Author: Rhoda Grant

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, has contacted Scottish Ministers again calling for a freeze on any more closures of VisitScotland’s iCentres until the concerns of users, staff and union officials are properly considered.

The MSP, who met with Scottish Ministers earlier this year in a bid to stop the closures said she is “deeply disappointed” that VisitScotland pushed forward and closed the iCentre in Stornoway last month (October 2024) while concerns over the impact of the closures on local communities remained outstanding. The reason for the closures is being cited as reduced footfall to the Centres throughout Scotland as visitors move online to source information ahead of their visit.

Rhoda Grant said “I raised the matter with VisitScotland and the Scottish Government earlier this year after I was contacted by media outlets and constituents voicing fierce opposition to the proposed closures. She said at the time “This is a deeply worrying announcement from an organisation that is partially funded by the Scottish Government.”

She continued “VisitScotland pushed forward and closed the Centre in Stornoway last month totally disregarding the concerns of users of the Centre who bought Citylink bus tickets from there for onward travel from the ferry and without considering the impact the closure will have on local tourism related businesses.

“With depopulation being one of the biggest challenges facing Highland and Island areas it makes absolutely no sense to remove jobs and services from these areas. It is vital therefore that the Scottish Government freezes any more closures until the concerns that continue to be raised with me are properly addressed.”

The picture shows Mrs Grant outside the centre in Inverness which is one of the 25 centres throughout Scotland facing closure, 12 of which are within the Highlands and Islands Region that Mrs Grant represents.

Thank you for contacting me in regard to the recent UK Budget announcement on NICs and how this will affect dentists.

The Scottish Government have been given the largest block grant in history and it is now for them to decide how to deliver it to the frontline services that people depend on.

Thanks to Labour’s budget they will receive an additional £1.5bn this year and £3.4bn next year.

The Scottish Government must now listen to calls from stakeholders and use the money they have effectively to ensure that charities (GPs and dentists) are supported, especially those in the care sector, and that public service delivery is prioritised.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP, Rhoda Grant, has tabled motions in the Scottish Parliament congratulating two Inverness based organisations who picked up awards at the Prosper Highlands and Islands Business Excellence Awards which were held in Inverness last month.

New Start Highland won Highland Council’s award for Purposeful Business and Highland BlindCraft Beds picked up the Loganair sponsored award for Excellence in Customer Service, Care and Experience.

Rhoda Grant said “All of the worthy winners are to be congratulated but these are two organisations whose reputations in Inverness are second to none. They give so much to those who use their services, offering support, training and hope to many.

“New Start supports their users in turning their lives around from a point of crisis to give back to their communities whilst Highland BlindCraft provides the opportunity for disabled people to showcase their talents and live full and fulfilling lives.

Mrs Grant concluded “I was delighted to table motions in the Parliament congratulating everyone involved for their great achievements.”

The motions tabled by Rhoda are detailed below:-

Motion Number: S6M-14950
Lodged By: Rhoda Grant
Date Lodged: 17/10/2024

Title: New Start Highland recognised for Purposeful Business

Motion Text:

That the Parliament congratulates New Start Highland on winning the Highland Council Award for Purposeful Business at the Prosper Highlands and Islands Business Excellence Awards 2024, which were held in Inverness; understands that the award recognised a small or medium-sized organisation that best demonstrates how a business can be both purposeful and profitable benefiting its people, supply chain, communities, customers and the environment; further understands that New Start Highland is a social enterprise committed to social and environmental sustainability that supports around 1,500 people each year who are at risk of homelessness and trying to move forward from places of crisis, and provides work experience and qualifications that pave the way for sustainable employment across the Highlands; commends the purposeful work of fellow nominees, The Apprentice Store and Highland BlindCraft Beds; recognises the commitment of Prosper to supporting business and prosperity in the Highlands and Islands region, and celebrates all the finalists and businesses for their positive impact and contribution to communities and the economy of the Highlands and Islands.

