A group of Scottish business leaders have put forward financial backing to facilitate greater business lending and expansion of the bank, which is currently celebrating its 175th year in operation.

Those contributing are thought to be depositing approximately £1 million each and are prominent figures in business, heading some of Scotland’s biggest companies. They include Sir Tom Farmer founded the Kwik Fit garage chain, while Sir David Murray remains a major shareholder in Rangers Football Club and chairman of the property-to-metals group Murray International Holdings. They are joined by Brian Souter, chief executive of the Stagecoach transport group, and fellow board members Anne Gloag and Ewan Brown.

The group plans to deposit about £10m ($15.5m) with the bank, which intends to create at least one, and possibly two new branches over the next 18 months. It currently has seven outlets – with most in the central Scotland area.

Central Scotland MSP, John Wilson put forward the following motion:

S3M-06887 John Wilson (Central Scotland) (Scottish National Party): £10 Million Investment for Airdrie Savings Bank— That the Parliament congratulates Airdrie Savings Bank on the recent investment of £10 million; considers that this investment will facilitate expansion and enable increased lending to businesses; notes that Airdrie Savings Bank remains the last independent savings bank in Scotland, and welcomes the bank’s ongoing success while it currently celebrates its 175th year in operation.

The Scottish Government has published its report which presents new figures about the distribution of relative poverty across Scotland at local authority level. This would equate to the number of households of two adults without children living on £248 per week or less.

The report highlights that levels of relative poverty throughout North Lanarkshire between 2002 and 2008 were at around 19%-20%, which was close to the Scottish national average for this period.

Across Scotland the percentage of households in relative poverty at Local Authority level ranges from approximately 14% to 25%. Rates throughout 19 of the 32 Local Authorities throughout Scotland were above the Scottish national average of 19%.

SNP MSP John Wilson, member of the Local Government and Communities Committee, said “It is a disgrace that we are in a situation where people in Scotland continue to live in poverty. To have 20% of households living in relative poverty in North Lanarkshire is far too high, and to have levels reaching 25% in some areas reinforces the urgent need for action to be taken. These figures clearly demonstrate that not enough is being done to tackle poverty at Local Authority level throughout Scotland.”

“the UK Government has made it clear that we are entering a period of deep economic cuts, which will also mean carving up the benefits system and placing people throughout North Lanarkshire deeper into poverty than they currently are and will undoubtedly bring negative effects on the wider economy in the area”

Every local authority throughout Scotland is invited to apply for funding from the Scottish Government to help ensure that people going out for the night can enjoy themselves in a safe environment.

Last year’s Safer Streets funding awards benefited projects around Scotland. North Lanarkshire benefited from £26,000 which was used for community safety initiatives including high visibility police patrols in ‘hot spot’ areas, targeting of drink drivers and targeting enforcement of problem premises and locations.

The Safer Streets initiative is a nationally directed, locally delivered programme, building upon existing partnership working to conduct high visibility, high impact, joint initiatives to reduce alcohol-related violence and disorder in city and town centres.

Long term, it aims to encourage Community Safety Partnerships to build capacity, encourage innovation, deliver a sustainable change to practice and share that practice.

John Wilson MSP said: “Last year’s funding award of £26,000 offered far-reaching benefits across North Lanarkshire. From redesigned taxi queues to improve passenger safety to an increase in high visibility police patrols in target areas”

“Safer Streets funding has played a key role in improving safety and confidence over the winter months, which will be enhanced by this extra funding.”

This investment shall provide 60 new job opportunities throughout Lanarkshire with 11 new jobs at the Dalzell steel mill in Motherwell while also bringing increased employment opportunities to the firm’s Clydebridge plant.

This £8 million investment will significantly increase the capacity of the Dalzell steel mill in Motherwell in several markets, including in the renewable energy sector and offshore energy provision. This shall be achieved through the installation of a 3,500-tonne press and handling machine and by upgrading the plant’s existing press and manufacturing equipment.

