also made available within the existing Troubled Families Programme, which will focus on supporting children and families vulnerable to knife crime and gang culture – with a further £300,000 available to train frontline staff on how to tackle childhood trauma. The money has gone to community-backed projects in 21 areas across England.

Since the current programme began in 2015, local authorities and their partners have worked with over 400,000 eligible families. This compares with only 2,000 families who had received whole family support in England between January 2006 and March 2010.

In addition to supporting families struggling with a variety of issues in their lives, the report outlines how the programme is helping develop long-term change across local services including police, schools, social care and Jobcentres.

Services and professionals are now better connected and working in partnership. Rather than circling around families with multiple and separate assessments and appointments, local authorities are using the programme to work across organisational and cultural boundaries to achieve better lives for the families in need.

The Secretary of State is committed to improving the programme further, including asking whether Troubled Families is the best name and whether it should be changed to better reflect its positive and supportive ethos and to deepen the engagement for the work.

Read the national evaluation of the Troubled Families Programme 2015 to 2020 report.

This is the fourth evaluation update and it brings together findings from the latest analysis of national and local datasets, a cost benefit analysis, case study research and staff survey research.

Find more information on the £9.8 million Supporting Families Against Youth Crime fund.

The current Troubled Families Programme was rolled out in England in April 2015 and replaced the first programme which had been in place since 2012. The programme will continue support for disadvantaged families with complex problems and aims to achieve significant and sustained progress with up to 400,000 families by 2020.

The National Evaluation confirms that the programme continues to reach families with complex and multiple problems. In the year before starting the programme, families on the programme had the following characteristics compared to the general population:

• children were over 9 times more likely to be classified as a Child in Need
• adults were over 9 times more likely to have a caution or conviction
• adults were 5 times more likely to be claiming benefits
• children were nearly 3 times more likely to be persistently absent from school

In addition:

• over two fifths of troubled families had a family member with a mental health issue
• just over a fifth of troubled families had a family member affected by an incident of domestic abuse or violence