Author: Rhoda Grant

Today in Parliament, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism, was asked to reassure Parliament about the smelter owner’s operations in Scotland, particularly in Lochaber, following the collapse of the Greensill Capital UK finance firm.

Mr Ewing told the chamber jobs at the smelter were secure and the order book was healthy.

Highlands & Islands MSP Rhoda Grant raised follow-up questions around community land ownership.

She said: “I am pleased to receive the reassurance with regard to GFG Alliance’s operations in Scotland and especially in Lochaber.

“When it purchased the Alcan Estate and Smelter in Lochaber a commitment was made to the Scottish Government and the community that they would transfer some of the vast estate to community ownership, this would have created more jobs and boosted the local economy.

“I understand from East Lochaber and Laggan Community Trust that this has not happened. 

“I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary about this, and in his response, he appeared to wash his hands off this matter. 

“Therefore, can I prevail push upon him to ensure that GFG Alliance make good this commitment?”

The Cabinet Secretary accepted there was work to do in this area, saying community involvement was something he would very much like to see taken forward. He said he has had discussions with the owner, Sanjeev Gupta, and that they had spoken to Community Councils and had been looking at one project in particular – to which there was no further mention.

Speaking afterwards, Mrs Grant said: “I was pleased to hear some work is being done on this but we definitely need to keep the pressure up on them to get things moving. If anything is coming down the line, it’s a long time coming.”

 

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, recently visited the mobile speed camera unit, stationed on the Tain bypass.

Mrs Grant, who backed the community’s campaign for more safety measures around Tain’s Aldi and Lidl junctions, was shown how the unit helps to reduce speed on the bypass where the limit is now 50mph.

The North Safety Camera Unit issued an invitation to Mrs Grant given her work with constituents who were keen to see improvements at the accident spot.

“As with all drivers, I know that a glimpse of the camera unit does keep my speed in check and is a handy reminder of any changes to limits on the road,” she said.

“Thanks to the member of staff who showed me around, socially distanced of course, as it was good to see its inner workings.

“The site I visited was an already established location for the North Safety Camera Unit and it will continue to monitor traffic, with the reduced limit, with the aim of making the area safer for all road users.

“I do hope that a lower speed will lead to fewer accidents on this stretch, especially with travel restrictions easing after April.”

Mrs Grant was initially contacted two years ago by constituents who told her that ‘nearly every week’ an incident happens’ around the Asda and Lidl junctions.

At the time it was highlighted that 11 accidents had taken place around the Tain junctions, labelling it the worst A9 hotspot.

Transport Scotland is looking into other safety measures including the community’s call to have roundabouts at the junctions.

The Scottish Government has rejected Labour MSP’s Rhoda Grant’s call for care homes to be nationalised.

Mrs Grant raised fears for five cares homes in her constituency, which are going on the market.

Moss Park at Fort William, Blair Buidhe in Stornoway, Castle Gardens in Invergordon, Cradlehall in Inverness, and Kintyre in Argyll, are among 52 care homes being sold by HC-One, the UK’s largest care homes company.

The Highlands & Islands MSP wrote earlier this month to Jeane Freeman, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport, asking the government if it would take the homes under public ownership.

And now, the government has issued the MSP with a reply stating it does not believe nationalisation would address the problems lying at the heart of the care home sector.

Pointing to an independent review of Adult Social Care in Scotland, the reply written on behalf of the “over-stretched” health secretary by Gillian Barclay, the Scottish Government’s deputy director of Social Care and Delivery Division, said evidence within it suggested nationalisation would “not in and off itself” improve outcomes for people using care.

Mrs Grant said this would be a blow for care home staff, residents and their families, but has vowed to continue to press for the need.

She believes transferring ownership to NHS Highland would give security to the residents, their relatives and the staff who care for them.

She said that the health board had set a precedent by bringing HC-One’s Skye care home facility, Home Farm, on board last year. The move came after a major Coronavirus outbreak at the setting in which a number of residents died. HC-One came close to being stripped of its operating licence after “serious and significant” concerns were raised about the management of the facility.

Mrs Grant said: “The SNP government is saying it has adopted Labour’s proposals for a National Care Service, but their watered-down version will only lead to centralisation. Nationalising the care home sector would not cost very much more because the public purse already pays 80 per cent of care home fees, which includes the capital costs as well as the revenue costs. The refusal to go down this route, after everything that has happened in the last 12 months, really sickens me. Adult social care cannot continue to be about corporate profit, tax avoidance and shareholder dividends. It should be about human dignity. Public services should be run for people not profit, for public interest instead of private markets.”

