12/12/2016 Scotland 2016

Local councils warn of disastrous consequences if finances are cut

Calls grow for an inquiry into historical abuse

of young footballers, but Police Scotland says it remains

A claim that council finances are in meltdown and a plea

to the First Minister to find the money to deliver services.

Police Scotland has confirmed it held talks today with

the Scottish Football Association over allegations of child sex

There've been calls over the last two days for various inquiries,

but the police said tonight it was the investigative authority

Meanwhile, one survivors' group has said they've been invited

to meet the SFA and the PFA for the first time.

Well, a little earlier I spoke to the SFA's former

Police Scotland has stressed today that they are at the investigatory

authority into any allegations of sex abuse in football anywhere else.

What do you think the SFA should do now? My understanding is that that

would be the case. There have been a task force set up and the the SFA

are part of that. It is a police case and it is sexual abuse and that

is what we are looking for. They are looking for the people who have

perpetrated this and made the abuse that happened for the young kids at

the time. There are three categories, really. The other

category is the young people who had been abused and they need help.

There is no doubt about it, it a lot of them have been traumatised by it

and need counselling, even though it is many years later in many cases.

The third element is will have to be some sort of investigation into what

was going on in football at different levels, whether it was

professional, youth work full, to try and find out exactly how this

escalated to such a great degree and also why it has taken so long for it

to come through. We keep referring to it as a historical sexual abuse.

Hopefully, it doesn't continue any more. Hopefully there isn't any

nowadays. The fact is, it was so long before anybody knew about these

things happening. Even before the people came forward to actually talk

about it. The SFA are involved in that and I think they will do it.

I'm not quite sure it is up to them to put together the investigation.

Deputy First Minister told the BBC that he thought the SFA should have

an independent enquiry. The English football Association has already

been together its own investigation. Do you think it would be damaging

now for the SFA to not follow suit and do that itself, to look at its

own processes? To a degree, they will be questioned if they don't,

because the football Association are doing it. It is a police case

ultimately, but as I say, I think that needs to be an independent

enquiry. Whether the SFA set it up with the Government set about, as

long as it is an independent enquiry, it doesn't matter who does

it as long as we know there are people looking into it to find out

exactly how this took place over the years, who knew about it and why

there was not more done at the time, even when certain cases has come to

knowledge of people within certain football clubs were some people were

dismissed on the date certain things but quite if you have them went on

to work in other clubs and that should not have been the case. The

authorities should have been formed at the time and we need to know why

this continued and why nothing was done. It doesn't matter who

incorporates this independent investigation, as long as one does

take place. You have worked in football for many years, what is

different now? And what was the atmosphere at the time that would

have allowed that to happen, these extremely serious allegations were

not treated properly, nobody immediately went to the police? I

find it shocking. Adding to a certain degree, people didn't

realise it was a widespread and prominent. They may be thought it

was one small case and it would dismiss it out of the way. Now we

are finding out it was right through the game and I think that is why

it's become a serious matter. As I say, young people were not slipped

after without a doubt. Some people have been greatly damaged by the

fact that no one was there to help them and seemingly, a lots of times,

young children were not believed when the reported some of these

things. I think they should have been more done, but it was the type

of thing that a lot of people in the past didn't think it was to such a

great degree and exotic and be swept under the carpet. A lot of people

might innocently have and for good reasons, dismissed it quite quickly,

but others were maybe doing it because it was a friend or somebody

they were working alongside. And that has to be got into the bottom

of. Nott yes, that has to be addressed. Do think it could have

affected other sports? Yes. So many young players wanted to do well in

the game and were perhaps quest into doing things because otherwise there

are football career would finish. The use that level of fear to

address this and it shamefully happened at the young players were

abuse just because of that fact. A lot of them couldn't handle the fact

that it happened and they kept quiet about it for a long time. Most of

the people who have come out now are ex players. Do you see the situation

now being different? Steeping it is less likely to happen now? I hope

so. It is hard to tell. I think because of social media, there would

be more out there about it if it was happening now. That is my idea, but

you never can tell. That is why an investigation might have to look

into it. You think other governing bodies and other sports should be

making that at their own processes and any possible cases they came to

light and were dismissed? Would need to be other people coming forward

from those sports and whether it is youth movement or whatever that they

were involved in, you have to first and foremost have people who were

abuse to come forward. And it becomes a police case initially. And

know it is an atmosphere in which they will be listened to? Yes. It

might open doors for other people to come forward and say it happened in

other sports as well or other youth movement. That is what we need to

find out. Thank you so much. A pleasure.

