Linda Fabiani MSP has welcomed the announcement that 61 new council houses will be built in East Kilbride.

The houses will be built after the Scottish Government made available funding totalling 26 million pounds to build public sector housing throughout the country. South Lanarkshire will receive over one and half million pounds for the investment in the houses to be built in East Kilbride.

Ms Fabiani commented:

“The building of any new public sector houses in East Kilbride is very welcome and long over due. Everyone knows about the chronic council housing shortage in the town and these new build houses mark the beginning of redressing that problem.

“Throughout the country over 1,300 new council houses will be built this year supporting in the region of 3,000 jobs and will provide people with good quality affordable homes.

“This is the largest council house building programme for 30 years and is in stark contrast to the last Labour/Liberal administration at Holyrood which built the grand total of six houses in its last four years of power!

“This SNP Government is happy to be reversing the decline in our social rented housing sector”.

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Linda Fabiani MSP last week visited a jewel in the crown of East Kilbride industry, when she accepted an invitation from the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), located within the Scottish Enterprise Technology Park.

The visit included meeting staff and a tour of the facilities including an explanation of how their prize possession of a Accelerator Mass Spectrometer works (see: http://www.gla.ac.uk/surrc/ams/index.html).

SUERC is operated jointly by Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities and is a world leading facility in the field of carbon dating, which is used in establishing the age of organic material and has a number of applications including, research into climate change and is frequently used to date finds from archaeological sites; it is also the technology used by criminal investigators to date materials found at crime scenes.

Ms Fabiani commented on her visit:

“This is a fascinating facility and one that takes the ordinary lay person into a world we would normally only see through the prism of TV documentaries and science programmes.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and was captivated by the range of applications of this technology and the extent to which this facility is used by a variety of bodies from around the world.

“The staff here are world leaders in their fields and science graduates from around the globe apply to work here, which is real testimony to the very advanced research work that takes place here.

“The SUERC facility is proof of the fact that East Kilbride already has some of the most advanced technologies located in the town and is well placed to attract further high quality investment and jobs.

“This is the sort of facility that East Kilbride can take great pride in and is an inspiration to any young budding scientists within our schools”.

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Notes:

SUERC is a collaborative facility operated jointly by the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. It also hosts five Natural Environment Research Council Facilities that are available to UK scientists through competitive application to the relevant Steering Committees.

The facility aims to perform, stimulate and support high quality research in the Earth, Environmental and Biomedical Sciences through development and maintenance of high-end analytical facilities, inter-disciplinary exchange and collaborative interaction.

Website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/surrc/index.html

MSP Linda Fabiani, has welcomed the announcement of a £175,000 boost for staff projects aimed at improving the health, safety and wellbeing of staff working in NHS Lanarkshire. Overall staff projects in Scotland are set to benefit from funding totalling 1.5 million pounds.

The announcement was made by Minister for Public Health Shona Robison during a speech at the NHSScotland Event in Glasgow last week.

Ms Fabiani welcomed the fact that an allocation of just over £175,000 is set to be invested in projects which address violence and aggression against staff, and health improvement issues.

Ms Fabiani said:

“This is a welcome investment as issues affecting NHS staff are often the last thing we think about when we discuss the NHS but, of course without them there would be no service on offer so, it is important that we remember that their health and their safety is of utmost importance in the delivery of this vital public service”.

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Notes

The projects that will be supported by NHS Lanarkshire are:
• Staff Health Improvement, Personal Development and Lifelong Leaning Initiative;
which will adopt a integrated approach to target harder to reach staff groups with measures, including learning, weight management, smoking cessation etc.

• On-line training access for Prevention & Management of Violence & Aggression Training; which will commission a multi media training package for use by all staff.

A full list of the successful projects can be found at: www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/nhsworkforce/experience/wwchallenge/successfulbids

Linda spoke in the Members’ Debate on 18 June.

