Dave Thompson MSP

There has been much debate over the price of oil, and how long supplies in the North Sea will last. The Scottish Government have recently released the first Oil and Gas Analytical Bulletin, which uses the Westminster Department of Energy and Climate Changes forecasts, and predict that the industry will generate between £41bn and £57bn in tax revenues between 2012-13 and 2017-18. The report also shows that Scotland remains the energy capital of Europe, producing 64% of the EU’s oil in 2010.

Oil and Gas UK, the industry body and a contributor to the report, have estimated that up to 24 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent could still be recovered from the North Sea, with a potential wholesale value of up to £1.5 thousand billion. Investment in the North Sea has reached a 30 year high, and is projected to continue rising, with £100billion in spending planned over the next few years.

As the First Minister said, the Oil companies would not invest unless there is a return and though the price of oil does fluctuate, and the report covers a number of different projections, it does decidedly refute the claims by some that Scotland is about to run out of oil. The big question that this raises is how do we best use this resource? Currently, the UK Government uses oil revenues to reduce the UK Budget deficit – in other words, Scotland’s oil and the savage benefit cuts are being used to fund costly projects such as the replacement for Trident and the High Speed railway project from London to Manchester.

I cannot understand why in a country with such huge reserves of natural resources, we are cutting disabled peoples benefits and reducing support for those searching for jobs as the UK economy continues to flat-line. I believe that Scotland can and must do better than this.

One of the important measures outlined in the Ferry review published by the Scottish Government was to increase and improve the number of trips to the small isles, ensuring that communities on Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck are able to make a meaningful trip to the mainland at least once a week.

A constituent of mine has raised concerns over the announcement that (private) dental surgeries will no longer be held at Mallaig, which was one of the principal reasons for making a ferry day trip. NHS Highland have met with the Community Council and it appears most of the concerns have been assuaged. A three day per week service will be delivered by NHS salaried dentists at Mallaig, which should be a modest increase in dental provision.

Marine Tourism is an important industry in the Scottish Islands, a crucial source of local jobs. Recently, a constituent wrote to me raising concerns over a limitation which means that tickets on many trains, including the sleeper service from London to Fort William, cannot be bought more than three months in advance. This means that if someone was planning a trip for July, they would be unable to book train tickets until after April, and by this point it would be too late to book a charter yacht or accommodation. This means that as our domestic industry competes with others around the Mediterranean, we are unable to allow prospective visitors to book all the elements of their trip at the same time.

Following this being brought to my attention, I have written to our Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown to see how we can resolve this anomaly. It is important that we make it as easy as possible for tourists to arrange their visits to Scotland, and that we do all we can to address procedural problems such as this which without costing or saving any money, can make life more difficult for the tourism industry.

I was pleased to read that Dr Iain Gartshore has been appointed to lead the development of a West Lochaber multi Practice, comprising Mallaig/ Arisaig, Acharacle and the Small Isles. This looks like a positive development, and while various details still need to be sorted out, particularly in relation to the Small Isles, I am pleased that the Dewar Groups proposals have progressed.