We can only hope the bank will listen

Earlier this week residents across the north-east found out that RBS were making further changes to how they operate in local areas.

Due to the bank closure in Banff, a mobile banking van will now visit the area twice weekly on a Monday and a Wednesday for one hour and one hour 15 minutes respectively over the two selected days.

For other areas, some mobile banking will only be available for 45 minutes at a time.

RBS did not carry out any consultations, nor issue a press release or hold a meeting with MSPs so that they could inform constituents through information from a senior RBS stakeholder.

The information was buried in a small sentence on their website.

Since RBS announced months ago that it would be closing branches, local communities - supported by their SNP MSPs - have rightly complained.

It was because of that hard work that SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford was able to secure a reprieve for 10 of these branches.

The latest round of changes is in addition to the 52 branches across Scotland that are scheduled for closure.

Since this latest announcement, my north east colleagues and I have written to the chief executive of RBS calling for a meeting.

Many constituents feel understandably angry that RBS, an organisation which was bailed out by this country less than a decade ago, does not seem particularly considerate of the impact this will have on people, particularly the older generation.

In the letter to Mr McEwan, we said:

"It is our view that timetabling a mobile bank to spend 45 minutes per week in those settlements which are losing a branch. is wholly insufficient.

"That the communities of Ellon, Turrlff and Dyce face having the services previously provided by an RBS branch replaced by a weekly 45-minute visit by a mobile bank is of critical concern.

"Furthermore, the current mobile banking facilities employed by RBS are inaccessible for many of the most vulnerable customers for whom their RBS branch was an essential service.

"Of further concern is the decision to reduce existing mobile banking services across the region.

"It is regrettable that such services in Banff will be limited to a collective time of 75 minutes on a Monday and 60 minutes on a Wednesday, and that services in across south and west Aberdeenshire will collectively be reduced by 55 minutes per week.

"Without a branch RBS customers rely on this mobile service, and we ask that RBS reconsider its decision to further reduce the services it provides to these rural communities.

"We urge you to meet with us to discuss these concerns, and that you ensure future changes to RBS services crucial to communities are made only after consultation with those communities."

We can only hope that RBS will listen and understand our concerns now.

The Future has Arrived

There aren’t many Czech words used in the English language. The only one I know of is “robot” which comes from robota which is their word for “forced labour”.

Although few of us yet meet a robot in our everyday lives, we all depend on robots for things we use each day. From the spot welding on a car assembly line to assembling of electronic circuit boards in our mobile phones, our TVs, our washing machines via the infuriating robots that answer many telephone helplines – they are all around us.

But earlier this month, something new. I was the warm-up act for a robot. Heriot-Watt University was in Parliament to show MSPs and others what they have been up to in their ‘Year of Robotics’. And I was host of the event. Which involved my handing over control to an attractive little robot called Pepper.

And perhaps that is what a lot of us think of when we think of robots. Handing over control.

But rather like the Jacquard loom, which was invented in 1804, today’s robots are feared by many because they can fundamentally change our lives. When Joseph Marie Jacquard’s device was added to a power loom the capability of the loom and the speed at which it could produce complex patterned cloth jumped dramatically.

The nature of work in the factory changed but with output rising the weaving industry grew.

That early automation raised efficiency and capability.

Heriot-Watt are one of the world leaders in modern robot technology. And they have a nearly £100 million finance chest to underpin their work. With this we can own the future.

The large number of MSPs who attended the Parliamentary event saw many different applications of robot technology. Devices that help our offshore oil industry, that understand our spoken words and even do some of the housework.

The bottom line is that the robot is another tool to extend our reach as the human race.

Like at many such events, a Government minister attended to learn, interact and inform.

Shirley-Anne Sommerville is our Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science. Part of her mission is to encourage more of her gender to consider science and engineering as a career. We lose out if we leave it to the boys alone.

But she may not have to look too far for a good example.

She told us how she has been upstaged by her primary school daughter who has successfully programmed a robot to obey her electronic instructions.

That’s just history repeating itself. Charles Babbage designed the “Difference Machine” – a mechanical computer – in Victorian times and relied on the skills of his programmer, the first ever, a woman – Ada Lovelace.

And modern programming still depends on the work of Rear Admiral Grace Hopper who worked for the US Navy on its computers in the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

So let’s seize the day and make sure Scotland leads the world in robots. But we won’t make robots of mankind.