“…those who fight for this country deserve equal respect, whether they come from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Commonwealth countries or Nepal. I believe that the armed forces have that feeling and give that recognition…Gurkhas have been part of the army for almost 200 years, and 200,000 Gurkhas fought in the two world wars, with 45,000 believed to have lost their lives fighting for Britain. I absolutely endorse the point that, if someone is willing to die for this country, they should be allowed to live in it.”

Read Linda’s full speech at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0618-02.htm#Col18658

Linda Fabiani MSP has joined the world’s most comprehensive study into the causes of breast cancer – the Breakthrough Generations Study.

The study will follow 100,000 women for the next 40 years, providing information about lifestyle, environmental, genetic and hormonal factors which will help identify the causes of breast cancer. In future the findings will enable women to reduce their risk of the disease and hopefully to ultimately prevent it.

The Breakthrough Generations Study has been set up in partnership between Breakthrough Breast Cancer and The Institute of Cancer Research.

Participants in the study are asked to fill out a detailed lifestyle questionnaire and give a blood sample every five years for the next 40 years. Such a long study is required in order to understand the complex mixture of factors which may be involved in the development of breast cancer and which may act at different stages of life.

Ms Fabiani said:
“I am very pleased to take part in the Breakthrough Generations Study as it is vital we establish what actually causes breast cancer. With 4,000 women in Scotland diagnosed with the disease each year and 1,000 women dying we need to find out why and I am keen to play my part.”

Audrey Birt, Scotland Director for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said:
“The Breakthrough Generations Study is an amazing example of women from all walks of life working together with scientists to try to find answers to breast cancer and we are very pleased to have the support of Linda Fabiani MSP. We hope that the information collected by the 100,000 participants will lead to significant leaps forward in our knowledge of this disease.”

The Breakthrough Generations Study has been set up in partnership between Breakthrough Breast Cancer and The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR). The ongoing analysis costs of the study are being met in part by Marks & Spencer, through its support of Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

The target for recruitment was set at 100,000 women which has now been met and the Study is not looking to recruit any more participants.

To find out more about the Breakthrough Generations Study, visit www.breakthroughgenerations.org.uk.

END

Notes:
· The target for recruitment was set at 100,000 women. This target has now been met and as such the Study is not looking to recruit any more participants.
· The study is led by Anthony Swerdlow, Professor of Epidemiology at The Institute of Cancer Research, and Professor Alan Ashworth, Director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre.
· Breakthrough Breast Cancer is the UK’s leading charity committed to fighting breast cancer through research, campaigning and education. In January 2009, Breakthrough Breast Cancer established an office in Scotland based in Thistle Street, Edinburgh. Telephone 0131 226 0763 or email scotlandinfo@breakthrough.org.uk

Breast cancer facts:

· Around 4,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Scotland.
· Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in Scotland. It accounts for nearly 1 in 3 of all cancers in women.
· More than 1,000 women die of breast cancer every year in Scotland.
· It is estimated that over 80% of women diagnosed with breast cancer in Scotland will survive for at least five years.
· The most recent estimate suggests around 1 in 100 women in Scotland have had a diagnosis of breast cancer.
· Over 80% of breast cancer occurs in women over 50 years of age.
· More women than ever before are surviving breast cancer thanks to better awareness, better treatments and better screening.
· Around 20 men are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in Scotland.
Breast cancer risk factors
· Although we still don’t know the exact causes of breast cancer, we do know that women who maintain a healthy weight, limit alcohol consumption and exercise regularly can reduce their risk of developing the disease.
· Getting older increases a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.
· Find out what else can increase or decrease risk at:
http://www.breakthrough.org.uk/about_breast_cancer/breast_awareness_risk_factors

Serving a ‘privilege and honour’
On 1 July, Scottish devolution will celebrate its 10th birthday.

In the latest of a series of articles for the BBC news website by Holyrood veterans, Nationalist MSP and former culture minister Linda Fabiani reflects on some of her personal highlights over the past decade.

“From the moment in 1999 when Winnie Ewing declared, ‘The Scottish Parliament is hereby reconvened’, Scotland began to reassert itself, within the UK, within Europe and the world.
Scots now believe we have a parliament and a government that can and will act in our best interests – and it’s ours.

