Scottish Parliament News
number 17

Cathy Peattie MSP
Falkirk East

• shorten the hours retailers are allowed to sell alcohol;

• allow police and licensing boards to use underage volunteers to target retailers selling alcohol to under 18’s – with sentences up to 3 months for retailers who repeatedly sell alcohol to underage purchasers;

• give greater powers to communities to have their say on local licensing; and,

• crackdown on irresponsible promotional activities ensuring drinks have to be sold at the same price for at least 72 hours, thus banning happy hours that encourage speed drinking.

Urgent environment action needed

“Recent estimates show that the area of land and sea needed to provide all the resources currently consumed in Scotland is 2.4 times the global average,” says Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie.

“I am therefore very pleased that the Scottish Executive has shown its commitment to urgent action with the publication of Scotland’s first Sustainable Development Strategy, and its support for the energy performance of buildings directive.

“The Strategy details actions which must be taken by government, business and consumers to improve our environment and resources. It will ensure that our environment, society and economy are taken into account when major decisions are taken – meaning that future developments will be about more than just financial implications.

“The energy performance certificates will act as indicators to potential owners on the energy efficiency of the property and will take into account boiler efficiency, heating controls, thermal insulation and areas of glazing.

“These measures reinforce our commitment to ensuring Scotland becomes more environmentally friendly and future generations are not left to deal with our problems.”

Beware of the Bullet

Cathy Peattie MSP has hit out at Lib Dem plans for a bullet train between Glasgow and Edinburgh, as detailed in newspaper reports of the uncosted PPP proposal for the Lib Dem Manifesto in 2007, which ignores the needs of commuters throughout the central belt,

"The Lib Dems seem to have forgotten about the thousands of commuters in the central belt who don’t live in either Glasgow or Edinburgh,” said Cathy. “I am concerned but not surprised that this seemingly cobbled together plan does not consider the knock-on effects for people who use the Polmont and Falkirk stations to travel to Glasgow and Edinburgh. It may have escaped the Lib Dems’ notice but, lying half way between the two big cities, we have a growing number of potential rail commuters in this area, and this half baked plan would undermine the viability of public transport options for my constituents.

“The proposals talk about the construction of a new line. I recognise the desire for a high speed link connecting Glasgow and Edinburgh, but have the Lib Dems considered what would happen to the service level on the existing line if passengers travelling between Glasgow and Edinburgh had a different option?

“I would need guarantees that the level of local services would be at least maintained, and preferably improved by ensuring local access to the high speed line, before I could support this proposal.”

Half Million Makeover for Local Woodlands

Local Woodlands are set to get over a half a million pounds funding, with the Falkirk area having seven out of the thirty projects receiving awards from the Scottish Executive.

“I'm really pleased about how well local projects have done,” said Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie.

"Forests and woodlands are natural retreats from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and can contribute enormously to people's health and well-being. This funding boost will breathe new life into our local woodlands and benefit our local communities by giving more opportunities for woodland activity to local people. These awards clearly recognise the value and importance of the work that is being undertaken in our area."

The local projects are:

• Abbotshaugh Woodland (Falkirk Council and Scottish Water) - approx £99,000

• Roughcastle Woods (Central Scotland Forest Trust and others) - approx £78,400

• Lionthorn Woods, Lionthorn, (Callendar Trust) - approx £108,500

• Kinneil Foreshore Woodland (Falkirk Council) - approx £48,300.

• Carron Glen Woodlands (Scottish Wildlife Trust) - approx £47,500

• Polmont Woods (Falkirk Council) - approx £65,000

• West Quarterburn / Mavisbank Woods (Callendar Trust) - £83,000.

Falkirk East MSP calls for better driving

“Despite improvements, there are still far too many serious accidents,” says Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie.

“The latest accident statistics show that in 2004, 65 people were killed or seriously injured on roads in the Falkirk area. That's down from an average of over a hundred people ten years ago, but it is still 65 too many.”

For the Central Police area as a whole, the figures show a total of 659 accidents, resulting in 198 people killed or seriously injured and another 706 with minor injuries.

“The impact of these deaths and injuries to families, friends and communities is immense. So I am pleased that the Scottish Safety Camera Partnership is using the fines obtained from speeding to fund a £650,000 advertising campaign over the next two months.

“The campaign will use television, radio and petrol pump adverts, as well as billboard posters, and aims to highlight that speeding can have much wider implications than a fine or penalty points. It can cause death, not just for motorists and passengers, but for pedestrians and other road users.

“I urge all drivers to take notice of this campaign and think about their behaviour and the real implications of speeding when driving on our roads.”

Parent participation in picking headteachers

Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie welcomed plans to give local parents more involvement in appointing headteachers and deputes in local schools.

Under the plans, parents would be:

Consulted on the advertising strategy and job description

Involved in the short and long-listing process

Involved in the final interview/assessment stage

“Currently parents are actively involved only at the final interview stage,” said Cathy. “Every local school should have the best headteacher for that school, and parents can play
a key role in achieving this. The views of local parents are vital when appointing headteachers.
This will strengthen local parents role by giving them the opportunity to get involved at all stages of the selection process, particularly at the short-listing stage. This means they will be able to make a more meaningful contribution to these vital appointments and that can only be in the best interests of the school and its pupils”

The plans are being presented within the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Bill, which
was published in September and is currently making its way through the Scottish Parliament.
The consultation on headteacher appointments begins on Wednesday 23 November and runs
until the end of February 2006. Anyone who would like to comment on the plans can do so at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current

MSP calls for better support for local Domestic Violence programmes

Falkirk East MSP Cathy Peattie has called on the Scottish Executive to address a major gap in its Violence Against Women programme that affects local organisations.

Speaking during a Scottish Parliament debate, Cathy explained that “Section 27 of the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968 provides for the funding of perpetrator programmes, such as those that are run by the Grangemouth based Change organisation, the Safeguarding Communities-Reducing Offending Falkirk domestic violence project, and the Lothian and Borders domestic violence probation project.

“However, there is no statutory funding for complementary work with people's partners and families and that undermines the value of the programmes.

“In the light of the Executive's desire 'to challenge the attitudes which place the blame on the woman and not the perpetrator', I hope that it will ensure that that desire is reflected in the funding status of work with the families of perpetrators.”

Cathy was speaking in a debate to mark the 16 days of activism against gender violence, which is now in its 15th year, running from 25 November, which is international day for the elimination of violence against women, to 10 December, which is international human rights day.

She told the parliament that there was “a clear link between those days - Violence against women is a violation of human rights”.

Noting that 6 December was the anniversary of the Montreal massacre in 1989, when a gunman entered the École Polytechnique and killed 14 women, screaming, "I hate feminists.", she said that “we should not forget that extreme gender violence is more common than many think.

“Every year millions of women are raped, and as many as 2 million are forced to undergo genital mutilation. The World Health Organisation reports that 70 per cent of female murder victims are killed by their male partners.

“Studies in the United Kingdom have found that at least one woman in four will experience domestic abuse at some stage in her life.
The British crime survey 2004 suggests that that figure may be as high as 45 per cent. Nearly half of UK female murder victims—an average of two women a week—are killed by a male partner or former partner. One hundred and sixty-seven women are raped every day.”

Cathy welcomed the £3 million per year which has been given to the violence against women fund and also expressed her hope that the domestic abuse court pilot, which has now been running successfully in Glasgow for more than a year, would be extended throughout Scotland.

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