• MSP’s High Hopes for new anti-smoking legislation

    27Jan

    Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said today that he had ‘high hopes’ that new legislation, passed at Holyrood, will make a big impact to reduce the numbers of young Scots smoking.

    The MSP was speaking shortly after MSPs had voted to back the Tobacco and Primary Medical Services (Scotland) Bill – which will ban displays of tobacco products, make cigarette vending machines illegal and introduce a registration scheme for tobacco retailers along with a new system of enforcement and penalties for those who breach tobacco sales law. 

    Joe FitzPatrick said: “Smoking remains the single biggest preventable cause of premature death, killing more people than alcohol, obesity, illegal drugs and road accidents put together, yet tobacco marketing is still used to recruit new young smokers.

    “80% of smokers start before the age of 19 and repeated studies have shown that displays of tobacco in shops are influencing young people to take up smoking.  One in ten Scottish 13 and 15 year olds who smoke get their cigarettes illegally from vending machines.

    “A report by Cancer Research UK in 2008 concluded that point-of-sale had become the ‘most important source of tobacco marketing for young people.’

    “Point-of-sales tobacco displays are already banned in Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Thailand, nearly all Canadian provinces and are due to come into effect in a number of Australian states in 2011.

    “I am pleased that a number of amendments tabled to the Bill by Labour and Conservative MSPs which would have diluted its effect were defeated in the vote,” said the SNP MSP.

    “I have received a large number of letters from constituents supporting this new legislation and opinion polls show that 70% of adults support putting tobacco products out of sight in shops and 75% support getting rid of tobacco vending machines.”

  • MSP Welcomes ASDA new Dundee jobs boost

    20Jan

    Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick has welcomed the decision of Dundee City Council’s Development Quality Committee to give the go-ahead for the new superstore which ASDA plans to build on the site of the former NCR factory at Wester Gourdie.

    Joe FitzPatrick said: “I welcome both the Council’s unanimous decision on the application and the investment and jobs which this new development represents.

    “I previously met with representatives of the company and received assurances that wherever possible, local suppliers and local businesses will be involved in the construction of the new store.

     “I particular this will be a very welcome and timely boost for the local construction industry.

    “At my meeting with ASDA I was given assurances about the future of their 800 Dundee employees at the existing two ASDA stores at Milton of Craigie and Gillburn Road. 

    Today’s good news means there will be 480 job opportunities – brand new jobs for local people in Dundee.”

  • Scottish Government Jobs’ Funding Welcomed

    20Jan

    Dundee’s SNP politicians have welcomed the Scottish Government’s announcement of £1.6 million to be invested in Dundee Community Planning Partnership initiatives to support and prepare people for work and programmes to develop Dundee’s workforce and safeguard and create jobs.

    Last week at a National Job Summit in Glasgow, First Minister Alex Salmond outlined £34 m new allocations from the European Social Fund (ESF) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that will help 28,000 people to gain or sustain employment opportunities through skills development and support the creation of 193 jobs.

    As part of that package, Dundee’s CPP is to receive £1.6 million to support projects such as Craigowl Communities – ‘Skills for Success’ – an initiative offering the skills and experiences needed to allow disadvantaged individuals to progress either to further learning opportunities or directly into work.

    Dundee MSPs Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick have welcomed the funding for the city.

    Shona Robison said: “The Scottish Government is working to ensure Dundee’s economy recovers from the recession and to safeguard existing jobs.

    “This £1.6m for Dundee will deliver vital support such as skills upgrading to match skills to jobs and to  promote improved learning opportunities.”

    Joe FitzPatrick commented: “Dundee’s Community Planning Partnership are well-placed to use this additional cash injection where it will work best to sustain training and employment initiatives.

    “The Scottish Government’s Economic Recovery Plan has directly supported up to 15,000 jobs in the Scottish economy and this extra investment will make a valuable contribution to increasing Scotland’s sustainable economic growth.”

