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Monday 12 April 2021
The ALARM Scotland Branch have held their first seminar of 2021: Concurrency, Resilience and Reflection.
We heard from excellent speakers on how the Scottish public sector is preparing for and dealing with concurrent risk events, how we are all adapting to new ways of working, and how COVID-19 has impacted insurance and business continuity arrangements.
We now look ahead to our May 2021 seminar, with a focus on equality, diversity and inclusion. We are in the process of securing some fantastic speakers, so please do remember that as we are delivering virtually, you don’t need to be a Scottish member to take part! The more, the merrier.
Update to the Redress Scheme
The Scottish Parliament passed the Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Bill on 11 March following a lengthy Stage Three debate.
The key element which gave rise to a large part of the debate was around the waiver. This has been consistently lobbied by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) with ALARM involvement, to ensure public service organisations are in a position to contribute to the scheme. Without the waiver, many public service organisations may not have chosen to contribute, as the financial risk would not have been mitigated.
This significant step paves the way for a meaningful scheme for survivors. Redress Scotland, a new independent organisation, will be created to assess the applications from survivors and make decisions and review appeals for the redress award(s) for the next five years. The Scheme will provide financial redress, together with support for survivors too.
The redress award(s) have three levels above the initial award of £10,000 and assessments will be undertaken by Redress Scotland as to the level to be awarded. Where an award is offered, costs, expenses and legal costs will also be paid as part of the Scheme.
With the support and assistance of our sponsors, we have hosted many sessions on this topic over the past three years, and also invited the Scottish Government to hear our views in person. Representatives from the ALARM Board have supported a working group within Solace to provide information packs to all councils to ensure their readiness for the Redress Scheme when it goes live.
So, now the Redress Scheme is about to go live, what should risk and insurance managers be thinking about?
Fiona Miller, Enterprise Risk Manager, Police Scotland and Chair of the ALARM Scotland Branch
Ruth Kydd, Insurance Manager, City of Edinburgh Council, Member of the ALARM Scotland Branch
If you have a specific query, why not contact a member of our office team directly? We will be pleased to assist you - whatever your question.