She added: “We will keep the pressure on the Scottish Government to bring those five care homes, and others, under public ownership. The Scottish Government’s primary aim, throughout this period, should be to see the best possible care for the residents. These homes should be brought under public control. We would be talking about better care for our elderly, and a stable, well-paid and valued workforce.”

HC-One’s care homes sell off was announced earlier this month.

The company said it also plans to close four care homes south of the border.

It said the facilities being sold were “in areas where we feel our communities would be better served by a local operator in conjunction with other local services”.

Ends.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, has secured a meeting with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance before the Parliament goes into recess next week.

Mrs Grant contacted Kate Forbes, a fellow Highland MSP, again in a last ditch attempt to get help out to some businesses who, so far, have not received any public funding to help them mitigate the financial impact of the Covid restrictions.

Rhoda Grant said “I met with business owners and Highland Council officials earlier this week, and we discussed how the strict eligibility criteria that is attached to many of the Scottish Government’s funding pots is hampering them getting much needed support.

“Almost a year since first lockdown, some of these businesses have not received any public funding to help them through the crisis and they are fearful that their businesses will fold if they cannot access funding in the immediate future. Marine based businesses, in particular, are amongst the hardest hit as they pay harbour dues rather than business rates which excludes them from much of the funding on offer.

Mrs Grant continued “Ms Forbes gave a commitment to my colleague, Jackie Baillie, in response to the budget statement, that she would speak with local authorities if ‘tweaks’ to the funding criteria were needed. I’ve asked the Cabinet Secretary therefore to give me a half hour of her time before recess next week to discuss what talks, if any, she has had with Highland Council on this.

Mrs Grant has since been advised by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Fair Work and Culture, Fiona Hyslop, that discretionary funding is being quadrupled to £120m.

She continued, “When I met with representatives of Highland Council they acknowledged that there was a particular problem with marine businesses accessing funding.

“Since then however, I have been advised by the Scottish Government that Council’s discretionary funding is being quadrupled from £30m to £120m.

“I hope this means that the cap of £2,000 will be lifted from their discretionary funding in order to provide these businesses that have not yet received any funding with the money they need to pull through this. However, I acknowledge that some of the businesses I have been dealing with need a significant uplift to that amount.

“It is desperately unfair that these businesses have received no support and are perilously close to folding through absolutely no fault of their own.”

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant is encouraged at the announcement that the “preferred corridor” for the replacement of the Rest and Be Thankful will be announced later this month and says the public deserve a “5-star permanent solution”.

This comes after the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on Friday answered the MSP’s Parliamentary Questions surrounding the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful. In these responses, he outlined that the design and assessment work is well underway and that the Scottish Government anticipates that the preferred corridor will be announced later this month.

However, notably, the Government did not reveal when they would publish a full timetable for the replacement of this notorious stretch of road.

The MSP has been supporting calls for a replacement road to be agreed, planned, constructed and opened within the term of the next Scottish Parliament.

Rhoda Grant said: “I’m heartened and encouraged by this announcement. Its vital that this project moves forward without delay. The people of Argyll have been inconvenienced enough.

“Looking at the eyewatering amount of money that has been put into papering over the cracks of the Rest and Be Thankful, I would plead with the Government to invest the necessary funds to ensure that Argyll has a five-star permanent solution and that an alternative interim solution is also put in place.”

Mrs Grant continued: “I will continue to pressure the Government to move this project along so that the solution, whichever one they pick, is opened as soon as possible.”

As part of the £87M invested in maintaining the A83 since 2007, the Scottish Government have spent over £15M in landslide measures at the Rest and Be Thankful. This has kept the A83 open for an estimated 48 days, when it otherwise would have been closed.

Additionally, the recent measures including debris netting, improved drainage and a 175m long, 6m high debris bund above the Old Military Road have kept the road in operation for all but eight occasions over the past 2 months (5 partial or whole nights and 3 partial or whole days) with further mitigation measures to be announced in the coming weeks

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, is supporting the Caithness Roads Recovery campaign.

Mrs Grant was contacted by the group asking for her backing and she has written to Highland Council to ask specifically about the predicted cost of road repairs in Caithness and North West Sutherland, but also across the region.