A new report has warned that council budgets could be

cut by ?700 million by the end of the current parliament.

The claim, from economists at the Fraser of Allender Institute,

came ahead of this week's Scottish budget.

Some local authorities are now having to draw up a list of services

they'll have to cut, but the Government says councils

are being treated fairly at a time when public funding is scarce.

Everyday across Scotland, councils are providing vital services. They

are responsible for schools, housing and lots more. Some say budget cuts

are having an impact on their ability to deliver. Just look at

this figure. ?1.1 billion. That is how much the Scottish Government has

cut funding to councils in the last six years according to economist at

Fraser of Allander Institute. At the same time, the report says local

authorities know how to do a lot of extra stuff on top like expanding

childcare and free school meals. The Labour leader of Scotland's's

biggest council said that situation cannot go on. Last year we had to

trim the budget to give support for employment. There are many

challenges in terms of getting people into work. We think that was

very unfair on our city. We have had to introduce charges on services

they use to be available for free. We have had difficult challenges for

how we provide support for our elderly and our most vulnerable

citizens. How our local authorities dealing with the pinch? Insert

Lanarkshire, the Government reckons they are going to cut the funding by

more than ?22 million in the year ahead. It has drawn up a list of

funding that has to be cut. Among them, cutting funding to outside

organisations like these who do things like tackle inequality in

communities. How has the Scottish Government responded? Ministers say

councils have been treated fairly, despite cuts to the Scottish budget

by the UK Government. It is important to reflect on the fact

that local authorities have been treated very fairly. Looking

forward, I cannot preview the budget, but I will make sure there

is a strong and share settlement for it local authority to keep providing

public services. It doesn't look like there is going to be any letup

on budget pressures. Fraser of Allander Institute says the

Government is committed to costly policies like protecting the NHS and

police spending and that means there is less cash to go around. There is

each rank of lights for councils next year. Council tax in the top

four bands is going to increase and the council tax freeze will end.

That means many of you having to pay more. Local authorities say that is

the price of delivering everyday services that many of us just can't

do without. Well, meanwhile, the President

of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities,

David O'Neill has warned that further cuts to council funding

would be disastrous. A short while ago, I asked him

what he was expecting What I am expecting and hoping for

two very different things probably. I'm expecting that the Government is

going to reduce the amount of money that is available for local

Government. If I was to express my hopes, it would be that we got our

fair share of the additional resources coming to Scotland. We

could use that to close the attainment gap. We could use that

for a care packages. We deduce to repair holes in the road, to cut the

grass. If we get a reduction in the amount money available to us, all of

those things and much, much more will be in danger of not being able

to be delivered. But you are going to have the ability from next year

to raise council tax. Councils have the discretion to 3%. Is that

something you think that they would do, have a reduction in the overall

budget? I am sure that some councils will use that. To move from a

council tax freeze to a council tax cap is only marginally worse. We

should have discretion along with our communities to decide what local

taxation should be. There is effectively no local taxation in

Scotland, because it is now so tightly controlled by the central

Government. But you're getting an income from council tax and

nondomestic rates, business rates essentially as well. Is it not time

that councils got better at raising money? Either not new ways they

could be increasing their own income by the paid services they provide?

Providing more of them, broader ones. Aberdeen City Council are

raising funds through capital markets. Is it not time to look at

the way money is coming in and look beyond central Government.

Absolutely. We have been saying to central Government for a long time

that the fact that the only form of local taxation which is nominally

controlled by local Government is the council tax, which only raises

about 15% of expenditure. That is not a satisfactory position. We

should be moving towards what happens practically everywhere else

in the world will local Government has democratic control and

accountability in over 50% of its expenditure and we shouldn't have to

rely so much central Government. Because of the system we have, we're

been forced into this position will be only raise 15% and they control

the purse strings for the rest. Then they tell us what that money is to

spent on. You would like more freedom to decide what that money is

spent on? We would like more freedom, we would like the ability

to raise income in different ways. Do you not have that already? No.