  • SNP Politicians Back The Courier’s Jobs Campaign

    20Jan

    Commenting on the report published yesterday by the Centre for Cities which suggested that cities like Dundee might take longer to get out of recession, Dundee’s SNP politicians were concerned to highlight the positives and to assert that joint campaigns such as the Courier’s ‘Let’s Get Dundee Working’ can help to make things happen.

    Dundee East MSP Shona Robison said today, “Of course, there are many problems in Dundee and these have been well-rehearsed many times, but there are numerous positives too. “The Scottish Government has been doing a lot to help Dundee recover, with £33m invested in the waterfront as a catalyst for further regeneration of the city. Scottish Government support can be the key for the V&A Dundee project which will provide hundreds of jobs and more importantly signal a new era for the city’s recovery and will only be possible through joint working of Dundee City Council, Dundee’s two Universities and other partners. “Despite the downturn and the tight financial settlement, the Scottish Government and its agencies has committed record spending on new social housing and on a new £22m swimming and leisure centre in Dundee with 5 new primary schools and a new building for Harris Academy forthcoming – all will help to keep Dundee’s recovery on track.

    “Our freezing of the Council Tax across Scotland for a third successive year has helped ordinary families while the abolishing or slashing of Business Rates – welcomed by the Federation of Small Business as ‘making a real difference’ – has been a big help to thousands of small businesses across the country and in some cases has made the difference between businesses surviving or going under.

    “As local politicians we are working hard with the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council to seize the opportunity to make Dundee the renewables capital of Scotland in the same way that Aberdeen benefited from North Sea oil and gas.

    “By working with Forth Ports, Scottish Enterprise and Dundee Council, we can help the city take advantage of its port and ideal location for turbine manufacturing.”

    Commenting on the report, Joe FitzPatrick,MSP for Dundee West said: “There is no point in glossing over the facts that Dundee has a long way to go to catch up with other more affluent areas.

    “The Chancellor of the Exchequer’s refusal to allow the Scottish Government to bring forward accelerated capital spending has directly affected Dundee’s recovery. It could have allowed us to bring forward recovery projects to help bring us out of recession and protect jobs.

    “Dundee’s situation has certainly not been helped either by Mr Darling’s refusal to agree to tax breaks for the computer games industry. This was the most important thing which could have been in the UK Government’s pre-budget report to safeguard Dundee’s digital media sector and allow expansion in the city.

    Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie said: “A new analysis of official statistics shows that Scotland has consistently outperformed the UK in recent decades when it comes to balancing the books on public finances. Even within the financial straightjacket of the UK, Scotland can prosper and the Scottish Government has done all within its powers to help the country through the recession.

    “Alistair Darling’s decision to increase employers’ National Insurance contribution by 1% from 1st April 2011 is set to cost Scotland £104 million from 2011 to 2012. This is a tax on creating jobs and this was the wrong thing to do.

    “The UK Government is making the wrong choice by cutting Scotland’s budget now before we are out of recession.”

    Councillor Jim Barrie, SNP Candidate for Dundee West in the forthcoming General Election, said: “The Courier’s ‘Let’s Get Dundee Working’ campaign is helping to focus everyone’s minds on the main priority which is to ensure that when the economy recovers, Dundee is quickly able to revitalise itself.  The expansion of existing business and regeneration in the public sector will create the opportunity to allow development of new jobs. 

    “I have seen at first-hand how the Scottish Government’s Small Business Bonus Scheme, which was extended this year has proved to be a huge help to small businesses, which are at the core of our economy.”

  • MSP Defends Video Game Industry from ‘Video Violence’ slur

    20Jan

    Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick, who has been highly supportive of the Dundee-based Scottish video games industry, today reacted with surprise at a parliamentary motion which seeks to associate the industry with ‘high levels of violence’ and has tabled an amendment at the Scottish Parliament to promote a more constructive approach.

    The MSP feels that the original motion, tabled by Labour MSP Elaine Smith, is unnecessarily hostile to the industry and may set-back development of a sector which has a combined turnover of approximately £20m and employs over 700, many in Dundee.