We have a general agreement that we have what it takes to go further, bring more power home, make our country stronger, make our own decisions.

We don’t need someone else to tell us what to do, and we’re beginning to realise as a nation that those who have been privileged to have been in charge for so long have not always acted in our best interests.

Holyrood isn’t some distant place like Westminster – MSPs are out and about in their communities, much more accessible and accountable and, most important of all, listening.

That’s why free personal care was introduced, why prescription charges are on the way out, why we’ve seen council tax levels frozen over the last two years and why the Scottish Government has been able to put in place measures to help businesses face current economic challenges.

We’ve had visitors from all over the world to our parliament – wonderful memories of the Dalai Lama walking hand-in-hand with our presiding officer, George Reid, parliament’s chamber hosting the G8 International Parliamentarians’ Conference on Development in Africa, Ireland’s former president, Mary Robinson, addressing visitors to the festival of politics.

Our parliament should be a gathering place of the people, whether they want to share in an event or pebble us wi stanes

Over the last two years particularly, there has been a resurgence of national awareness and a recognition that we have so much to offer the world – our Gaelic and Scots languages and traditions, our acceptance of other cultures to strengthen our own, our renowned national performing companies and collections, our history and our heritage, our research and technology skills.
We should celebrate our achievements, recognise and capitalise on our strengths.

This year of homecoming, the Bard’s 250th birthday, is a showcase for Scotland and an opportunity for us all to show Burns’ ’sense of worth’ to our visitors.

Having been first elected in 1999 and now looking forward to the parliament’s anniversary celebrations on 1 July, it’s hard to fathom that it really has been 10 years – that will come home to us, though, when we see the parliament complex full of Scotland’s 10-year-olds that day.

They have grown with us and will continue to grow with us – a great joy to me is to see week on week, schoolchildren visiting to learn how they can have a say in the future of their country, visitors of all ages, from all over Scotland, dropping in to see what we’re up to, all sorts of groups or individuals demonstrating about the things that matter to them.

Our parliament should be a gathering place of the people, whether they want to share in an event, put their case at the petitions committee, call in for a chat, or pebble us wi stanes.

Being an MSP is a privilege and an honour.

We’ve been lucky enough to be at the heart of some big changes in our country and I think we’ll be right at the heart of some more soon.

Yes, Scotland has changed since 1999 – we’ve made laws and we’ve changed laws – but the real big change has been in the way Scots see their parliament and their nation.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8099367.stm

· East Kilbride companies have received over £3.5 million from SNP Government
· 12 local employers have benefited
· 202 new jobs have been created and a further 167 existing jobs safeguarded
· Fabiani: East Kilbride employment is “major beneficiary” of grants scheme

East Kilbride firm Scientific Analysis Laboratories Ltd accepted a £160,000 Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) grant from the Scottish Government in the first quarter of 2009, helping to create 5 new jobs at the firm and safeguard 5 existing jobs.

It brings to £3,728,000 in total the financial assistance awarded to 12 East Kilbride-based employers since the Scottish Government was elected in May 2007. The funding has gone towards creating 202 new jobs in the town and safeguarding 167 existing ones.

Grants to East Kilbride companies have ranged in size from £35,000 to £1 million, and have gone to companies as diverse as Rolls Royce, pharmaceutical manufacturer Controlled Therapeutics, and decorative glass designer, Intaglio Glass & Design.

Commenting on today’s announcement by Finance Secretary, John Swinney, of the RSA grants accepted during the first quarter of 2009, Central Scotland MSP Linda Fabiani said:

“Today’s announcement by John Swinney of the twelfth East Kilbride firm to receive financial assistance in the past two years is incredibly welcome and a clear illustration of how this SNP government is investing for job creation and protection.

“East Kilbride has been a major beneficiary of the RSA scheme, receiving over 3 and a half million pounds to create 202 new local jobs and secure 167 existing ones. At least one East Kilbride firm has accepted an RSA grant in every quarter since the Scottish Government was elected.

