Dave Thompson MSP

Scottish parents and children have recently been enduring the annual ritual of reading school report cards.  From my own schooldays and as a dad I well remember the anxious business of that envelope being opened.

Whatever their contents, report cards along with sports days and other diversions from normal routine are a sure signal that school year is almost over.

At Holyrood too the end of session bell will shortly be sounding.  However, in keeping with a busy, ground-breaking year it will be very much business as usual until the recess begins this weekend.

At the end of its first year, the SNP Government can be proud of its report card.  Its achievements include:

• Freezing Council Tax charges as a first step towards abolition
  
• Beginning the abolition of all prescription charges
  
• Abolishing hidden NHS waiting lists
• Real pay increases for Scottish nurses, firemen and police
  
• Encouraging local authorities to build more council houses
  
• Removing the last bridge tolls
  
• Reducing business rates for thousands of small businesses
  
• Raising the legal age for buying tobacco to 18
• Stopping closure of accident and emergency wards
  
• Scrapping the Graduate Endowment Fee for students
• Providing an extra £40million to improve school buildings
  
• Providing 300 extra teachers to cut  class sizes with another 250 in training
  
• Recruiting 500 new police officers, to rise to 1,000 as agreed in the budget

These measures are already bringing benefits to the lives of people of all ages throughout Scotland and there is much more to come.

Personally, as a "new boy" the past year has been a huge learning curve as I have worked hard to get to grips with the business of being an MSP representing this huge, unique and diverse area.  I hope in doing so my own report card makes for reasonable reading but that is for you to judge. One of the jobs I like most is when I am invited by a local group to come along and see what they are up to or say a few words at an annual meeting or presentation.

Recently I have been out with Shopmobility in Dingwall, a great bunch of volunteers who took me on as a helper when we went down to Drumnadrochit on the Monday run to pick up the day trippers and take them to Inverness for their shopping. What a brilliant door to door service for people who are not quite as mobile as they used to be and Tony, the driver, even takes the shopping right in to the kitchen!

Another group who impressed me were the Ross - Shire Branch of the Multiple Sclerosis Society when myself and my wife, Veronica, attended their Annual Lunch Party at the Morangie House Hotel in Tain. A more positive bunch of people it would be hard to find and I had the great pleasure of presenting certificates to four fantastic ladies who have given outstanding service to the branch over the years.

To all of you who volunteer I take my hat off and I would also commend it to others as a great way to put something back into our community whilst getting a great deal of pleasure out of the fellowship and craic that is always evident in any voluntary group.

Before Parliament returns on 31 August, I hope to get a few more visits in and also to get a bit of a holiday but will also be doing the rounds as usual of as many games and shows as I can so that I can hear first hand about the issues affecting you and whether my report card is up to scratch or whether I could do better!