Tag Archive for Dundee City Council

MSP’s Delight As City Shortlisted for Sports Centre

April 17, 2013 Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Commenting on news that Dundee City Council’s bid for the National Performance Centre has been shortlisted, Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick expressed his delight.

Mr FitzPatrick, in whose constituency the Centre would be based if the bid is ultimately successful, said: “I’m delighted that Dundee’s first-stage bid for the National Performance Centre has been shortlisted.

“This is the result of many months of hard work and preparation by many people at Dundee City Council and its partners — Dundee and Abertay Universities, Dundee College, Dundee United, Dundee FC, NHS Tayside and Leisure and Culture Dundee.

“Everybody in the city got behind the City Council’s bid and congratulations are due to Ken Guild and the Dundee Council team who worked hard to get our bid shortlisted.

“The ambitious plans which Dundee City Council have put forward will give us some of the best sports facilities in Scotland. Dundee can be a centre of excellence and encourage participation by people of all ages across the city in healthy activity and sport.

“It would be a tremendous boost for the city to bring the National Performance Centre for Sport here and now we must all work hard to achieve that and back Dundee City Council’s bid.”

Dundee MSPs and Scottish Housing & Welfare Minister at ‘Bedroom Tax’ Advice Event

April 2, 2013 Council Group, Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Shona Robison MSP No comments
Before the meeting, L-R: Cllr John Alexander, Shona, Margaret Burgess, Joe, Cllr Kevin Cordell (Depute Housing Convenor), front - Ginny Lawson, Money Advice, Brooksbank Centre.

L-R: Cllr John Alexander, Shona, Margaret Burgess, Joe, Cllr Kevin Cordell (Depute Housing Convenor) front – Ginny Lawson, Money Advice, Brooksbank Centre.

Dundee’s constituency MSPs Shona Robison and Joe FitzPatrick invited the Scottish Government’s Housing & Welfare Minister Margaret Burgess to a discussion event on the bedroom tax with workers and volunteers from the advice and support sector.

The event, which took place today [2nd April], in the Brooksbank Centre, was well-attended by those in the front-line of services in the voluntary sector, the local authority and housing associations in the city.

Before her election as an MSP Ms Burgess was the Manager of a Citizens’ Advice Bureau, and briefed the audience on ongoing discussion with the UK Government on the welfare reforms.

She said the UK Government has promised to review the impact of the bedroom tax after three months and Ms Burgess said that the Scottish Government planned to gather case studies and evidence of the social dislocation it is expected to cause in a further attempt to persuade the UK Government to have the tax scrapped.

An independent Scotland governed by the SNP, she said, would have the full powers needed to create a fairer social welfare system more suited to the needs of a population of 5.5 million. The SNP has already committed to repeal the bedroom tax as part of its welfare policy if elected to govern Scotland after a Yes vote.

Dundee City Council has led the way in protecting tenants from the UK Government’s welfare reforms by approving a policy which specifically rules out eviction for bedroom tax arrears where the tenant has made reasonable efforts to pay their rent despite reductions in housing benefits.

Speaking at the event, Cllr John Alexander, Dundee City Council’s Housing Convenor, promised the Council would listen to suggestions from those affected by the welfare changes and those working with tenants and social landlords to ensure that the Council was doing all it can to help people.

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said: “We oppose this unfair tax and will work with Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government to do our best to mitigate its effects.”

Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee City East said: “The Scottish Government is working hard to help mitigate the impact of the bedroom tax.

“Estimates by the Scottish Poverty Forum put the total losses to Dundee of the UK Government’s welfare reforms at a staggering £71 million over 2010-2015.

“The total figure for Scotland is around £4.5 billion. That’s money lost to the income of ordinary people in Scotland.”

The city MSPs had organised special one-to-one surgeries for constituents affected by the bedroom tax and these had been heavily over-subscribed so that further bedroom-tax surgeries are planned in the near-future.

PICTURE: Before the meeting, L-R: Cllr John Alexander, Shona, Margaret Burgess, Joe, Cllr Kevin Cordell (Depute Housing Convenor) front – Ginny Lawson, Money Advice, Brooksbank Centre.

Stop Loan Sharks Campaign Launched in Dundee

March 7, 2013 Council Group, Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

loan shark campaignDundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick today attended the launch of a COSLA campaign to encourage Scots to report loan sharks operating in their local communities.

 

The STOP LOAN SHARKS campaign was launched by COSLA’s Consumer Protection Task Force and supported by John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth who attended the event.

 

Dundee City Council which has been prominent in action against loan sharks and payday loans companies was well represented, with Cllr Jimmy Black, a member of the COSLA Consumer Protection Task Force, Council Leader Ken Guild, Cllr Craig Melville, Convenor of the Environment Department which includes trading standards, and Lord Provost Bob Duncan and the event was held in the Dundee premises of Discovery Credit Union.

 

Commenting, Joe said: “Loan sharks can cause havoc to individuals who become victims drowning in a sea of debt. What they do is illegal and some use violence or force their ‘clients’ to grow or traffic drugs to pay off their debt.