    Joe FitzPatrick said: “I am very keen to promote Dundee’s world-leading video game development sector and am concerned at this unwarranted attack on an important industry and the effect it might have on its development.

    “Only 3% of games in 2007 are classified as an 18+ certificate. Overall, the recent Byron Report was ambivalent about the connection between video games and violence.

    “Of those games that do contain violent conduct they are clearly designed only for adults and rated appropriately.

    “The UK Government is due to introduce legislation protecting children by making age ratings compulsory for all boxed games designed for those aged 12 or above, using the Pan-European Games Information (PEGI) classification system. It is important that this is done before the General Election.”
    “Parents should heed the classification code and only buy games for children which are appropriate for their age and retailers should continue to strictly enforce the classification system when selling video games to the public.”

    Dr Richard Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of the TIGA the games industry’s representative body, said: “The video games industry makes an important economic contribution both to the Scotland and to the wider UK economy. It sustains highly skilled, graduate level jobs in an industry that exports games all over the world.

    “Video games also have great potential in respect of education and training. Rather than knocking the UK video games sector we should be celebrating its success and implementing measures to help the industry to realise its full potential.”

  • SNP Politicians Support Haiti Appeal

    20Jan

    Dundee’s SNP politicians have urged the public to give generously to the Haiti Emergency appeals.

    Shona Robison MSP said: “I’m pleased that Dundee has its own appeal and will be making my own donation to it. The disaster is of such magnitude that it is good that people in Scotland and the Scottish Government were quick off the mark in pledging money – more than £250,000 was pledged last week by Fiona Hyslop, the External Affairs Minister, to the NGO’s co-ordinating the aid effort from Scotland. “More importantly, the Scottish Government has also offered immediate help with the temporary secondment of its staff to allow charities and the disaster emergency committee staff to focus on the operation of getting the aid from Scotland to Haiti. This will be of immediate value as they attempt to respond to the huge logistical task of co-ordinating the public appeal and organising transport. Joe FitzPatrick MSP said: “Scots have responded with great generosity to the disaster appeal. More than £1m was raised from the Scottish public in the first three days, approximately one sixth of the UK total raised. I’ll be donating to the Disaster Relief Fund (Dundee) and urge everyone to give what they can afford – to the reception at City Chambers, 18 City Square. “The first wave of the aid effort will be for basic humanitarian aid – water, food and shelter but it is important that people continue to donate over the coming weeks. “There will be a requirement for more substantial aid once basic emergency supplies are delivered to all who need them. It’s our job, as politicians, to raise awareness of the Haiti Appeal and to urge people to donate by calling 0370 60 60 900 or by visiting the Disaster Emergency Committee website www.dec.org.uk “ Stewart Hosie MP said: “Although the situation is volatile with the transport network in Haiti in chaos and there have been reports of looting, these kinds of stories should not detract from the immensity of the human suffering which we have a duty to help alleviate. “There are many ways that the public can help by contacting the DEC the main appeal body or Save The Children, Oxfam Scotland, SCIAF (Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund) or the Mercy Corps, all of whom are involved in getting aid from Scotland to Haiti.” Councillor Jim Barrie said: “Our heart must go out to the thousands of ordinary folk who managed to survive the disaster but lost family members. “The sheer scale of the earthquake and the destruction it caused has taken us by surprise but we can play a part in helping to bring the suffering to an end more quickly. “There are many ways to get involved in helping to raise funds, through any networks you are involved in, social clubs, trade unions and church groups – and to make a personal donation of whatever you can afford to the Disaster Relief Fund (Dundee) at 18 City Square Dundee.”

  • SNP Working to Bring Jobs to Dundee

    20Jan

    The SNP is working hard to bring jobs to Dundee and has created numerous jobs since 2007 and will continue to press for more civil service opportunities, says Dundee’s elected representatives.