You can get income through charges for leisure services or some of the

care at home services. There is an amount of money that comes that.

Council house rent is raised in that way. The bird taxed at the tourist

tax, we shouldn't call it that, but if a terrorist is coming soon in a

place like Edinburgh or Glasgow, another pound a night would be

nothing to their trip. That could bring income into local authorities.

That is a model being used abroad in many places. We have at the

Government to consider a range of taxation available to local

Government, so that we are not so solely reliant on the two main

sources which is the council tax and Government tax. Are councils being

efficient enough? Cancels constantly strives to be more efficient than

they are. If anybody seriously thinks that efficiency savings are

going to get us out of the black hole that we are in, then we are

living in cloud cuckoo land. There is always scope

for efficiencies. The big efficiencies to be made today are

not within councils, it is within councils and other public bodies

working across agencies. That is where will make efficiency savings.

Even that is not going to be enough to get us out of the black hole we

are in. They think you have the same cuts essentially, they are just

working with what they have been given from Westminster. There is

nothing wrong with spending money in the health service, they are going

to increase expenditure in the health service and police service

and another example is that since austerity started, there have been

50,000 job losses in the public sector within Scotland. 40,000 of

them in local Government, that doesn't sound as if local Government

is getting treated fairly by the same as everyone else and is more

money coming to the Scottish Government from Westminster. Thank

you for coming in. Thank you. Well, if you've got a reliable

partner, you're half way A good relationship should

have a more beneficial effect on your mental health and happiness

than just about anything else, according to a team of researchers

at the London School of Economics. And contrary to what you might

expect, money hardly featured. Joining me now is Elke Heins,

a wellbeing researcher and lecturer in social policy at

the University of Edinburgh. Good evening. Do you agree with this

finding? The range of International studies seems to conclude that

relationships are more important for happiness than money? I agree to an

extent. We also know from research as Scotland that people also value

friends, family, health more than money. But we also know from

research that deprived communities have a gap compared to the rest.

Friendships and relationships, important but I disagree with some

of the conclusions of the study that say that the government should not

put money in, but focus on other things. And how do we actually

measure happiness? Various ways. You can just as people how satisfied

they are with life, and also more objective terms. It is a difficult

question. No, no agreement about to to exactly measure happiness. And

doubling somebody's pay saw happiness rise 0.2 on a scale of

ten? Does that sound correct? We were talking about that in the

office. I am not surprised. It is a long-standing paradox, for happiness

research. It is individual level, and society level, we know that

within society richer people are more happy than the poor. But we

know that rich societies are not much happier, not to the extent that

we would expect. Yes, money matters, but only point. It is the threshold

effect, after basic needs have been met, gain from more money diminishes

in terms of happiness. I am not that surprised by the findings of this

study because it was conducted at rich society such as the United

Kingdom, Australia. And from that policy point of view, this research,

helpful? Tackling depression and anxiety, would be four times as

effective as poverty? And that would essentially pay for itself? We would

be more productive, and less pressure on the NHS? I really

disagree with that. I do not think that we can neglect fair income

policies, we have to make sure that everybody has income that

contributes to kill the lights. -- healthy lives. Money buys you

happiness. Not directly, but it is instrumental, enabling you to get

goods that enable you to have healthy lives, and be socially

connected to the community. I am suspicious about this drastic

conclusion. I would argue that the government and the policies need to

make sure that you have the fair distribution of income and that

everybody has an off for healthy living. Sore looking at well-being,

you think it would be economic drivers? That money would be the

thing to achieve that? It is the concept, and money does play a part.

That is not to say that friendships do not matter, of course they do,

what we cannot cordon one from the other. In order to improve things,

we need to get the basics correct and enable people to be part of

society. And quickly, the perception that we are less happy than we used

to be? Do you think that is the case? Happiness is relative, and we

are comparing each other, so that the richer you get, you may still

wish to compare to someone else. It is a competitive society, and one

thing that has been found to be important for happiness, on a wider

level, it is the feeling of trust. Social trust, social cohesion and

trust with political institutions. This is important, and the policy

needs to act. Thank you for joining us. Thank you.

