Nigel Don MSP

Nigel has today called for improved translation and interpretation services in the NHS and across all Public Services in Scotland.

Mr Don questioned the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Nicola Sturgeon, on what steps the Scottish Government were taking to review translation and interpretation services across public services, and whether they would bring stakeholders and service providers together to discuss improvements.

Mr Don has been pursuing the issue after a petition was raised by Multi Ethnic Aberdeen Limited MeAL at the Public Petitions Committee in the Scottish Parliament. The petition highlights the need for increased access to translation services for patients who speak less common languages.

The Cabinet Secretary responded by stating that improving translation and interpretation services in the NHS and across Scotland’s public services was an important issue, and she confirmed that a summit would be held in June with stakeholders and service providers to drive forward improvements.

Commenting Mr Don said; ‘‘Translation and interpretation services in the NHS and across all public services are important to ensure accurate advice and assistance is given to members of the public, and in the case of the emergency services this can be life saving.

‘‘Given the increasing diversity of the population of Scotland we need to ensure that our translation and interpretation services evolve to meet the needs of users. I am hopeful that after raising this important issue with the Cabinet Secretary the Scottish Government will look into what improvements can be made and representatives from Aberdeen such as MeAL will be involved in the translation and interpretation services summit in June. ’’

Nigel has written to residents in Aberdeen seeking their views on the measures which can be used to reduce the impact of alcohol abuse.

Over the past thirty years in Scotland alcohol related deaths have almost tripled and the cost to the tax payer of alcohol abuse is estimated at £3.5 billion a year, due to the burden on police, the NHS and social services.

As a result the Scottish Government are bringing forward measures to help reduce the impact of alcohol abuse and there are a number of steps which can also take locally to promote safe and sensible drinking. Mr Don has asked residents in Aberdeen City Centre and the surrounding areas to make their views known on both local and national proposals.

Commenting Mr Don said; ‘‘A number of residents in the centre of Aberdeen have raised concerns with me over the number of licensed premises in the City Centre, and alcohol related anti-social behaviour. By consulting residents across the city I hope to be able to get an accurate picture of how alcohol affects us in Aberdeen, and I would urge as many people as possible to respond to the consultation to ensure their views are heard.

‘‘Once I have received the responses to the consultation I will be seeking meetings with Aberdeen City Council, Grampian Police and the Scottish Government to ensure the views of Aberdeen’s residents are understood and acted upon.’’

If you want to add your views to the survey, please get in touch with Nigel’s Aberdeen office. You can find details of how to contact Nigel’s office by clicking the ‘contact’ tab above

Nigel  has today congratulated Aberdeen social enterprise Transition Extreme on winning a gold award yesterday at COSLA’s 2010 ‘Excellence Awards’.

The awards are made to recognise organisations and projects which set new standards for excellence across Scotland’s councils. Transition Extreme, which is partly funded by Aberdeen City Council, won it gold award in the Community Planning and Local Democracy Category followings its continued success since being established 3 years ago as part of the city’s regeneration programme.

The social enterprise aims to encourage young people to take up extreme sports, art and music and was set up after discussions between the City Council and local skateboarders who felt Aberdeen had little to offer them. Since opening in 2007, the centre has attracted a large number of people both from within and out with Aberdeen and its initial number of registered users was 56% above original targets. The centre now includes a large-scale indoor skateboard/BMX Park, a climbing wall, recreation area, a healthy eating café, band practice studios, meeting areas and a mini cinema for screening outdoor and extreme sports films.

Mr. Don has today lodged a motion with the Scottish Parliament, congratulating the group on their recent success.

Commenting on the centre’s success, Mr. Don said, ‘I am pleased that Transition Extreme’s valuable work has been recognised at the COSLA Excellence Awards. The centre provides a great facility for young people to go and meet, and try out various different sports they otherwise may not get the chance to try.

It has also played an important part in regenerating that part of the city and is a good example of a social enterprise working with local youngsters.’