    Shona Robison, Dundee East MSP said: “We will continue to press Dundee’s case for civil service job opportunities. It is a fact that the Scottish Government has helped to create a considerable number of new posts in the city over the last two years, some of which are still to come on-stream.

    “However, despite the Scottish Government’s ongoing job creation and support for ongoing regeneration projects, we need to recognise that we are now living in a very different economic world. The public sector is not immune to that. There is more likely to be contraction rather than expansion of the public sector.

    “Some of the jobs which have come to Dundee recently include 70 posts created by £5m funding in 2008 for the Translational Medicine Centre at Dundee University.

    “New life sciences jobs will be created at the Scottish Institute for Cell Signalling led by Sir Philip Cohen, set up by £10m funding in 2008.

    “There will be a number of new jobs at the £16m Scottish Police Services forensic laboratory at City Court at the waterfront when that opens and the SPSA have taken a 35 year lease on the building.

    “It has been estimated that the Scottish Government’s £33m investment in the waterfront regeneration project could create 3500 new permanent jobs and generate £2.6 billion into the national economy.

    “The V&A project which the Scottish Government is working jointly towards with the City Council and the city’s two Universities, will begin construction in 2012 and be completed in 2014 and will generate 900 jobs and bring an estimated 130,000 visitors to Dundee every year.”

    Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said: “Dundee’s Life Sciences sector also received funding from the Scottish Government’s Modern Apprenticeship Framework for Life Sciences last year, which will enable the recruitment of two apprentices for the price of every one taken on.

    “The Scottish Government funded 1,000 additional police officers last year and this has meant new police posts in Tayside.

    “Funding from the Scottish Government will allow Dundee City Council to build five new primary schools and a new Harris Academy building in the next few years thus providing a boost for the local construction industry.

    “It should be noted that other political parties in the Scottish Parliament, and the Liberal Democrats in particular, have been demanding a reduction in the size of the public sector especially the number of quangos in Scotland.

    “This really is not consistent with their call locally for more civil service jobs. They can’t have it both ways.”

    Dundee East MP Stewart Hosie condemned the recent announcement by the UK Treasury confirming plans to close 130 HMRC offices with the loss of up to 1,700 jobs.

    SNP Treasury spokesperson Stewart Hosie echoed concerns raised by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCSU) warned that the public and businesses would suffer, with tax advice and support “severely reduced”, and tax collection “undermined”. More than 20,000 civil service jobs have been axed since 2006.

    Mr Hosie said: “This is more than just the wrong decision at the wrong time, it is just madness to slash HMRC jobs and services at a time when they are needed most.

    “We are in the teeth of recession, and it is no time for the Labour Government to be adding to the dole queue.

    “As well as being a bitter blow to the HMRC workforce, these cuts will hit businesses and the public just when they need accessible and well-resourced services most.”

    Dundee West Westminster SNP candidate Jim Barrie said that Alistair Darling’s decision to increase employers National Insurance contribution by 1% from 1st April 2011 could cost Scotland £104 million from 2011 to 2012.

    The decision by the UK Chancellor is set to cost Dundee City Council £1.7 million and NHS Tayside £2.9 million.

    Councillor Barrie said: “Labour’s decision to increase national insurance is going to have a direct effect on frontline services.

    “The UK Government will be penalising employers so that they will be unable to expand and take on new staff when the recession is over.”

  • MSP’s Concern on Alcohol Commercials in Cinemas

    14Jan

    Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick is taking action on behalf of constituents who took their young family to a cinema during Christmas and were appalled at the quantity and content of the alcohol commercials shown during their visit.

    Joe said: “The Scottish Government made a commitment in its Alcohol Bill published last year to reduce the impact of alcohol advertising and is taking a wide range of actions to tackle alcohol misuse and promote a culture of sensible and responsible drinking, but it won’t be able to curb alcohol advertising in cinemas until the UK Government legislates.

    “The Scottish Government does not have powers to regulate broadcast advertising so the Scottish Public Health Minister cannot do any more than urge the UK Government to develop a UK approach to cinema advertising which protects children.

