Time To Be Free

One of the great powers of any executive is to delay. It is quite the most effective way in which opposition can be ground down. It demonstrates who is in control.

But a key thing about the Peterhead Prison Campaign has been its breadth and depth. By involving the wider community, and in particular the officers’ partners, it has had the strength to share the burden and hold the line.

Nevertheless, we have fingers crossed that Thursday coming will be last time that campaigners have to make the long trek down our inadequate roads for a 9.30 a.m. ‘date with destiny’ in our Parliament in Edinburgh.

For at that time Lib Dem Executive Minister Jim Wallace will rise to his feet to make an announcement on his government’s response to the Prison Estates Review.

When First Minister Jack McConnell came to power last year he promised an open and on the record way of press briefing. And with the publication on the Executive internet web site of the daily, sometimes twice daily, dialogue between press and First Minister’s Official Spokesperson, it seemed that he had delivered.

So it was disappointing to see him revert to type with an off the record, and unattributable, briefing of two selected papers two weeks ago. The substance seemed exciting – ‘Peterhead Prison Saved!’. But the press’s opportunity to question and dig into the substance of what was being said – absent.

The Executive are now on a warning that for ‘Peterhead Prison Saved!’ to actually mean anything, we need the money to replace our 114 year-old house blocks.

Anything less – say a very modest refurbishment of the existing accomodation – could merely be a reprieve and a recipe for further closure plans in a few years.

So be careful Jim, the campaigners are still on the case and will not hesitate to harry and hound you if you hold back from whole-hearted support for our prison. And that means the promise of a long term future.

Getting Our Teeth Into Parliament

In a Parliament of 129 members, the opportunity for each of us to put forward a topic for debate comes up reasonably often. And the subjects can be quite wide ranging.

Our first week back sees Margaret Ewing promote the need for NHS Grampian to improve provision of Health Service dentists in her constituency of Moray. And it is a very welcome return for Margaret who has been on sick leave recovering after an operation for breast cancer. It was diagnosed after she visited a screening unit as part of her constituency work.

Her speedy recovery to health is a reminder of the important role of regular health checks and is a tribute to Health Service staff.

On dentistry, Margaret will be making the point that her constituents have currently to travel to Aberdeen if they wish to register with a dentist. Not a reasonable prospect in summer. Wholly unreasonable in winter.

But it is not just Moray. I intend to put our case too. For it is all but impossible for people moving into the North-East to find an NHS dentist.

We have about half the number of dentists per head of population that Edinburgh has. And a quarter of the number in Manchester.

If one ever needed an illustration of ‘Catch 22’, dental care here provides it.

A dentist moving here has to work twice as hard as one in Edinburgh. So where will they go? – Edinburgh. And for those here already, the pressure of patient numbers in NHS dentistry is so great that increasing numbers of dentists are going private. To ‘get a life’, to spend more time with individual patients and to earn a decent living.

And for North-East people, an inadequate dental service is more than personal inconvenience. It could become a disincentive for companies looking to invest here.

So well done Margaret for giving us the opportunity to debate this.

All Fired Up

Our other member’s debate this week will be on the Fire Service. Not on their pay. Although I support firefighters in their efforts to restore decent wages after years of sliding down the relativity scales.

No it is a public safety issue.

Mindless thugs have been attacking firefighters when they are attending ‘shouts’. This is a particular problem in the West of Scotland but it is important that we debate how to ‘nip this in the bud’ before it becomes an epidemic spreading across the country.

And of course it has been other members of the emergency services such as police and paramedics who have been sharing the weight of this problem.

With Parliament debating water – ‘hot water’ for the Scottish Government? – and Fuel Poverty, as well as the usual sessions of Question Time, it will be a busy week back after summer.