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Joe FitzPatrick MSP

• MSPs Look Forward to Caird Hall ‘Homecoming’ Concert

  19Dec
  The singer in action at the close of SNP Conference 2008

  Dundee MSPs Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick are looking forward to singer Sandi Thom’s Homecoming Scotland 2009 Tour date in the Caird Hall, and hope to attend if their schedules permit.

  The singer is visiting the Caird Hall on Saturday 31st January. Tickets for the Caird Hall event are still available.
  Joe FitzPatrick said: “We greatly enjoyed Sandi Thom’s appearance at the SNP Conference in Perth earlier this year singing ‘Caledonia’ and helping to promote the Year of Homecoming 2009 message, which is one of celebration of Scottish culture and talent. I hope to attend the concert if time permits.” Later on the tour, First Minister Alex Salmond will duet with the singer on stage in Banff.
  Over the past three years Sandi Thom has sold over 2 million records worldwide, performed three International tours with her band and enjoyed No.1 Success in Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Australia and the UK. She is currently writing her 3rd album and preparing for her American tour next year. Before this, Sandi is touring Scotland to celebrate Homecoming Scotland 2009. The tour begins in Edinburgh and in keeping with the theme of Homecoming, Sandi has been researching young new talent, and inviting them onstage in each concert, giving talented youngsters the chance to shine on stage.

   

• MSP Supports Free Home Heat Helpline Campaign

  19Dec

  Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick is helping to raise awareness of the free-phone Home Heat Helpline, to enable fuel poor and vulnerable customers to access the information and services they need to reduce their energy consumption, and therefore manage their fuel bills.

   Joe said: “It’s been a cold winter so far and I want to help to promote the Home Heat Helpline 0800 33 66 99 and new website as a useful source of free advice and support for vulnerable and fuel poor constituents in the coldest months of the year.

  “With the financial situation as it is, we all want to save on energy bills and to become more energy-efficient.

  “Large numbers of vulnerable people are still unaware that they might qualify for grants to fit free or discounted home insulation.

  “The Helpline, entirely funded by energy suppliers, provides vulnerable customers, including older people, families with young children, and people with disabilities or long term health conditions, with a direct link to a specialist team within their energy supplier.

  “This will provide direct help through access to grants and support for those most in need, while the Helpline also acts as a one stop shop for access to the full range of support services from a wide range of organisations.

  “It is important to make people aware that customers or their relatives and friends will also be able to make enquiries and access support online.”

  Research conducted for the Energy Retail Association (ERA) showed that, although 75% of respondents say the credit crunch has made them more concerned about saving energy, more than half admit that they are not as energy efficient as they could be.

  One third of those surveyed across the UK are unaware that there are grants available to fit free or discounted home insulation. Two thirds of people do not know they might qualify for grants and other assistance from their energy supplier.

   The Helpline has recently been upgraded in order to make it even more accessible to consumers. This year, for the first time, the Home Heat Helpline website (www.homeheathelpline.org) has been upgraded to ensure that customers or their relatives and friends will also be able to make enquiries and access support online.

  In parallel, the Home Heat Helpline will be able to direct calls – at no cost to the caller – to a number of specialised services including, Consumer Focus Scotland,  Energy Savings Scotland Advice Centre, benefits teams at DWP and the Care and Repair Forum Scotland. Customers or their relatives and friends will also be able to make enquiries and access support online.

• MSP’s Christmas Card Competition Winner

  19Dec

  

  Joe with winning pupil Carla Small and Headteacher Mrs Stella Andrews

  Joe FitzPatrick MSP visited St Andrews’ RC Primary School to present a pupil in Primary 5A a gift voucher as the winner of the competition to select a Christmas card design. Carla Small’s design of a sleeping cat in front of a Christmas tree near a window showing a starry sky, was selected by Joe from hundreds of entries from schools across Dundee West to be his official Christmas card.

  Joe said: “I was delighted with Carla’s design and its message of peacefulness at this time of year.  I was also delighted to get the chance to visit the school and meet Carla and Mrs Andrews and thank them both.” Thanks to collaboration with Dundee printer Fairprint, a donation of £250 was made to Cash For Kids.

• MSP Welcomes Capital Investment for Abertay University

  04Dec

  Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick welcomed the acceleration of £7.5 million this year (and additional funds next year) for Further and Higher Education announced yesterday by Cabinet Secretary for Finance John Swinney at Holyrood as part of a £260 million package of measures to support the Scottish economy during the present economic downturn.

  Joe FitzPatrick said: “Some of the funding, approx £250,000 is for refurbishment work at the University of Abertay Dundee.

  “I welcome the announcement and am pleased that Abertay University will be able to go ahead earlier than planned with this key work to improve the energy efficiency of key buildings within the University.

  “I am pleased that Dundee is to benefit from the Scottish Government’s deployment of resources to support the Scottish economy at this difficult time.”
  
  The Scottish Government announced yesterday [Wednesday 3rd Dec] some of the projects for which they are bringing forward capital investment.John Swinney, Finance Secretary, announced the projects which are spread around the country and all areas will see the bringing forward of money for local authorities to a total of £260 million of capital next year.

• Safe Sex Message Vital In Festive Period Says MSP

  04Dec
  

  Joe with Catherine Murphy, Policy Officer, Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland

  Joe FitzPatrick MSP has called for all agencies to promote the safe sex message to prevent new cases of HIV infection in Dundee over the festive period.

   

   

  At an awareness-raising event in Edinburgh organised by Sexual Health charity Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland to mark World AIDS Day yesterday figures were produced which show a 230% increase in cases of HIV infection in Tayside since 2000, the number of new cases rising from 10 to 33 in 2007. The increase mirrors a steep rise across Scotland.

  The Dundee West MSP, who attended the event, said: “The increase in new cases suggests that people are still taking chances with their sexual health.

  Joe FitzPatrick said: “The numbers of people going for a test is also on the increase. However, nearly 45% of people diagnosed in Scotland in the last year have been diagnosed late, when damage to the immune system is already showing.

  “Even though HIV seems to have slipped out of the spotlight in recent decades, the infection is still spreading around Scotland. The stigma and fear often associated with HIV often prevents people coming forward for testing. The reality is that people diagnosed today, as long as they get access to treatment, can go on to live long and healthy lives. If you think you may have been at risk, it’s really important to go for a test and not to put it off.”

   

  Catherine Murphy, Policy Officer at Terrence Higgins Trust Scotland said: “Even in some areas where we may be only talking about relatively small numbers, the upwards trend in HIV in the last 10 years is definitely visible in most parts of Scotland.

   

   “If you add to this the explosion that we’ve seen in recent years in other STIs, like Chlamydia, its clear that the safer sex message has never been more important.”