    “Recent studies by the University of Sheffield and by the European Alcohol and Health Forum indicate consistent evidence of advertising having an effect on young people’s drinking.

    “In their reply to me, the Cinema Advertising Association admitted that ‘in 2008, 13% of the audience who saw alcohol commercials in the cinema were under 18. They also admit the proportion of alcohol commercials rises around the Christmas period but claim it never exceeds 40 % of the adverts shown. But this does not include advertisements for a cinema’s own products, nor does it include trailers for forthcoming films – where there could be more alcohol products shown.

    “So there are grounds for concern. Firstly, the code about alcohol adverts is dependent on a panel, made up of advertisers and it relies on individual cinemas’ ‘self-imposed rule’ of how many adverts shown will be for alcohol.

    “Both the Scottish and UK Governments are trying to tackle our legacy of serious alcohol misuse, and frankly, alcohol advertising in cinemas is an area that seems to me ripe for review and possible new legislation to better influence the drinking habits of the next generation. I will be taking the issue further.”

  • Scottish Parliament Urged to Welcome V&A Dundee’s ‘Next Step’

    14Jan

    JIm Barrie, Stewart Hosie, Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop, Shona Robison, Sir Mark Strong (V&A Director), Joe FitzPatrick

    Dundee West MSP Joe FitzPatrick, who was present with SNP Colleagues, Stewart Hosie MP, Shona Robison MSP and Councillors Ken Guild and Jim Barrie at the announcement of the next step in the development of the V&A Dundee project on Monday, has raised a motion urging the Scottish Parliament to show their support for the project.
    The MSP is keen to raise awareness of the international competition to find a design team to create an iconic building on the newly-announced site south-east of Craig Pier, next to the RSS Discovery.
    After lodging the motion at the Scottish Parliament, Joe said: “The event at Discovery Point was very well-attended by a wide range of agencies and the mood was very upbeat and positive.
    “It is great that we now have a site pinpointed and a timescale for the architectural design competition, with construction to commence in 2012 and the building to be completed in 2014.
    “The competition is sure to garner massive publicity and interest worldwide, it will be a major boost to the construction sector and when complete will give the city an iconic building of national and international importance.”
    Stewart Hosie commented: “The scope of this project is imaginative and large enough to re-define Dundee as a city of aspiration and achievement.
    “The return of RSS Discovery in 1986 heralded a new phase in the city’s fortunes and it is fitting that the new V&A building will overlook the famous ship.”

  • MSPs’ Comments on Public Information Notices Policy

    14Jan

    Dundee’s MSPs today commented on the Scottish Government’s Consultation on allowing local authorities to change the way public information notices are made available.

    Shona Robison said: “The important thing about this consultation is that it is about providing greater choice. At present Public Information Notices are carried in newspapers only although the internet is becoming the way more and more people are accessing information and national newspaper sales are declining. On the other hand, good local newspapers are thriving.

    “Any suggestion that advertising in local newspapers would come to an end is entirely wrong. In some communities, local newspapers are, and probably will remain, the main source of information for many people, particularly older people and those who do not have easy access to the internet.

    “Clearly a balance will need to be struck to ensure that local authorities and taxpayers have value for money.

    “The consultation ends on 12 February and no doubt its findings will lead to further parliamentary debate on the draft order.”

    Joe FitzPatrick said: “The consultation request originated from local government who wanted the Scottish Government to give them greater flexibility in advertising public notices so that they are more responsive to public demand.

    “Research shows that only 2% of people read Public Information Notices in newspapers so it is clearly important to allow local authorities to improve the way they put out that information. At the moment, these notices are only put out in newspapers.

    “There is the question of cost to the public from these Public Notices being advertised solely in newspapers – money which could otherwise be used to provide front-line services. We live in an increasingly digital media world. In 2008, 53% of people had used local authority or government websites to access information and services.

    ” Although more and more people are now online or have internet access, any changes will need to balance the changing realities of our community with safeguards for those requiring more traditional media. ”

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