Scottish Parliament News
number 9

Cathy Peattie MSP
Falkirk East

Fighting for Grangemouth jobs

Following the announcement of up to a thousand job losses at BP, a series of meetings was urgently arranged between the company, trade unions, agencies and political representatives. Under the Executive's Partnership Action for Continuing Employment Framework, a BP response team has been formed. An action plan is being developed to assist the development of new business ventures; reuse some building and land for light industry; provide specialist advice and information for new and existing businesses; and provide of skills training for future jobs. BP were urged to rethink by Falkirk East's MSP, Cathy Peattie. "I do not believe that BP can make cuts on the scale they envisage without compromising safety," said Cathy. "Let's face it, the company's record is not exactly unblemished. Do they expect people to believe that it will not deteriorate if they dispense with the skills and experience of a third of their workers?

"These problems will be exacerbated by the short timescales they are talking about. Workers often have many years of valuable experience and job-acquired knowledge. You can't teach someone that sort of thing overnight. For safety's sake, for redeployment, and for many other reasons, people will need more training and that takes time. BP has not allowed enough time for changes of this magnitude.

"I would also question their wish to control who goes, who gets redeployed, and who stays. If someone wants to move to another job within BP, the local management should not place obstacles in their path.

"BP workers should not be presented with a fait accompli. They and their trade unions should be properly consulted. BP workers are stressed enough, without heavy-handed management adding to their problems."

"BP tend to blame the global markets for their predicament - but they are a major player in those markets and have helped to make them the way they are today. BP is a large, profitable company. They may be realigning their commercial interests, but local workers deserve better than redundancy to suit the whims of BP's strategic changes. The company should negotiate with unions and give better support to affected workers."

New First Minister New Cabinet

November was an eventful month. Following the media feeding frenzy on the facts and fiction of Henry McLeish's office arrangements, the First Minister resigned on the 8th.

Jack McConnell was first to declare as a potential successor, followed by Malcolm Chisholm. Counter to expectations, no other minister threw their hat in the ring. John McAllion sought, but did not get the seven MSP nominations needed. With a two-way contest on the cards, Malcolm, who had put himself forward as the "unity" candidate, withdrew, leaving Jack to be elected unopposed as leader of the Scottish Labour Party.

Although Jack was supported by 35 of 55 MSPs, many party members were clearly dissatisfied and frustrated by the lack of an all member ballot, leading to calls for a change in the rules. Jack was elected to be First Minister on Thursday 22nd, received the royal warrant on the 26th, and on Tuesday 27th, was sworn in and named his cabinet.

Jim Wallace remains Deputy First Minister, and is also Minister for Justice.
His Deputy Minister of Justice is now Richard Simpson.
The others Ministers and Junior Ministers are:

Education and Young People - Cathy Jamieson / Nicol Stephen
Enterprise, Transport, and Lifelong Learning - Wendy Alexander / Lewis Macdonald
Environment and Rural Development - Ross Finnie /Allan Wilson
Tourism, Culture and Sport - Mike Watson /Elaine Murray
Social Justice - Iain Gray / Margaret Curran
Finance and Public Services - Andy Kerr / Peter Peacock
Health and Community Care - Malcolm Chisholm / Hugh Henry and Mary Mulligan
Parliamentary Business - Patricia Ferguson / Euan Robson

The Lord Advocate remains Colin Boyd QC, while the new Solicitor General is Elish Angiolini.

Constituency office - 5 Kerse Road, Grangemouth, FK3 8HQ phone 01324 666026 fax 01324 473951
Parliament office - room 3.20, Scottish Parliament, EH99 1SP phone 0131 348 5746/7 fax 0131 348 5750 cathy.peattie.msp@scottish.parliament.uk

Improving school dinners

An expert panel is being established to devise national nutritional standards, improve the appeal of school meals and maximise the uptake of free school meals.

"There is a clearly established link between health and educational achievement, and children need nutritious meals, but there are problems with the way that the schools meals system currently operates," said Cathy Peattie MSP. "Those in need - about 20% - are eligible for free meals, but not all are taking them.

"It is tempting to say, make all meals free, but that isn't the best use of resources. We ought to be able to devise a system that targets without stigmatising recipients.

"The Expert Panel is expected to report in May 2002. The panel's priorities include: developing nutritional standards, minimising stigmatisation for free meals and promoting best practice."