She has also written to the Scottish Government’s Finance Secretary, Kate Forbes, pointing out the campaign’s request for emergency funding, asking what assessment the Government had made of road repairs and what it was going to do to tackle the problem.

“Congratulations to the community for starting this action, as it’s an issue that affects us all, whether, a driver, a pedestrian, biker or cyclist,” said Mrs Grant.

“I’ve looked at its Facebook page and it’s quite eye-opening to see the photos taken by residents in each area. I do worry that it won’t be damaged wheels and tyres, but people may be injured.

“With spring nearly upon us, and people getting out and about a bit more, large potholes and crumbling road surfaces are being seen across the region.

“And, with many people considering a staycation this year, these roads are likely to face increased traffic. While we want to encouraged tourists we must also ensure that the infrastructure to cope with them is in place.

“I completely understand that the local authority may be struggling to catch up with services after coping with the pandemic and they certainly won’t have extra cash on a handy money tree.
“I am hoping that the Government don’t come back with the usual response, that it’s totally up to Highland Council to manage the budget.”

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, has accused the Scottish Government of badly letting down the Shetland community for not helping the funding of the islands’ new MRI scanner.

Mrs Grant wrote to Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, asking if she would now consider chipping in some money to support the service following the fundraising target being reached and the tremendous efforts of people on the islands

However, Ms Freeman has told Mrs Grant while the benefits of the scanner are acknowledged additional Scottish funding is not justified.

“The Health Secretary is basing her calculations on the fact that demand for the scanner would be one day a week, but this is what island and rural areas always face, the balance between the number of people using the service and the fact that a service is so much better when it is close-to-home,” said Mrs Grant.

“We will never break free of the centralisation of services if it is purely a numbers game and it is about time the Scottish Government woke up to that.

“I realise that specialist treatment and complicated surgery will nearly always been be in main centres, to capture the skills and experience of consultants and surgeons, but equipment such as a scanner will make such a difference to people who may already be very sick and face long journeys otherwise.

“It is very disappointing to hear the Scottish Government continue with the same old argument.”

Mr Freeman said: “As I set out in my previous letter, while the benefit of an MRI for the local community is acknowledged by the Scottish Government, we must consider services and funding of those services to ensure appropriate provision across all of Scotland.

“As a consequence, regrettably, it is not always possible to justify funding for provision of all services in all areas. The demand for scanning in Shetland is around 1 day per week, and there would still be a need for specialised scans and supportive care to continue to be provided off the island. This is an example of where justification with regards to provision of additional Scottish Government funding (above that already provided to the Board), in this case for an MRI scanner in Shetland, is not always possible.”

The Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee heard this morning that a ground-breaking technology – backed by an Inverness campaigner – is now with NHS Tayside and should start treating its first patient this year.

The public petitions committee reconvened to hear more on Mary Ramsay’s petition asking the Scottish Government to back the provision of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound technology for the treatment of patients with Essential Tremor.

But Mrs Ramsay, Chair of the Scottish Tremor Society, heard, although the equipment was in situ after a fundraising target to buy it was reached, the Scottish Government is still holding its previous position that patients will not be treated under the NHS in Scotland as is now happening in England.

However, the committee agreed to not closing her petition but to continue to include it in its legacy paper for its successor committee after the Scottish Parliament elections in May, along with a suggestion to then seek an update from new Health Secretary on the Scottish Government’s plans to make the treatment more widely available.

After the committee, Mrs Ramsay, who has Essential Tremor, said: “It was a pleasant surprise that the committee could keep the petition open and pass it on. The committee has been very supportive, and I appreciate that, and really can’t thank them enough.

“Although disappointing that the Government has not seen where I am coming from, the fact that I have cross-party support will hopefully be beneficial for the next Parliament.

“I now have the support of the Neurological Alliance, a coalition of organisations working to transform the lives of those living with a neurological condition, which has also added strength to the campaign.”

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, a long-time supporter of Mrs Ramsay’s campaign, spoke to the committee, thanked members for all the work that they had done and stressed that Mrs Ramsay was not going to give up pressing for the treatment to be widely available in Scotland.

“I can’t help feeling we are making progress but not fast enough. It does not appear that the Scottish Government has done anything to assist the process of bringing this ground-breaking technology to Scotland,” she said.

“I know Mary Ramsay shares my frustration. While understanding the pandemic has slowed things down, there is also a real concern that those requiring treatment now are suffering because of this delay.”