Motion Number: S6M-14951
Lodged By: Rhoda Grant
Date Lodged: 17/10/2024

Title: Highland BlindCraft Beds Wins Award for Excellence in Customer Service, Care and Experience

Motion Text:

That the Parliament congratulates Highland BlindCraft Beds on winning the Loganair Award for Excellence in Customer Service, Care and Experience at the Prosper Highlands and Islands Business Excellence Awards 2024, which were held in Inverness; understands that the award recognised an organisation leading the way in embedding a customer-centric culture; further understands that Highland BlindCraft Beds employs over 20 disabled staff to produce hand-made, high-quality, ethical goods with profits directed back into training opportunities and Sensory Services providing visual aids and rehabilitation services to people with sight and hearing loss across the Highlands; commends the work of fellow nominees, Hebrides Cruises and The Majestic Line (Scotland) Ltd, in their pursuit of customer service excellence; recognises the commitment of Prosper to supporting business and prosperity in the Highlands and Islands region, and celebrates all the finalists and businesses for their positive impact and contribution to communities and the economy of the Highlands and Islands.

The full list of winners can be accessed via the following link:-

https://prosper.scot/highlands-islands-businesses-recognised-for-excellence/

Protecting our environment and limiting pollution should be one of the priorities of a Government.

I note that many NGOs are also in opposition to this dramatic increase in incinerators, enabled by the laissez-faire attitude of the Government.

My colleague Monica Lennon raised this in a written question to the Government here, but the response did not fully address Scottish Labour’s concerns about this issue.

So Scottish Labour will continue to press the Scottish Government on it, and Sarah Boyack MSP has written to the relevant Cabinet Secretary, and has also contacted SEPA to understand why they are not seeking to further control incineration capacity.

During the passage of the Circular Economy Bill, Labour fought to make the bill more robust, so that there would be a legal requirement to adhere to the waste hierarchy. The Scottish Government chose to leave that work until the publication of a Circular Economy Plan, which is yet to be published.

Once it is available, I will be sure to scrutinise to ensure that reuse takes priority over incineration.

I will continue to push the Scottish Government to meet the highest standards possible.

Scottish Labour shares the concerns of people across the country about the impact of long-term funding cuts on local government staff and service provision – the budget for local councils is set by the Scottish Government, and SNP-inflicted austerity has left Scotland’s local services under threat.

John Swinney and Kate Forbes slashed council funding year after year when they served as Finance Secretary. Now as First Minister and Deputy First Minister, they are doing nothing to resolve the funding crisis they helped create.

This SNP Government has failed hard-pressed staff like refuse workers, janitors, and catering staff by starving Councils of the funds to run our essential services.

Over the last decade the Scottish Government handed down proportionately deeper cuts to local government than had been made to their own budget. Between 2013/14 and 2022/23 and over £6bn was cut from core local government budgets.

The constant raiding of local government funding has left bins overflowing, roads crumbling, libraries and public spaces closing, and social work struggling to cope. The road repair backlog across Scotland has risen to over £2.2 billion, teacher numbers have fallen below 2007 levels, and councils are having to find savings from essential services like waste management, park maintenance, street cleaning and libraries.

The Scottish Accounts Commission highlighted that councils faced a collective gap of up to £585 million when setting their budgets this year, and the cumulative gap is estimated to rise to £780 million by 2026/27.

Scottish Labour have repeatedly made the case that the raids on local government budgets need to end. That is why have called on the SNP to come to the negotiating table now and fix the mess they have made, and in the long term, Scottish Labour are committed to delivering fair funding for local government so they can continue to deliver the vital frontline services on which we all rely.

Highlands and Islands Labour MSP raises shocking track record of SNP Government house building in rural areas in Scottish Parliament .

The Scottish housing crisis was centre stage at a Scottish Labour Debate yesterday in the Scottish Parliament and Rhoda Grant MSP focused her contribution on rural housing.

In a powerful, wide ranging speech Mrs Grant stated that employers in the Highlands and Islands cannot recruit because of the lack of housing – including the NHS. The loss of the Gaelic language is getting worst because young speakers are leaving the area because they cannot find a home.

She then went on to state that the Scottish Government have only built 3,219 rural affordable homes in the Highlands and Islands (including Moray) since 2017, information which she obtained through Freedom of Information.

She then urged the Scottish Government to evaluate their rural homes definition as currently, homes in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and commuter towns outside Glasgow and Edinburgh area included in the definition. She then described that this disadvantages rural areas as the demand in urban areas is higher plus house building is cheaper there.