Well, to discuss that and the rest of today's stories,

I'm joined by the journalist Katie Grant and Daily Record's

It is interesting research. You think it is helpful to look at

happiness? I think it is helpful because we are interested in it but

I do not think government has much of a place in how happy we are, just

talking about relationships. I think most people's major anxiety comes

from financial things, housing, and government has that rule. I think it

is reminiscent of David Cameron's 2010, general well-being. We have

these arguments and discussions but I do not think they are much to do

with government. I would be unhappy if the government suddenly thought

we do not need to do anything else other than legislate that people

should be friends with other people! What these think? Do you think

policymakers can get something useful? I do not think it has to be

mutually exclusive. Money can get you a little bit of happiness. But

still a lot that the government could do without having to think

about anything you. If you look at Mental Health Act, treatment times

are not up to scratch across Scotland. So money could be spent

now to deal with problems that exist that could improve the well-being of

the nation without having to abandon everything else. And do you think we

put in focus ourselves on happiness and well-being, with the stressful

ways? We have started to equate happiness with the things that we

do, so we have got the bucket list, thinking that if I do all of these

things then I am going to be happy. But you are never happy, just

deciding to do things, it is about moments in your life, often

unexpected. I think we have too much focus on actively trying to be

happy, we do not just relax into the moment. If you keep asking am I

happy, that itself can make you anxious. Do you think it is better

to look at things that we than judging what you have? Probably,

yes. And it is nice to think that money is not the be all and end all,

but it makes people happy when they have money that they can spend, on

other people as well. I think something for both sides to take. We

have also been talking about council funding, the Scottish Government

going to announce the budget on Thursday. More details about the

funding settlement for local councils. And the knock-on effect

for local councils. This is going to be thorny? Yes. But for many years,

the SNP has used local councils as a political punchbag. Soul that we can

almost blame the council. I think that unlocking of the council tax

freeze is going to be a good thing. We should have more accountability.

But I do not know if it is going to come with the relaxation about how

they can spend money. And I am sure that the government, as governments

do, will try to blame the government for these shortcomings. Throny path

ahead. Hitting people last able to help themselves. And we have heard

about them not been able to make enough? Any change to that? It is

going to be an interesting path coming up. The elections next year.

The decisions made just now could fall into the hands of SNP

controlled councils, if a lot of them go that way. They are going to

have to start making decisions, about how to justify local taxation

and justify why they do not have enough control. Who do they blame?

It is sad that it is all about blaming. And the other thing, the

council tax that is going to be raised by councils with the 3% on

the council tax bands, if they choose to you that, -- use that,

could be allocated to diminishing the attainment gap. I noticed that

the terminology used, it was the schemes to lessen the attainment

gap. We need to have more than just giving the schools some more money,

and they do not diminish the gap then it could be their fault. I

think it could somehow be wasted, with a lot of other council services

being diminished. And not much gain for the extra money raised. And on

the issue of accountability, do you think that voters know enough?

Thinking about voting for local councils? You wonder when people go

to the polls how much people are wondering about the party. People do

not know enough about what the council does, any level of

government. People, I remember local teams going out and fighting on bin

collections for Westminster elections and the issues just get

jumbled up. I do not think people know enough about what the councils

do, and they probably do not have the powers they need.

Donald Trump has called the CIA's claims that Russian hackers meddled

In his latest tweet tirade, the President Elect also said,

"Can you imagine if the election results

were the opposite and we tried to play the Russia/CIA card.

It would be called conspiracy theory!"

This came from the CIA. What can you do? Apart from the parts of America

that voted for Trump, he is probably more popular in Russia than any

other country. It is interesting to see what Donald Trump's reactions to

these things coming up. They seem to be reasonably thoughtless. What we

can say, we hope to see him moving more into this president elect mode,

but he seems to be just the same. We also have to be careful... The new

Secretary of State being appointed, sometimes we're so used to just

treating Trump as a joke. He's not any more. We have to look at things

more carefully. Thank you both for coming in.

I'm back again tomorrow night, usual time.