I visited the Community Trade Hub in Leven which does a fantastic job providing practical training to pupils from across Fife. I strongly support opportunities like this, giving young people skills and experience which will prepare them for work.
Liz Smith, Michael Marra and I met with the First Minister today to discuss NHS Tayside lifting the time bar which prevented former patients of Sam Eljamel from bringing claims for what they suffered. We also raised the need for individual patient reviews to be carried out as swiftly as possible.
A lack of access to social care leaves people stuck in hospital or going without the support they need. The SNP government wasted much of this session of parliament pushing a failed plan to centralise control of local services, but the need to bring in practical measures to fix social care remains.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats used our debate in Holyrood today to hold the SNP government to account for its failure to close the poverty-related attainment gap, ten years after Nicola Sturgeon set this deadline and asked to be judged on this issue.
Willie is absolutely right: Island crofters and farmers were supposed to be targeted as beneficiaries of FFIS, but Shetland businesses were awarded less than 1.9% of the first round funds, and the Western Isles a miserly 0.2%. The SNP will not improve until they admit what went wrong the first time.
Funding for a second round of the Future Farming Investment Scheme is welcome, but the SNP government needs to learn from the mistakes it made in the first round.
I met with Ramblers Scotland, the British Horse Society and ScotWays at the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference to discuss their work supporting access to the outdoors and improving paths and tracks across the country.
I was delighted to join Wendy Chamberlain and other parliamentarians at the launch of the Newburgh Train Station Campaign's public display on Friday. They have transformed a previously derelict shopfront into a display that clearly communicates the progress of the campaign to residents and visitors.
Many thanks to @jennygilruthmsp.bsky.social @ross-greer.bsky.social @willierennie.bsky.social Miles Briggs MSP.
Picture of the panel at the Hustings event.
Today we held a College Hustings @edinburghcollege.ac.uk which brought together spokespeople from each main political party for a debate on their priorities for colleges, students in the next Parliament @benmacpherson.bsky.social @ross-greer.bsky.social @pfokane.bsky.social @willierennie.bsky.social
Colleges are vital to getting people the skills they need to thrive and to grow the economy. The Scottish Liberal Democrats engaged constructively in the budget process and secured a 10% uplift in funding.
However colleges need certainty about the future direction of funding.
I'm grateful to Colleges Scotland for organising a hustings with education spokespeople on Monday. It was an important opportunity to discuss the future of a sector which is vital giving people the skills they need to thrive and to growing the economy.
There was consensus in the Scottish Parliament last year that an independent national review of maternity services was necessary to address the serious failures which were highlighted and to restore confidence. Now however the Scottish Government is pulling back.
However the SNP's neglect of college's won't be undone in a single year, so I asked the further education minister to give the sector some certainty about future increases. 2/2
The Scottish Liberal Democrats engaged constructively in the budget process and secured £300 million for our priorities, including £70 million for colleges. 1/2
Ministers need to get a grip of the system, which has been described by a heat pump company as the biggest barrier to greater up-take, in order to bring down people's bills. 2/2
The Scottish Government's home energy scheme is six times more expensive to administer than the equivalent scheme in England and Wales, while also leading to a stalling number of green energy installations. 1/2
The closure of the ExxonMobil plant at Mossmorran has been a blow to the workers and community there. I have been encouraged to see the constructive work between Fife Council and the UK and Scottish governments, but that needs to be built on to secure future opportunities at the site.
The Scottish Parliament's education committee heard evidence from the Scottish Council for Independent Schools on the effect of the UK Government's decision to introduce VAT on their fees. I asked about the effect on the continuity of education for children from families with modest incomes.
I was glad to join Ed Davey and other Liberal Democrat parliamentarians last week for a day of discussions with businesses from across Scotland, covering energy, housing, skills, food and drink, fish and more.
It was great to visit St Andrews Aquarium at the weekend with Wendy Chamberlain and Daisy Cooper. We heard about their work with volunteers, community projects and their plans for the future.
...Revaluation Transitional Relief for self-catering businesses.
However if you run a self-catering business I want to hear from you about the effect this will have on your business. 2/3
I have heard the concerns of self-catering businesses about the business rates revaluation. My Scottish Liberal Democrat colleagues and I have engaged with the Scottish Government through the budget process and have secured a new... 1/3
We have engaged constructively and in a grown-up way with the budget process while pressing ministers for every penny to deliver for people across Scotland. 2/2
The Scottish Liberal Democrats have secured £300 million for our priorities in the Scottish Government budget. That means more money for business rates relief, colleges, social care, hospices, autism and ADHD assessments and support, and backing for young entrepreneurs. 1/2
The best part of two decades on from the SNP promise to replace the council tax, they have barely moved an inch forward. Ministers have come and gone, claiming that they wanted to listen to other parties' proposals, without ever proposing a serious way forward.
I have called for the current revaluation of business rates to be paused, in order to address the concerns of hospitality and self-catering businesses. Many fear that they simply won't be able to continue operating if the increases in their rates go ahead.
It was right to replace the SQA but we need to make sure that the new body, Qualifications Scotland, works constructively with the rest of the education sector. I asked the education secretary how she will ensure that happens.
They can been booked online and are small enough to be set up in housing developments and businesses' car parks.
It's a great example of the kind of innovative small business that we need to support. 2/2