 

“It is important that we get information about loan sharks and the best placed people are the victims, friends and families to ensure that illegal money lenders can be stopped.

 

“With changes being made to welfare benefits, more and more people may be tempted to turn to these illegal money lenders. It would be much better if they contacted their local credit unions or other avenues where money advice is available to help them with their budget or debt issues.

 

The number to report a loan shark in confidence, call: 0800 074 0878 or text: 60003.”

 

Welcoming the campaign, John Swinney, said: “Loan sharks blight lives and communities and this campaign makes it clear that their activities have no place in Scotland.

 

“We need people to pass on the information that can help get these illegal money lenders shut down. It is important that people know that they can do this in confidence. I would urge anyone facing financial difficulty to get advice from money advisers before they take on credit.”

 

Ken Guild, Leader of Dundee City Council said: “The financial difficulties many people are experiencing are having a major impact and we need to prevent others from feeling pushed into these illegal loans. That’s why reporting existing illegal loan sharks is so important.

 

“As part of this preventative approach we are pleased to be working with COSLA and Education Scotland to pilot a drama-based financial education lesson plan across Dundee. This will teach children the basics of money management and the dangers of illegal money lending and there are plans to roll it out across Scotland.”

Minister for Learning Opens Ballumbie Primary School

February 28, 2013 Council Group, North East No comments

Alasdair Allan at Ballumbie

Dr Alasdair Allan, The Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages in the Scottish Government was at Ballumbie Primary School in Dundee today to formally open the new school.

Although the school has been open since April 2012, a formal ceremony was held and civic dignitaries were piped into the Assembly Hall by a piper in front of pupils, parents and staff. Among those attending were Dundee East MSP Shona Robison, Education Convenor, Cllr Stewart Hunter and Depute Education Convenor, Cllr Gregor Murray and Cllr Willie Sawers, who represents North-East Ward.

The audience were entertained by pupils who sang songs, recited poems, danced and took part in a drumming display.

Education Convenor Stewart Hunter thanked the pupils and staff for all their hard work and commended the school pupils on their talent and enthusiasm whcih had been enjoyed by all the visitors.”

Picture shows pupils with Head Teacher Mrs Kim Flynn and Dr Allan.

New Figures Show 90% Of Dundee’s School Leavers Going to ‘Positive Destinations’

February 12, 2013 Council Group, Shona Robison MSP No comments

Newly-published Skills Development Scotland figures for 2011/12 show a record 90 per cent of school leavers Dundee are going into ‘positive destinations’ of work, training or higher or further education upon leaving school, an increase of 1.3% since last year.

Dundee City East MSP Shona Robison and Dundee City Council’s Education Convenor Cllr Stewart Hunter have welcomed the new statistics that also show a further increase of 1.4% per cent in the rate of Dundee school leavers going to further education, which gives the city the highest rate in Scotland at 36.8% of all school leavers in the city, and an 0.1% increase over last year in the proportion of school leavers going into employment.
Shona Robison said: “We have had a record-breaking year with an historic high of 90% of young people leaving school in Dundee going into positive destinations – be it employment, training or education, which is an improvement on last year and represents a continuing trend of improvement since 2009..

“The SNP Government is building on this progress by investing more than £80million to improve the life chances of our young people.

“The Opportunities for All initiative, guaranteeing all 16-19 year olds an employment or training opportunity, will continue to combat youth unemployment in Scotland, in spite of the damage caused to the economy by the Westminster system’s austerity agenda.
Commenting on the new figures, Cllr Stewart Hunter, Education Convenor at Dundee City Council said: “This is a positive trend and shows significant progress is being made.

 

“I am pleased that we are heading in the right direction although we will continue to redouble our efforts so that every school leaver has a positive destination when they leave school. It’s our responsibility to give every young person the opportunity to succeed and we aim to achieve that.”

New EV Charging Point Opened by Scottish Minister

January 31, 2013 Council Group, Joe FitzPatrick MSP No comments

Craig,Joe,Keith,JImScottish Government Transport Minister Keith Brown was in Dundee today, accompanied by local MSP Joe FitzPatrick, to formally open the city’s first private electric vehicle charging point at Axeon in Wester Gourdie.

The leading EV technology company company has installed the charging point under the Energy Saving Trust scheme. Under Scotland’s Plugged-In Places project, grant funding is available so that the national network of charge points is extended to promote electric vehicle use.

Dundee City Council which has a fleet of electric vehicles already operate charging points for their own vehicles, two of which were at the launch today, but the new private EV charging point is now available to private owners of electric vehicles.

Commenting, Joe FitzPatrick said: “This is an excellent initiative which complements the work which Dundee City Council are doing to promote electric vehicles. This new charging point at Axeon will allow private owners to charge up in Dundee.”

The picture shows (L-R) Cllr Craig Melville, Convenor of Dundee City Council’s Environment Committee, Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Keith Brown MSP, the Transport Minister with Jim Ferguson, CEO of Axeon at the new charging point.

