19% Rise in Unemployment in Broughty Ferry

The number of people unemployed in Broughty Ferry has increased by 46 in the past year, rising from 231 in September 2010 to 277 in September of this year. 


That's an increase of 19.9%.
  
The figures, as shown in the table below, indicate how the figures break down for the individual areas of Broughty Ferry, providing details of the numbers unemployed and the percentage rate of unemployment in each area.
 
The data, comes from the Office of National Statistics.

Area of Broughty Ferry

Sept 2011

% rate

Sept 2010

% rate

Balgillo	80	1.9	77	1.8
Barnhill	66	2.2	50	1.6
Central Broughty Ferry	91	2.9	71	2.3
West Ferry	40	1.4	33	1.1

Broughty Ferry has an unemployment rate that is relatively low. But for the person unemployed, the unemployment rate is 100% and the experience of unemployment may be extremely painful and distressing.



As well as those out of work, there are many others who live with the fear of becoming unemployed, and many others struggling with higher fuel and food costs.
 
This is why I am supporting Labour's  plan for jobs and growth. 
It includes :   

• A £2 billion tax on bank bonuses to fund 100,000 jobs
• Bringing forward long-term investment projects for schools, roads and transport
• Reversing January's damaging VAT rise for a temporary period
• A one year cut in VAT to 5% on home improvements and
• A one year national insurance tax break for every small firm which takes on extra workers. 

This is a clear 5- point plan to help families and to support small businesses.

Drop in Applications to University from Potential Students in Scotland

Earlier today, the Universities and Colleges and Admissions Service (UCAS) published their first set of statistics on applications to university next year. Their report reveals that so far 52,321 applicants have applied from within the UK, compared with 59,413 this time last year, a drop of 11.9%. 

The statistics are an early indication of the total number of applications, but only show the number received by universities by 15 October. With the exception of Oxford and Cambridge Universities and courses in medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine, candidates still have until 15 January to apply for a place at University starting in Autumn 2012.

The table below shows the picture in relation to to applicants living in Scotland which shows a decrease of 11.85% compared with the same period last year which is marginally less than the overall UK rate of 11.9%.

Table 4c: total applicants by domicile (UK only; arranged by region)

Table 4c: total applicants by domicile (UK only; arranged by region)
By UK region	2011	2012	Diff (+/-)	Diff (%)
Scotland	2,832	2,497	-335	-11.8%

The UCAS report also reveals that more women than men have been put off from applying to university. Some 10.5% fewer women have applied this year, and 7% fewer men.

Applications from mature students have also been markedly reduced. The proportion of applicants aged 40 or older has fallen by 27.8%, while those aged between 30 and 39 has dropped by 22.7%.

It is too early to know exactly what has effected this drop in applications from Scotland for a place at University. It is however a negative indicator as it is probable that undergraduate student numbers at Abertay and Dundee Universities will go down.

Piano Duets Lunchtime Concert Saturday 22 October St Mary's Episcopal Church B/ferry

The next Lunchtime Concert at St Mary's Episcopal Church in Broughty Ferry is on Saturday October 22 beginning at 1pm.

Stephen Armstrong and Avril Evans will be performing piano duets including Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite.

St Mary's Episcopal Church, Queen Street, Broughty Ferry DD5 1AJ located next door to the Post Office Bar

Car parking in the Queen Street Car Park which is opposite the Public Library.

Anti-Slavery Day in the UK

Today, 18th October 2011 is designated as Anti-Slavery Day in the UK. The day was established in 2010 to provide a focal point for raising awareness about the many people in the UK and around the world who continue to be trapped in modern slavery, and to promote the need for many individuals and organisations across society to play a part in ending it.
There are apparently at least 12.3 million people, both children and adults, working in forced labour, a modern form of slavery. 

Our link to slavery may be closer to home than we imagine as demonstrated by the 'products of slavery' world map and the news item below.


In September a police raid in Leighton Buzzard uncovered men held in modern day slavery in the UK. Homeless men had been recruited on the streets of London for 'work'. Later they were sold as slaves to gang masters who detained and bullied them into work for no wages. Link to BBC London video.

The UK has a a history of campaigning against slavery which we must continue into the 21st Century.

This date also coincides with the European Anti-Trafficking Day.

Charity Shop for Eastern Primary School was a Winner

The Charity shop that Eastern Primary School Parent Council organised for the week before the October holidays in Gray Street was a very effective fund raiser for the School. 


Chair of the Parent Council, Elaine Smith, informed me that: 
"we were very successful, 
we managed to raise £1380".
The money raised by the Parent Council will be divided equally between the School and the Resourced Location in the School.


Well done the Parent Council.

A Tenement House Museum - Possibilities for Dundee?

This week I am in New York City on vacation. 


Yesterday I visited The Tenement House which is a New York City Museum that tells the stories of immigrants who lived in 97 Orchard Street, a tenement building built in 1863 on Manhattan's Lower East Side. The Museum have recreated the lives of families who lived and worked in this single tenement building. 


I signed up for the 'Piecing it Together' tour where we visited the homes of Jewish Families who lived in the tenement during the 'great wave of immigration' from Europe to the USA.


Our enthusiastic and engaging tour guide, Daryl, took our small group round a floor of the building and made the artefacts come alive.  This included one flat where the family had a home workshop for outworking - sewing up pre-cut fabrics into finished garments. 


This made me think about the potential of a similar venture in Dundee that celebrated the lives of immigrants to Dundee that came to work in our textile industries. I think this will be worth exploring when I return.

Good as New Charity Shop Open for This Week in Gray Street - Organised by Members of the Parent Council of Eastern Primary School

Industrious members of the Eastern Primary School will be opening the doors of their temporary Good as New charity shop on Monday at 29 Gray Street in Broughty Ferry.


The shop will open between 10 and 4 for the week of Monday 3 October - Saturday 8 October.


A rota of Primary Seven pupils will be helping out in the shop and making practical links with their Enterprise Project.


Chair of the Parent Council, Elaine Smith is taking a leading role in running the shop. She confirmed, at the recent meeting of the Parent Council, that the cash raised by the shop will be divided between the School and the Resourced Location at the school for pupils with special learning needs.