Nigel has also encouraged other MSPs to support his motion, which reads: Nigel Don (North East of Scotland) (Scottish National Party): Congratulations to Transition Extreme — That the Parliament congratulates Aberdeen’s Transition Extreme centre, a youth charity centred around extreme sports, on winning a gold award at COSLA’s Excellence Awards 2010; notes that the award recognises the social enterprise’s innovative work to encourage young people in Aberdeen to become active in extreme sports, art and music; further notes the centre’s crucial role as part of the city’s regeneration programme and its success in attracting people from the local area and further a field to Aberdeen and wishes the centre well in its work in making a difference to young people in Aberdeen

You can track the support for the bill here:

 Following today’s meeting between John Swinney, the Cabinet secretary for Finance and sustainable growth, and a number of Aberdeen based MSPs, North East SNP MSP Nigel Don has welcomed the government’s signal that funding for the Peacock Centre would not be lost if there were a delay in completing plans for the Union Terrace Gardens.

Concern had been expressed that the money earmarked for this project might be lost if progress was not made on the project by the end of March. The present proposals from ACSEF for a larger scale development of the Gardens have created a possible delay whilst some compromise scheme is worked out.

Today John Swinney has confirmed that the Scottish Government will be sympathetic to ensuring that such a delay will not affect the availability of the money.

Commenting on today’s meeting, Mr. Don said: “Whilst today’s meeting covered a number of issues regarding the funding of projects and services in Aberdeen I am particularly pleased that the Cabinet Secretary recognises the importance of both the Peacock development and the opportunity of a transformational development of the Union Terrace Gardens, and that he has provided reassurance that a delay need not affect the availability of funding for the Peacock Arts Centre project. I hope that all parties to the discussion will now feel able to make progress without the threat of these funds disappearing.”

Virgin Trains have today anounced that they are to introduce free off-peak travel for people accompanying travellers who are both deaf and blind.

Though people who are deaf and blind currently travel for free, anyone accompanying them has to pay full fare. In October, Nigel wrote to all of Scotland’s major rail companies, calling for them to review their policy on rail fares for deafblind companions and lodged a motion with the Scottish Parliament, urging support from other MSPs on the matter.

So far, only Virgin Trains have responded positively to Nigel’s calls by introducing the new concessions, which will take effect in May.

Following today’s reply from the Chief Executive’s Office of Virgin Trains to Nigel’s October letter, Nigel welcomed the anouncement and called for other operators to do likewise:

‘I am delighted that Virgin Trains have taken the decision to introduce free off-peak travel for companions of deafblind travellers. Given the array of concessionary fares that already exist, I am pleased that they have recognised the need for a change in policy.

Realistically, people who are both deaf and blind are very unlikely to travel without a companion, and the policy of charging these companions full fare effectively cancels out any benefit contained in the free travel for the deafblind individual.

Virgin Trains have taken a sensible approach to this matter and I would urge the other major train operators, who have so far refused to modify their policies, to follow their example.’

Nigel has today called on the Scottish Government to draw on best practice from across the UK to improve support available to male victims of domestic abuse and their children.

Mr Don raised the issue in the Scottish Parliament today during General Question Time where he asked Communities Minster, Alex Neil, what steps were being considered to increase support available to male victims of domestic abuse and their children.

The Minster responded by stating that the Government was aware of the increase in the number of recorded cases of domestic abuse where the victim was male, and indicated that they was currently in discussions to improve access to services for male victims, including the possibility of a dedicated Scottish based helpline.

Mr Don is a member of the Public Petitions Committee which is currently looking into the issue of male domestic abuse after a petition was lodged by campaigners.

Commenting Mr Don said;

‘‘I was glad to hear from the Communities Minster that the Scottish Government recognises that there is a problem with male victims of domestic abuse and I look forward to learning of the Governments proposals for improving access to support services for male victims and their children.

‘‘We must ensure that support services are accessible to both male and female victims of domestic abuse if we are serious about tackling this problem effectively.

‘‘ I welcome the news that the Scottish Government is having discussions with the Welsh Assembly about its more developed services.’’

North East MSP Nigel Don today met with the Managing Director of FirstBus Aberdeen, Bob Dorr, to discuss a number of concerns raised by Mr. Don’s constituents over the last few weeks.