Extra Funding for V&A ‘Significant Milestone’ for City

May 12, 2012 Council Group, Joe FitzPatrick MSP, Shona Robison MSP No comments

Dundee’s constituency MSPs and City Council Leader today [12th May] welcomed an announcement of an additional £9 million of funding for the city’s V&A museum and claimed it was a signiicant milestone in the fudnding of the iconic project.

Shona Robison, MSP for Dundee City East, said: “This funding announcement is a significant milestone in efforts to bring the projects to fruition and I beleive that it will help to attract the private investment we need to complete the capital funding package.

Dundee City West MSP Joe FitzPatrick said: “This £9.2 million lottery funding has been awarded because of the high-quality of the project and is a recognition of the value of the architectural significance of V&A Dundee.”

“The Scottish Government has already pledged £15 million, a third of the entire capital funding required and Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced an additional £1.75 million in revenue funding when she visited the city in January.”

SNP Council Leader Ken Guild also welcomed the announcement. Dundee City Council is one of the partners in Design Dundee Ltd., which is managing the project.

Ken Guild said: “The V&A at Dundee is an inspiring initiative which, combined withe the ongoing £1 billion transformation of the waterfront, is helping to move Dundee’s cultural renaissance onto the national stage.

“This investment by the Heritage Lottery Fund is very welcome. It is yet another vote of confidence in this transformational which we, along with our partners in Design Dundee are working very hard to see come to fruition.”

Dundee SNP majority Council “Ready to Deliver”

May 7, 2012 Council Group No comments

Dundee’s first SNP-majority Council is set to deliver for the city and live up to its promises of ‘moving Dundee forward’.

The SNP campaign saw all of its 16 candidates elected and became one of two Councils in Scotland with an overall SNP majority (alongside SNP Angus).

Ken Guild, SNP Council Leader said the SNP group was looking forward to what can be achieved over the next five years for Dundee.

Following the election results, the 16 strong SNP Group met to consider the future and Mr Guild was re-elected as Group Leader. Veteran Lochee Councillor Bob Duncan is to be proposed for the position of Lord Provost.

Cllr Guild continued: “We intend to continue Dundee’s forward momentum. We’ve made considerable progress in areas like housing, social work and education and over the next five years we want to drive that forward.

“Our main im is to create prosperity by bringing in more investment. Dundee traditionally has a low-wage economy and we want to bring in the type of industry that will alter that.

“The development at the central waterfront and the port area are part of that. We’re building on our success at attracting the V&A and looking to win support for more jobs ibn the nmanufacturing sector too.

“Education is another key area for us. We intend to build five new primary schools in the city and will push ahead with these plans as well as ushering in the Curriculum for Excellence.

“We have much to do and we are looking forward to getting on with the work.”

First Minister Joins Campaign Trail in Dundee

May 1, 2012 Council Group No comments

The First Minister stops to chat to young people in the city centre

The First Minister came to Dundee today on the Council Elections campaign trail and chatted to voters enjoying the sunny ambience of the German market in the city centre.

It is the second visit by the First Minister to Dundee in two weeks as the SNP hope to gain outright control of the Council in Scotland’s fourth city.

Council Leader Ken Guild and other Council candidates and activists were out in force as Mr Salmond shook hands, posed for photographs and kissed babies.

Commenting, Councillor Guild said: “Our campaign is going well in Dundee and our candidates are working hard in every ward across the city to ensure the re-election of an SNP Council so that we can move Dundee forward.

“It is always nice to see the First Minister in Dundee and it indicates how important Dundee is to the SNP that he has visited twice in a fortnight.”

 

 

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT & COSLA COUNCIL TAX SUPPORT MOVE WELCOMED IN DUNDEE

April 19, 2012 Council Group No comments

The Finance Convenor of Dundee City Council, SNP Councillor Willie Sawers, has welcomed an agreement between the Scottish Government and COSLA that will protect over 20,000 council tax payers in Dundee from the UK Government’s ending of Council Tax Benefit.

News of the agreement follows anxiety that the UK Government’s abolition of  Council Tax Benefit in April 2013 and 10% cuts to the successor budget will cause hardship for vulnerable and lower-paid people.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have now agreed to cover the £40 million cost of the cuts in 2013-14, with the Scottish Government providing £23 million and COSLA providing £17 million.

Welcoming the agreement, Councillor Sawers said: “Over 20,000 people in Dundee on the lowest incomes currently receive council tax benefit.

This includes the unemployed, pensioners, those who cannot work because of disability, carers and people who receive tax credits.

“It is great news that the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed to step in and defend vulnerable people from Tory & Lib Dem Coalition cuts. 

“Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government will work together to protect people from the cuts implemented in the UK Government’s Welfare Reform Act and establish a national schedule of reductions to council tax, so that anyone currently receiving council tax benefit will not have to pay more council tax in the next financial year.

“The Scottish Government is looking after household budgets, with a council tax freeze planned till 2016, free prescriptions, concessionary travel, and our abolition of road tolls and tuition fees.

“It is right that we should continue to take action to protect the thousands of pensioners and families who would have been affected by the UK Government’s actions. Only through this decisive action by the Scottish Government and COSLA can vulnerable people in Scottish society be protected.”

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