Dave Thompson MSP

I received a response from the LibDem UK Secretary of State for Energy, Ed Davey, to my letter of 28 January outlining the details of my energy surcharge survey.

In my letter, I relayed the views of those surveyed, that the extra 2 pence per unit of electricity charged to Highlanders was inherently unfair and that the charge for delivering electricity should be the same across the whole UK.

The LibDem UK Energy Secretary of State responded to say that if SSE so desired they could flatten the costs across the whole of the UK. However, since then my office has been in touch with SSE, who are saying that it is a Government policy issue, in much the same way as the Postal Universal Service Obligation (USO) is a Government policy issue.

This means that if the UK Government so wished, it could enact a similar policy on energy pricing and SSE would be willing to comply with any such move.

I am pleased SSE supports a UK wide USO on electricity distribution, but I am also naturally concerned that the LibDem UK Energy Minister has abdicated responsibility when it is clearly a reserved UK Government policy issue but will continue to press the case for abolition of this unfair UK surcharge.

Following the great news last month that the Scottish Government is investing in our ski centres, which are to benefit from an exciting infrastructure investment of £5.5 million, I am pleased that the recent snowy weather has brought locals and tourists out in their droves in Badenoch and the surrounding area.

This will bring a fantastic economic boost to the Region and the skiing industry as a whole.

Following several communications by myself and my office to Citylink regarding the statistics used to justify the stopping of the morning and early afternoon service from Newtonmore to Inverness and pressure from the Strathy newspaper, I congratulate Scottish Citylink on reinstating the service on Thursday 5th March.

There had been concerns regarding the quality of the data used to arrive at the earlier decision to discontinue this service, but local folk supplied sufficient evidence that this data was flawed.

This is a fine example of what happens when communities pull together and I must congratulate Citylink for coming to this decision.

I recently asked for contributions from big Food Retailers in a bid to introduce dairy breaks for kids between 7 and 11 at Primary school.

Many schools and so on have breakfast clubs, because some children come to school without breakfast and it is not good for their ability to learn if they come to school with an empty stomach, so I think we could look at providing a mid-morning flavoured milk or yoghurt break for kids, which would help them and give them more nutrition at that time, and of course, it would help the dairy industry too.

This had been proposed by me to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, food and the Environment in an earlier meeting to which the Cabinet Secretary appeared receptive. I then took the decision to write to the big supermarket retailers to ask for a financial contribution to the proposal, and I have also contacted the Minister for Public Health, to ask for her support.

I welcome recent statistics showing the strong performance of Accident and Emergency units in the Highlands and that NHS staff numbers have grown to record levels in the Region.

The figures show that 95.2 per cent of patients in A&E were treated within four hours in the Highlands, more than meeting the Scottish Government’s interim target of 95 per cent, and that the total number of Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff in the NHS in the Region has grown by 21.9% since the SNP came to office.

This is fantastic news and follows a recent Survation poll has found that the SNP is the party which people most trust with the NHS – by a factor of more than two-to-one over Labour.

The most recent Ashcroft poll shows the SNP are maintaining their momentum towards victory in the Highlands and Scotland, which is great news, but as someone who has fought many elections, I realise the importance of not taking anything for granted.