Violence rises as cuts bite

Unison in Scotland have claimed that a "toxic cocktail" of cutbacks and violence against public-service workers has resulted in a huge increase in the number of violent incidents reported to employers. In their annual survey of violence, Unison Scotland revealed that 34,739 staff reported violent incidents last year. This compares with 20,000 incidents when the first survey was undertaken in 2006. The figure for local government rose by 2,257 to 14,274 in the last year, despite there being around 7,000 fewer staff working for councils.NHS incidents fell by 967 to 10,974 - though some employers were unable to produce figures this year. Unison Scotland's health and safety committee chairman Scott Donohoe said: "The biggest increase in violent incidents is happening in those council services that are facing the brunt of spending cuts. Staff are stretched too thinly, dealing with service users facing cuts in the services they rely on. This is a toxic cocktail that is putting hard-pressed workers at greater risk of violent assault. Unison's Scottish organiser Dave Watson said: "The latest figures demonstrate an appalling level of violent incidents faced by staff who are simply doing their job.' Mr Watson criticised Scotland's two largest health boards, Glasgow and Lothian, which both failed to produce figures for violent incidents. "If they can't produce decent statistics, they cannot be tackling the problem," Unison also called for employers to redouble their efforts to protect workers. They claim that the limited scope of the Emergency Workers (Scotland) Act passed in 2006, means that few violent incidents result in criminal action - a total of 324 in the last year.

• Unison release