It is expected that further jobs could be created at the Dalzell plant if this upturn in demand continues.

John Wilson MSP said: ‘this substantial investment by Corus will provide much needed employment opportunities to people throughout Lanarkshire at a time when jobs are increasingly difficult to find. It is also encouraging that the creation of more job opportunities are being anticipated for future demand associated with offshore developments’

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee, John Wilson raised the issue in response to Petition PE1284 which urges the Scottish Government to note the successful legal challenges parents have brought against Local Authorities involving placing requests for children.

Petition PE1284 draws attention to the application of policies regulating classroom sizes which goes against numbers stipulated by law under the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 which also provides statutory rights to parents to choose which school they wish their child to attend.

John Wilson MSP noted the need for it to be made clear when guidelines shall be issued, particularly in regard to placement requests, given that time is running short for the new intake of pupils next year.   

John Wilson MSP said “We are being made aware that there have been a number of legal challenges to Local Authorities and with the current North Lanarkshire School closure programme, placement requests may become more difficult to be granted which may result in more legal action being initiated under the current legislation”.

Awards for All is the small grants scheme supported by three of the National Lottery distributors in Scotland: Scottish Arts Council, Big Lottery Fund and sportscotland. The scheme makes awards of between £500 and £10,000 to grass-roots community groups and voluntary organisations.

Many local organisations and community groups have benifited in North Lanarkshire from this scheme including the Coatbridge Boy’s Bridge Company, which will receive £4,841, with this they will buy new sports equipment and create a games room for its members and for young people in the community. AlMA Firepark Club in Motherwell, which will receive £2,850, the  Holy Trinity and the All Saints Church Hall committee in Coatbridge, receieving £5,000.who will use these funds to renovate their toilet facilities in the hall to enable greater access for disabled users  and  Jumping Jacks Skipping Club, Motherwell  which will receive £8,630, and will go towards buying IT equipment, materials and training costs for the club.

The awards scheme is also extremely benifical for many schools in North Lanarkshire, including schools in Coatbridge and Motherwell. Cathedral Primary School which will receive £6,586, which will enable the school to purchase new computers so it can host an after school computer club for pupils and adults to improve their IT skills. Ladywell Primary School and Our Lady’s Primary School in Motherwell will receive £9,975 and £9,508 in funding respectively. With St. Monicas Primary School in Coatbridge receiving  £8,315 in funding. These funds will go towards purchasing much needed playground and sporting equpment which will go a long way to improve the health and phyisical activity for the young people in the area.

John Wilson SNP MSP for Central Scotland commented on the awards scheme saying that it is a “great thing and a welcome boost for local communities and schools throughout Scotland especially in  North Lanarkshire which has been awarded  15 awards in total.”

“The total amount of funding awarded adds up to £101,367, which will be distributed to the much deserving communities, schools, clubs and associations in the North Lanarkshire area.  These groups are the heart of the community and they do great work in the local areas and providing  great services for people both young and old, and I am delighted to see that there hard work will be reconised and rewarded under the Nattional Lottery’s Awards for All scheme”

Mr Wilson sought to find out whether Government officials had recently met with education officials at North Lanarkshire Council. Michael Russell noted that officials meet on a regular basis to discuss important matters concerning education throughout North Lanarkshire.

Following up on this, John Wilson sought clarification on whether it was aware of announcements made by the Labour leadership at North Lanarkshire Council and sought assurances that ‘any proposals for school closures fully comply with the consultation procedures that came into effect in April?’

Michael Russell affirmed that ‘no school closure can take place in Scotland without the statutory framework being in operation’. He added that ‘The Government brought in the statutory framework, which has long been lacking in Scotland, to ensure that there is a clear and transparent process should there be a proposal for a school closure’.

While it remains the responsibility of North Lanarkshire Council to make decisions in regard to school estate, Mr Russell reassured Mr Wilson that ‘the Government has put itself on the side of parents to ensure that any such proposals are subject to a clear and transparent process’.

