It has been quite a week. I hope that you, your family and friends are safe and you’re continuing to follow the daily Government briefings which are providing lots of valuable updates and information on how to handle everything that is happening right now in the UK.

Yesterday, the UK government promised to give more details on how school closures will affect students and parents after criticism over a lack of clarity. With a few exceptions, ALL Scottish schools will close today until after the Summer holidays.

This comes after the Scottish education secretary said exams would not take place in Scotland this summer. John Swinney MSP said the "unprecedented" move was a measure of the "gravity" of the situation caused by the pandemic. It is the first time the exams have been cancelled since the system was put in place in 1888.

The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 0.25% to 0.1% in an emergency move.

Interest rates are now at their lowest level in history. The Bank said it would also increase its holdings of UK government and corporate bonds by £200bn with an effort to lower the cost of borrowing. It's a dramatic move by Andrew Bailey, who only took over from Mark Carney as Bank of England governor on Monday.

The Scottish government has confirmed it is no longer planning to hold an independence referendum this year. Constitution Secretary Mike Russell said the plans had been "paused" due to the coronavirus pandemic. He said the move would allow the government to focus all of its resources on the health crisis. In a letter to the UK government, he said: "It follows from this that a referendum will not be held this year." Mr Russell urged the UK government to place a similar pause on the EU/UK negotiations in the Brexit process.

At Perceptive, we’re continuing to work as usual, albeit from home using tools like video conferencing.  As well as our usual communications support, we are very keen to help during this challenging time and have been advising on several issues this week, including communications with customers, staff and key stakeholders. So, if you or your organisation need any advice, an extra pair of hands or even just a confidential sound board, please do get in touch.

As you probably expect, we consider communication and reputations to be vital, particularly during challenging times like this. We are keen to do as much as we can to help support our clients and the wider economy, so starting next week we will be running free online training on priority communications issues, with expert hints and tips, as well providing the opportunity to ask questions of relevant experts.  We will be sharing information on this via emails, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

And finally… As to be expected, face to face political meetings and visits over the next few weeks are being postponed by MSPs and MPs. It is important to remember meetings and visits are only part of the story of influencing key stakeholders. Dialogue is always open between us and our planned stakeholders and targets.  Even if visits are postponed, they will be in the diary as soon as possible and we are still in discussion with these key contacts.

If you or your organisation would benefit from our political insight and specialist knowledge and contacts at all political levels, please get in touch with Julie Moulsdale on 07734 932578 or julie.moulsdale@perceptivecommunicators.co.uk    

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