29 October 2009

More money for students

Over the past few months I’ve been working with Murdo Fraser of the Conservatives and Claire Baker from Labour as well as NUS Scotland to produce proposals to increase the amount of money Scotland’s students have to exist on . I often feel I have to declare an interest as I currently have 4 of my children at university . As things stand Scotland’s students benefit from the fact that tuition fees have been abolished for Scottish students studying at Scottish universities and the graduate endowment has been scrapped but they get less money to live on through grants and loans than their English counterparts . Some months ago the SNP Government consulted on how they should spend £30million on student support . While it’s obvious this isn’t going to be able to solve all the issues for students it’s a welcome move . The Government’s original position was that it should be used to switch from loans to grants which wouldn’t have put any extra money into students pockets . The rest of us thought that the focus should be on the hardship students are feeling right now . They , like many others , are feeling the recession bite because they can’t get part time jobs or parental incomes have reduced . I’m pleased today to say that after a lot of hard work all round , following consultation and a number of meetings with opposition MSPs and the NUS , the Government have shifted their position and accepted that there should be an increase in loans . There’s also support for independent students , that’s students over the age of 25, which is also to be applauded as we know they are finding things particularly tough and are very often getting into considerable levels of commercial debt . We also welcome the Government’s acceptance of some of our other proposals , including £2m for childcare funding and a review of whether or not that type of funding should continue to be discretionary or whether it should be an entitlement as it is south of the border . It’s been a lot of hard work and it’s involved compromises on all sides but we’ve managed to end up with a package which will help the poorest students by putting up to £1227 more into their pockets when they need it most . It was fitting the that the NUS Scotland annual reception was held last night so they could stand us all a drink !

28 October 2009

My first blog

Welcome to my first blog . Any of you who have ever met me around and about in the constituency will know that I love to chat . Hopefully this blog will give me a chance to share some of the interesting , thought provoking and sometimes amusing things I get up to as your MSP with you .

Elsewhere on the website you can find information about the many serious issues affecting Edinburgh West whether it’s the Forth Replacement Crossing or the proposed closure of Drumbrae Primary School . While I will use this blog to cover those sorts of issues from time to time I intend it to be a bit more chatty and opinionated . I hope you find it interesting !