September 2024 Newsletter

September Newsletter 

Welcome to my newsletter, where I set out what I have been doing over the last month. If you want to see more of what I am up to, follow me on social media. If I can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to get in touch through the details below. 

Another month, another broken promise by the SNP, this time on universal school meals for all Primary 6 & Primary 7 pupils. In a recent budget statement, I was appalled to hear that the Scottish Government would not be rolling out their commitment in full (having copied the Scottish Conservatives and included it in their 2021 manifesto).

I called a debate to point out that government is all about priorities, and if they didn’t waste so much on pet projects, they could start delivering for the Scottish people.

My full speech can be found here

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Earlier this month, the Scottish Government laid a bill to promote "Gaelic" and "Scots". This concerns me on a number of levels - leaving aside it is a really poorly drafted Bill - witnesses told us the legislation won't really make a difference, combining all Scottish dialects under "Scots". I really believe this will be to the detriment of Doric and cannot be allowed to happen.

Now, with at most about 18 months left in this Parliament, given the failures on school meals, laptops, violence in schools, teacher shortages and more, is this really what the Scottish Parliament ought to be concerning itself with at this time?

You can watch my speech in full here

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It was a pleasure to stop by the Royal Society of Edinburgh stand in Holyrood and discuss, amongst other things, the Hayward review and how we can reform and improve Scottish education.

You can read watch my speech on the Hayward review here

This month at the UK Labour conference, Keir Starmer finally announced that GB Energy will be headquartered in Aberdeen. While any additional investment is welcome in the North East, questions still remain about the number of jobs the Aberdeen headquarters will provide, and what the purpose of this new quango will be.

One thing is for certain, Labour's position on no new oil & gas drilling will lead to tens of thousands of jobs loses and the introduction of GB Energy to Aberdeen will not offset the economic damage.

I raised this in Holyrood which you can watch here

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I was shocked to discover statistics showing only 10.5% of newly qualified teachers in Angus are in a permanent post a year after qualifying.

Angus council have said that it cannot afford more teachers, so I put it to the Cabinet Secretary, as I wanted to hear the latest inaccurate excuse she would read from her script.

You can watch the exchange here

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I enjoyed a really enlightening visit to Robert Gordon's College. Principal Robin MacPherson and his team welcomed me and showed me round the extremely impressive facilities, including the innovative #RGCOnline, which is equipping students from far and wide with the tools and skills for working in the global tech ecosystem.

A key thing for me though was the positive atmosphere right across the campus, and also how embedded the school is in the local community. An excellent learning experience for me. 

You can learn more about the excellent work that Robert Gordon's College does here.