In the past couple of years the Scottish Executive has put in place a range of measures including Fruit and salad bars, `healthy' tuck shops, and breakfast clubs, established with the help of the Scottish Executive's £100m Health Improvement Fund.

The Airth Bridge

Cathy used Scottish Parliament question time to call on Lewis Macdonald, the Minister responsible for the new Kincardine Bridge, to meet and discuss the plans with local people.

"People would like to be better consulted about the options, and if possible to speak directly to the Minister. I have asked for such a meeting before. Since there is now a new Minister responsible, I have reissued the invitation.

"I also sought ministerial clarification of the name of the bridge. Two Mid Scotland and Fife list MSPs referred to it as the Clackmannanshire Bridge, which would be a strange name for a crossing from Fife to Falkirk."

On the buses

Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie met First bus company's Managing Director George Mair and local General Manager Paul Coupar on Friday 23^rd November, to deliver a catalogue of complaints about local services.

"I have had complaints from every part of my constituency about cuts and poor services. I made it clear to the company that local people do not understand how they can call recent changes "service improvements"

"I gather that bus drivers are not too happy with the changes either - partly because of the company's poor consultation with them, and partly because they are bearing the brunt of public disgruntlement.

"I told First bus that I thought it was a bit rich to claim the changes were "customer service led". There was no consultation with service users.

" Speaking to council officials is not adequate. I doubt that many of them depend on the services that have been cut. Falkirk Council should have ensured that there was consultation with community councils, old folks' organisations, and so on. Company reps should have been present at well-publicised local area forums.

"The local manager was defensive and dismissive, but the Managing Director, Mr Mair, did agree to investigate the complaints that I had given him.

"Even belatedly, after the changes have been made, public consultation meetings would still be a good idea. The company and Falkirk Council should take account of the strength of feeling among the public, reconsider the cuts, and look at the other problems and shortcomings of the service that the changes have failed to address"

Falkirk Council receive an increase in grant of £14.1m for the financial year 2002-2003 - an 8.81% increase, higher than the Scottish average, and well ahead of inflation. The 2003-2004 projection is also good, with another £10.5m in the pipeline.

"The central government grant increases should help Falkirk Council to address gaps in provision without impairing existing services or introducing big increases in Council Tax.

"Of course, we must continue to fight for continued improvements in local funding. To some extent, the funding recognises that there are a lot of social problems needing addressed in this area. Recent news has emphasised that our local economy faces an uncertain future. I will continue to work with Falkirk Council and others to make the case for my constituency, and the Falkirk and Forth Valley areas."

Drugs Survey

A new survey has highlighted the scale of the drugs problem in the Falkirk Council and Forth Valley Health Board area.

"According to the new figures, there are estimated to be 1,163 problem drug users in the Falkirk Council area," said Cathy, "and over 2,200 in Forth Valley - but this is a best guess, and the numbers could easily be double these levels.

"Much of the problem remains hidden. There are 346 known problem drug users in the Falkirk area, and perhaps five times as many that authorities do not know.

Quicker access to rehab

"I am very concerned that rehabilitation services cannot even cope with those users who have come forward for treatment. People seeking rehabilitation must often wait many weeks or months before getting access to services.

"While they wait, their resolve is sapped away by further drug taking; they face the risk of overdose or deadly contamination; their families face tremendous stress and financial hardship; or users may turn to crime to support their habit.

"If someone wants to give up, they should get help as quickly as possible. Not only does this increase the chance of successful treatment, but also delay imposes enormous costs on families in particular and society in general.

"The Scottish Executive has given extra funding for the Falkirk area, this year and for the next two years - £576,000 a year for rehabilitation, and £410,000 for families and young people. Forth Valley Health Board has also been given an extra £898,519 for treatment."

Visits

Recent weeks have seen several visits to parliament from groups of constituents, including the Polmont Probus Club and Bo'ness Women's Rural Institute.

Below Cathy is seen talking to a representative of the Linked Work and Training Trust, which is based in Falkirk, at an event staged to publicise and gain support for the expansion of their innovative Community Degree programme.

LAND REFORM

The long awaited Land Reform Bill was published at the end of November. The Bill is divided into three parts - access; community right to buy; and crofting community right to buy.

The biggest arguments over the Bill have concerned access, as groups such as ramblers fight to protect their traditional right to roam, while landowners seek to maximise their right to deny access.

The Bill has dropped its previously included provisions for landowners and local authorities to suspend access, while the exclusion of land used for crops has been widened to include grass grown for hay and silage, but not pasture.

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