In a submission to the committee, Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, said NHS Scotland National Services Division was continuing to engage with clinicians in Dundee and commissioning colleagues in England to assess how this treatment might be made available to Scottish patients. However, in light of Covid-19, new applications through National Specialist Services Committee were paused. Also, the equipment would begin initially treating one patient on a trial basis for six months.

Mrs Grant said it was disappointing that it could not be more widely available.

“The technology offers faster, safer treatment and is therefore more cost effective. It could be available in Scotland this summer and that would be a game changer for those suffering from Essential Tremor,” she added.

“This delay is of no comfort for those waiting for this treatment and it adds to the frustration that this is available to others with the same condition in the rest of the UK.”

Committee members, MSPs Gail Ross, Maurice Corry and Tom Mason backed the petition being carried forward to the next Parliament, as did Committee Convener, Johann Lamont, saying that she believed the Scottish Government response was “half-hearted”.

* Previously the public petitions committee heard from Professor Dipankar Nandi, about the benefits and cost effectiveness of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound technology for the treatment of patients with Essential Tremor. The professor is based at Imperial College in London and answered questions from MSPs via a video link.

* He told the committee he estimated 10,000 people would have a significant tremor in Scotland and would benefit from the treatment. He explained the technology and science was nothing new and the treatment was an alternative to Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) which involved invasive surgery and inserting a probes inside the head.

* Professor Nandi said NHS England had authorised the treatment for 150 patients a year at his unit.
Mrs Ramsay has Deep Brain Stimulation where electrodes are placed in the brain to help alleviate the condition which causes involuntary and rhythmic shaking affecting almost any part of the body. She will not benefit from the new treatment but is passionate that others will.

* While NHS Scotland has previously rejected funding based on its interpretation of the evidence and NICE guidance, NHS England has now agreed to fund the Magnetic Resonance-guided Focused Ultrasound technology based on the same evidence and countries worldwide already use it

* Fundraising for the equipment was run by the University of Dundee. The technology uses MRI imaging to guide high powered, focused ultrasound to a very small point. At that point, molecules are vibrated extremely quickly, which creates intense local heat which destroys the tissue. The technology allows clinicians to target a very specific focal point – with very little heating produced in front of and behind that point, so only the targeted tissue is affected.

MSP Rhoda Grant has welcomed a boost for Inverness and Nairn after a five-year contract was signed between Capgemini and the Metropolitan Police.

The Highlands & Islands Labour MSP said she was delighted for the staff who are going to be part of this project.

She said: “This is great news for Inverness and Nairn where the IT firm has bases. At a time when the employment sector is rocky and too many people are in insecure jobs this will help to provide steady employment and I will be writing to congratulate Cap Gemini on this success.”

It comes as Scottish Labour announces plans for a Business Network to grow new jobs.

The Scottish Labour Business Network is to be led by former Trade Minister Brian Wilson.

It will convene business leaders and produce new policy ideas designed to help businesses grow so that new jobs can be created.

Scottish Labour’s new leader Anas Sarwar has said the party will “have a laser-focus on job creation and engage positively with businesses to create the sustainable economic recovery we need”.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, has said she is becoming ‘increasingly exasperated’ that her repeated pleas to the Scottish Government to listen to the concerns of local business over the stringent eligibility criteria in place for sectoral funding continue to fall on deaf ears.

Mrs Grant raised the matter twice this week, with the First Minister (for the second time), and with the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government, Aileen Campbell, during Topical Questions in Parliament today (03/03/2021).

She asked the Cabinet Secretary what discussions the Scottish Government has had regarding changing the ring fence criteria concerning the sectoral funds which are distributed by local authorities and appealed for the Cabinet Secretary to listen to the pleas from business, some of whom are paying off staff as they can no longer afford to keep them on.

Speaking afterwards Mrs Grant said “It is becoming increasingly exasperating to receive the same stock answer time and time again from Scottish Ministers that they are listening and funding is in place.

“They continue to punt the discretionary funding that has been made available to local authorities to catch those who don’t qualify for sectoral grants but in Highland, the amount available per business from the discretionary funding is capped at £2,000 per business.

She continued “£2,000 is not going to save these businesses and I know owners are having sleepless nights as they prepare to pay staff off. This is heartbreaking on so many levels, for the owners who are watching their dreams disappear, for the staff who are losing their jobs, and for the Highland economy which is so reliant on tourism for its existence.

“The Government says it is listening to local authorities, and to business, but I’m not seeing much evidence of that from my inbox.”