Under this new scheme applicants will be able to apply for the Energy Saving Scotland Boiler Scheme via the Energy Saving Trust’s website or by telephoning the Energy Saving Scotland Advice Network on freephone  0800 512 021.

The Scheme, launching on the 24^th of May, will operate on a first come first serve basis only, John Wilson MSP SNP for Central Scotland said “ Anyone who thinks that they may be covered by boiler scrappage scheme should get in early as the scheme is operating on a first come first serve basis application process”

The Boiler Scrappage Scheme will be run through the Energy Saving Scotland advice network - the Scottish Government’s ‘one stop shop’ for energy efficiency, renewable and sustainable transport advice. This Scheme supports the aims of the Scottish Government’s forthcoming Energy Efficiency Action Plan for Scotland, which will set out a suite of policies and programmes to help reduce energy consumption across all sectors.

To make use of the scheme householders must first have received a quote for their boiler replacement before making an application. On a successful application the householders will receive a voucher which is valid for 12 weeks. Householders can then commence boiler replacement. The vouchers can then be redeemed for cash from the Energy Saving Trust once the boiler has been installed. Applicants must submit a claim to the Energy Saving trust and the grant funding will be paid directly to the householder providing the terms and conditions of the grant are met.

It is hoped that up to 5,000 households in Scotland will receive £400 towards the cost of a new boiler, under a new boiler scrap page scheme. Replacing 5,000 boilers will also save around 5,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year - the equivalent to taking 1,700 cars off Scotland’s roads, heating the water for 7 million baths or heating 1,300 Scottish homes for a year.

For more information on the scheme, including a section “Your Questions Answered” can be found on the Energy Saving Scheme website.

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/scotland/Scotland-Welcome-page/At-Home

North Lanarkshire Council changed its standing orders to restrict the need for role call votes, where each member voting would have their votes recorded for the purposes of the minutes of the council decisions. Previously a role call vote could be requested by 25% of the councillors present at any council meeting, this has now been increased to 40%.

The change to the role call vote arose because Labour councillors were forced to register their vote at the recent decisions to close Four Primary Schools, which included Gartsherrie Primary School, St. Matthews Primary School and Belvidere Primary, and fears that further school closures will require Labour councillors to reveal how they voted, particularly in the lead up to the Local Government elections in 2012.

Commenting on the decision John Wilson MSP said:

“The decision by Labour councillors in North Lanarkshire to vote through proposals on restricting role call votes flies in the face of the calls for open and transparent decision making by Gordon Brown.

“In North Lanarkshire we don’t have Old Labour, we don’t have New Labour, just plain old hard labour. This is a mockery of democracy, in fact it is sham democracy in action and represents the worst excesses of a Soviet style politburo”

In future it will mean that Labour councillors will be able to hide behind the anonymity of the new voting system, rather than standing up and being counted so that their constituents can see for themselves how their councillor voted.”

This is the third year in a row that Finance Secretary John Swinney has secured agreement from all 32 of Scotland’s local authorities to freeze council tax. This year’s freeze means that Scottish householders have saved the equivalent of £420 million in council tax payments since 2008-09.

Welcoming today’s vote, SNP MSP John Wilson, a member of the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government Committee, said:
“I am delighted that Scots householders will once again have the peace of mind of knowing that they will not be faced with a hike in their council tax bills. Freezing council tax for the third year in a row will ease the stress for households struggling with their finances just now.

“The ongoing partnership that the SNP government has forged with all 32 of Scotland’s local authorities to keep council tax rates down is helping people in a very real way. Scottish households will save £245 on average as a result of the council tax freeze - money going back into pockets at a time when it has been badly needed.

“It has the additional benefit of boosting spending power within local economies, helping to support jobs and businesses.

“This is another example of the SNP government investing to help Scottish households through the recession and strengthen the economic recovery of communities across Scotland.”