Scottish Parliament News
number 5

Cathy Peattie MSP
Falkirk East

MSP welcomes Falkirk money

Falkirk East’s Constituency MSP, Cathy Peattie, has welcomed the local authority grant announcement - particularly the news that next year, Falkirk Council will receive the largest increase in Scotland.

“ We are benefitting from a review that has simplified and made local government finance fairer,” explained Cathy, “ but calculations are still based on key factors such as population levels, distribution and social needs.

“ It is important that we have moved to three year allocations. This provides far more stability for local government, enabling Councils to plan ahead, and to devote more resources to service delivery.

“ The central government grant will rise by 8.8% next year. The following two years are also well ahead of inflation projections, with the three-year cumulative increase being 19.4%, against a Scottish average of 16.1%. Remember too, that this comes on top of this year’s 6.5% increase.

“ These increases will enable Falkirk Council to put into practice the improvements in local services that the Labour Party has promised, including better care provision, public transport improvements and travel concessions, central heating installation, better schools and improved social provision. Now, that’s what I call good news!”

SQA - fiasco, disaster, tragedy.

The SQA “fiasco, disaster, tragedy” was “no fluke, no bit of bad luck,” said Cathy Peattie, speaking in the parliamentary debate on the Education Committee’s SQA inquiry report. “It was mismanagement on a large scale.”

Cathy, who is the Vice-Convener of the Education Committee, also criticised the poor communications within the SQA, where committees “not only failed to record their proceedings, but appeared to have no communication with other committees or the SQA board.” Noting that “the Finance and General Purposes committee only met three times a year,” Cathy pointed to the lack of staff, skills and understanding needed to accomplish the necessary tasks of the SQA, and the organisation’s inability to deal with concerns that were raised. “Even when the scope of the problem was realised, the self-deception that appeared to be rife in the senior management of SQA, continued.”

Cathy said that “it is vital that an appropriate structure is developed to ensure clear lines between the SQA and the Scottish Executive.” The conflicting roles of HMI (Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Schools) were also highlighted in the Education Committee report. Cathy said that she welcomed action on the HMI that had been proposed by Education Minister Jack McConnell and suggested that “when looking at the long-term structures for the SQA, he seeks wide consultation.”
“The important people in all of this are the young people of Scotland. While I accept that some changes may take time, I believe that the recommendations in these reports can help ensure that the problems that took place in the 2000 diet never happen again.”

Cathy also welcomed the announcement that where there were concerns about rejected appeals, an independent panel of subject experts would review the cases in question. “I have had several constituents approach me in such circumstances, and I had written to ask the Education Minister to allow further investigation of these cases.”

Free Criminal Record Checks for the Voluntary Sector

Welcoming the announcement that voluntary organisations will not have to pay for SCRO checks for their workers, Cathy Peattie said, “I am very pleased that the Scottish Executive has taken on board the views expressed by the voluntary sector.
“I have been approached by many people who were very concerned about the possible adverse consequences of voluntary organisations having to pay for these checks. It is important that those involved in voluntary work with young people and children should be scrutinised, but those checks should not be at the expense of the work done by voluntary organisations. As someone with a background in the voluntary sector, I fully understood the problems that this would have caused, and have lobbied against payment proposals.

“It is particularly encouraging that this matter was dealt with by Ministers working closely with the voluntary sector, through the Voluntary Issues Review Group. The Review Group recommendations, which have been accepted, also include the established of a central registered body which will process applications on behalf of the voluntary sector.

“I am sure that this news will be warmly welcomed by those in the voluntary sector.”

menu / home

no java? use the sitemap