“The impressive range of sectors which have been awarded financial assistance – from aero engine repair to cutting edge medical equipment to mezzanine floors – shows that the government is supporting businesses big and small.

“Every pound in financial assistance that the government has awarded has translated directly into a job in East Kilbride, making a real difference to the local economy and the ability of many local people and families to get through this recession”

· Regional Selective Assistance (RSA) is the Scottish Government’s main national scheme of financial assistance to industry. It provides discretionary grants for investment projects that will create or safeguard jobs in Assisted Areas – areas designated for regional aid under European Community law.

· Payments of RSA are made in instalments, typically over several years, provided that job and project expenditure targets are met. The amounts quoted here and in the report represent the maximum grant potentially available if the project is satisfactorily completed, and not the amount actually paid to date. All job numbers are based on firms’ forecast figures at the time a grant is offered and are subject to change, depending on future economic conditions and other factors affecting the business concerned.

· The reports can be viewed at:
http://www.scottishbusinessgrants.gov.uk/rsa

·

Linda Fabiani, SNP MSP for Central Scotland, has welcomed the opening on 3 June of a new, more efficient production line at Coca Cola’s Scottish factory in East Kilbride, as well as a commitment by the company that it will stop sending waste to landfill by the end of 2011.

The new production line, which was opened by Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead, will increase the rate of production by 8,000 bottles an hour of drinks including Coca Cola, Fanta, Dr Pepper and Sprite. It follows an inward investment of £3 million by Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE).

The company also made its waste reduction pledge, which it will reach by improving its recycling facilities and working with an external waste contractor, as new SEPA figures today reveal that Scotland has exceeded its European landfill target 18 months early.

Ms Fabiani welcomed both announcements, saying:

“This investment by Coca Cola Enterprises is a real vote of confidence in the abilities of its East Kilbride workforce. It’s a great example of how the SNP government is working with employers to secure local jobs, not just during these current difficult times but also for the long term.

“Coca Cola’s zero waste pledge is a really welcome step towards achieving the Scottish Government’s ambitions for a greener, cleaner Scotland and reinforces the good news that Scotland is already exceeding its EU targets for landfill reduction.

“It is significant that this announcement comes from an East Kilbride-based company, with the area having already firmly established itself as a site of environmental innovation, playing host to several leading players in the renewables and low carbon technology industries.

“These two announcements add up to a good day for East Kilbride, securing over 4,600 jobs in the area and confirming the town’s role as an environmental trailblazer.”

The Scottish Government’s announcement of the pledge can be read at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/06/03105556

Linda Fabiani, SNP MSP for Central Scotland, has urged local youth organisations to take advantage of the Scottish Government’s Cashback for Communities scheme, which passes assets seized from organised criminals over to projects for young people across Scotland. £1m of cash is up for grabs in the next round of applications, which opens in June.

Ms Fabiani said today:

“The Cashback for Communities scheme ensures that something good can come out of the damage that is done to communities by the activities of serious criminals, by giving cash seized from those same criminals back to community-based clubs and organisations for young people.

“Over a dozen youth organisations in South Lanarkshire have already benefited from grants of up to £10,000, offering young people opportunities to get involved in volunteering or other activities they might not otherwise have had the chance to try. That benefits the whole community, as well as the young folk themselves.

“The next round of applications opens on 1 June until 31 October, and I would urge youth organisations in South Lanarkshire to get their applications in soon. This is too good an opportunity to miss!”

Applications are administered by the national youth work agency Youthlink Scotland, and forms and guidance are available at www.youthlink.co.uk from 1 June. South Lanarkshire’s share of the £1m available nationally is £58,527. Grants of up to £10,000 are available.

Linda Fabiani MSP commenting on the results of the European Election said:

“The SNP winning outright in South Lanarkshire and overall throughout the rest of the country is testament to the good and popular work of the SNP Government.

“The SNP has campaigned long and hard to reach government and the European Election result represents the growing confidence in the SNP as a party and our ability to stand up for Scotland within the UK and Europe.

“The SNP represent a Scotland growing in confidence as the Labour Party has become worn and tired and out of touch with the people”.

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