Public concerns over bus fares in Aberdeen, and the punctuality of FirstBus services within the city were among a range of issues raised by Mr. Don. The frequency and reliability of bus services in the city centre area were key areas flagged by constituents who have contacted Mr. Don

Commenting on the meeting, Mr. Don said ‘Encouraging people out of their cars and onto public transport is an area which both Mr. Dorr and I feel is very important and I am pleased that we were able to address many of the problems raised by constituents in what was a constructive and positive discussion..

I would welcome Mr. Dorr’s assurances that FirstBus are aware of many of the issues, particularly those currently surrounding the future of some services in the city, particularly the Number 5 service from Balnagask to Dubford and are seeking a way forward on this matter.

I also note that Mr. Dorr is very aware of the reliability and punctuality issues that many constituents have raised.

Following my discussions with Mr. Dorr this morning, I will be seeking meetings with representatives of Stagecoach, as Aberdeen’s other main bus operator, and with representatives of both local and national government to address some of the issues raised and to look at long-term solutions to enhance local transport within Aberdeen.

In particular, I hope to meet with representatives of the Scottish Government about the way in which public funds are distributed to subsidise bus services across Scotland to make sure that Aberdeen is not missing out in the current financial climate‘

Brian Adam, MSP for Aberdeen North, and Nigel Don and Maureen Watt, MSPs for the North East of Scotland, have today welcomed the official opening of the Aberdeen Dental School at Foresterhill, Aberdeen.

The £20 million University of Aberdeen Dental School and Hospital was opened by First Minister Alex Salmond and Public Health Minister Shona Robison.

Commenting, Nigel Don said: “I am delighted that the opening of the new dental school will improve dental facilities for people in Aberdeen, and the North East. The inclusion of a 3-chair dental surgery in the new primary care health centre is a much-needed boost to dental facilities for people living in the city and brings a welcome increase to the number of dentists working in the North East.

“The £3 million investment in the centre is testimony to the Government’s commitment to improving dental facilities in the North East”

Mr Adam said: “The Scottish Government and NHS Grampian are investing in North East dentistry to tackle the long waiting lists and poor oral hygiene in Aberdeen and Grampian which this Government inherited.

“Since the SNP came to power we have seen the number of dentists in Grampian rise to 304, with an increase of 21 last year and nearly 8,000 people have been taken of the waiting list.

“This state of the art dental school will see 20 new dentists graduate every year from Aberdeen. Hopefully we can retain these dentists in Grampian and with their help make those long queues of people signing up to a dentist a thing of the past.

Commenting before attending the opening, Maureen Watt said: “Dentistry in the North East saw years of neglect under the previous administration, a trend that the SNP Government has been determined to reverse.

“The number of people in the Grampian area registered with an NHS dentist has increased by 42,520 since 2007 and the Aberdeen Dental School will help improve that figure further. There is still some distance to go, but the decline of the previous administration has been reversed and once again the SNP are delivering for people in the North East.”

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Nigel’s meeting with FirstBus director Bob Dorr has had to be postponed until next week.

If you have any issues or matters you would like raised at the meeting, please click on the ‘contact’ tab above to find out how to contact Nigel’s office.

A further update will be posted after the meeting.

Nigel Don has today congratulated a group of fundraisers from the Tillydrone area after they successfully raised £5000 for Bezallel Primary School in the village of Kumali in Uganda with a series of events including a coffee morning and a ceilidh.

Members of the group will travel to Kumali next month to hand over the money to locals who plan to use it to purchase a tractor to cultivate the land owned by the primary school. This latest donation follows a donation of clothes and stationery in late 2008 from the same group to the residents of Kumali.

Mr. Don has today (Friday) lodged a motion with the Scottish Parliament congratulating the group on their efforts.

Commenting, Mr. Don said, ‘I am pleased to hear of the good work being done by this group of Tillydrone residents, and I am sure those receiving their donation will be delighted by the new tractor and will welcome the strengthening of the link between Kumali and Tillydrone.

I wish the fundraisers the very best for their trip, on February 7th, to the region, and wish them well for their future fundraising efforts.’

If you want to find out more about the Tillydrone group’s fundraising activities, you can visit their website here

Alternatively, the Church of St. George’s in Tillydrone’s website also has more details here.

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