In her speech she said: “My point is, it is deceptive to include city areas in rural housing targets and then [for the SNP Government] to pat themselves on the back for building rural homes in city locations. Its simply not right.”

Thank you for getting in touch about this important topic.

Thanks to Young Lives vs Cancer for all its work in advocating for children and young people with cancer, and their families.

Scottish Labour welcome that the Scottish Government published a Cancer Strategy for Children and Young People three years ago, and we are currently exploring what progress has been made to date.

Improving cancer care is about so much more than early diagnosis and faster treatment – of course, these are important, but so too is the mental and wellbeing support. That’s why the North Star Vision is an important intervention.

Jackie Baillie MSP, Scottish Labour’s Spokesperson for NHS Recovery, Health and Social Care, has previously met already with Young Lives vs Cancer, and is keen to learn more about its current work, including the North Star Vision.

More generally, this is a worrying time for cancer patients in Scotland as the SNP Government has repeatedly missed its own lifesaving targets for treatment.

I hope you find this helpful.

Best Wishes,
Rhoda Grant

I have received a significant amount of correspondence from constituents asking for the Scottish Government to introduce legislation on the natural environment. I want to confirm that I share the concerns set out and will support the push to bring forward a Bill as soon as possible.

Scottish Labour supports the proposal to introduce statutory nature recovery targets. As we face the twin nature and climate crises; we believe introducing targets will galvanise the action needed to restore Scotland’s natural environment and help us to play a leadership role in encouraging other countries to take action.

I am disappointed that three years on from the Scottish Parliament election the SNP Scottish Government has not yet introduced a Bill on this area to Parliament.

My colleague, Sarah Boyack MSP, Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Just Transition, has written to the First Minister to seek confirmation that his Programme for Government in September will include plans for a Natural Environment Bill to introduce statutory nature recovery targets.

 

It is important for every Government that they have the correct policies in place to ensure our energy security and in doing so ensure that we sprint to clean power and deliver a just transition for workers.

That is why in the recent General Election, the Labour Party had a manifesto commitment to build a clean power system by 2030, making this one of our key missions in government. While technologies like carbon capture and storage will be important for decarbonising heavy industry, Labour knows that if we are to reduce household bills, deliver energy security and show climate leadership we need to prioritise the sprint to a clean power.

To support this, in the King’s Speech on Wednesday 17^th July there was a commitment to introduce legislation to set up Great British Energy, a publicly owned clean power company headquartered in Scotland, which will help accelerate investment in renewable energy such as offshore wind. This demonstrates the political leadership the new UK Labour Government is taking to sprint to clean power and demonstrate climate leadership. In advance of the election Labour published it’s Green Prosperity Plan which also highlighted the need to invest in local community and cooperatively owned renewables, such as solar, wind and hydro projects through our Local Power Plan.

In its 2022 Report to Parliament, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) set out a monitoring map for decarbonising electricity supply. To decarbonise our electricity supply the 2022 CCC Report was clear that there needed to be faster planning to allow for the rapid deployment of low-carbon energy generation capacity; that there needed to be investment and innovation to develop new infrastructure to allow for a pipeline of low-carbon options and there needs to be a plan to increase electrification in transport, heating and industry. The SNP Scottish Government have failed to follow this advice demonstrated by the last 8 of 12 climate targets being missed as you have referenced.

My Scottish Labour colleague Sarah Boyack MSP, who is Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero, Energy and Just Transition has been calling on the SNP Scottish Government to get on and publish a Green Industrial Strategy and the final version of their Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan. Both of these key Strategies will send a clear signal to industry and stakeholders of the route Scotland will take to decarbonise electricity supply. The failure to publish these Strategies three years after the last Scottish Parliament election has cost vital time in making the transition from fossil fuels to clean power.

My colleague, Sarah Boyack, has already written to the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy to highlight the concerns raised in your e-mail but received a disappointing reply that did not adequately address the issues raised. However, I and my Scottish Labour colleagues will continue to push the SNP Scottish Government to sprint to clean power as quickly as possible and ensure that the need for gas burning power stations is reduced. We will also encourage the Scottish Government to work with the new UK Labour Government as much as possible to ensure a joined up approach in sprinting to clean power as fast and possible and supporting workers through the just transition.

I hope you find this response helpful.

Kind Regards,

Rhoda Grant MSP