First Minister praises award winning scheme

Staff reporter Th e i n n o v a t i ve wo r k of East Renfrewshire’s e nv i r o n ment d e p a r t - ment prevention team has been recognised at the highest level.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon congratulated the team on winning the ‘Innovation in Public Service Delivery’ category at the Scottish Public Service Awards for the Call Blockers project at an awards ceremony at t he Scottish Parliament.

Call Blockers is a joint initiative by East Renfrewshire i n collaboration with Angus a n d E a s t Du n b a r t o n s h i r e Council.

The three councils involved are the first in the UK to utilise call bl ocking t echnology t o tackle the problem of nuisance and scam calls to protect vulnerable residents.

The project addresses t he i mpact of nuisance calls on residents with dementia and their carers and has introduced a practical mechanism for the d i s r upt i o n o f s uc h c a l l s t o protect residents from scam calls, often generated by serious and organised crime.

The data recorded can be used t o i dentify breaches of existing codes of practice and t hi s c an be re por t ed t o t he appropriate regulators.

The project determines the origin of a call, time of call, and repeat calls to establish that victims of scams appear to be specifically targeted.

I f y ou k now a nyone who is vulnerable to scam and nuisance calls and would benef i t f ro m c a l l bl oc k i ng technology or other scam avoiding support contact Jeff Wilson at the prevention team for details on 0141 577 8487.