Michelle Thomson for Falkirk East

I kicked off this week with an excellent visit to Candle Shack in Stenhousemuir to learn more about their business supplying luxury candle making equipment and providing expertise to people across the world. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit and appreciated the very warm welcome I received from Cheryl and Duncan. You can find out more about Candle Shack and my visit in my previous post here: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1001693675099932&set=a.377949410807698

As previously advertised, I also held my regular Advice Surgery in my constituency office. Forthcoming surgeries are already booking up quickly – if you have an issue that you feel I can assist with and would like to speak with me, please phone 01324 357373 Mon-Fri 9.30-4.30pm for availability.

Many important debates took place in the Scottish Parliament this week, both preceding and following the UK Government’s Autumn Budget announcement. I was grateful to be able to speak in the debate on Fiscal Sustainability, Members’ Business on AI, Portfolio Questions and the Finance and Public Administration Committee Debate on Scotland’s Commissioner Landscape. You can listen back to debates from this week at https://www.scottishparliament.tv/archive

Having long been a supporter of Live Music Now Scotland and working closely with them in my role as Convenor of the Cross-Party Group on Music, I was delighted to speak at their 40th Anniversary event held in Edinburgh on Thursday evening. It was a fantastic event celebrating the hard work of the organisation and looking ahead to their future.

From 28 October 2024, I will be offering an in-person surgery each week in my Constituency office. Appointments will be available most Mondays between 12-1pm.

If you have an enquiry you would like me to assist with, you can make an appointment by calling my office on 01324 357373.

Appointments will be offered on a first-come-first-served basis. Our waiting area is small, so to avoid overcrowding and ensure my team can manage the surgery effectively, please call to make an appointment beforehand.

This week, I have spoken in the Chamber on a variety of issues.

The Scottish Greens raised a motion for debate this week on budget priorities. The motion called for the Scottish Government to explore all avenues to raising revenue in order to support people. At both this debate and First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, I raised the need for investment and growth in the economy.

At Education Portfolio Questions, I raised concerns regarding the ‘Gender-based Violence in Schools’ guidance published in March. Recently, GirlGuiding Scotland found a fifth of girls surveyed had experienced sexual harassment whilst in an educational setting, and the University of Glasgow found a third of girls surveyed had experienced personally-invasive behaviour in the preceding three months. There is no place for violence of any kind in educational settings. Whilst schools implement this guidance as they see fit, the rights of all parties involved must be recognised. You can watch my question here at 14:07 https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/portfolio-questions-october-10-2024

This week I submitted three motions to the Scottish Parliament, two of which celebrate Bo’ness businesses and groups. I was delighted to be able to recognise Thomas Burns & Son, of Bo’ness, on their success at the Scottish Craft Butchers Awards 2024, and the Bo’ness Breastfeeding Support Group on reaching their one-year anniversary. I also submitted a Members’ Business Debate motion on St Andrew’s Day. As the Convenor of the Cross-Party Group on St Andrew’s Day in the Scottish Parliament, I look forward to bringing this motion celebrating Scotland’s culture and global significance to the chamber in time for 30 November.

On Monday I was delighted to visited the Grangemouth Sea & Royal Marine Cadets. The varied activities on offer, the qualifications and experiences are fantastic for our young people. They meet on Monday and Thursday evenings – you can find out more information on my previous post or visit https://www.sea-cadets.org/grangemouth

On Tuesday I spoke in my colleague Tess White’s Members’ Business debate on the Importance of Safe and Fair Sport for Women and Girls. This was an important and constructive debate highlighting the need to get this matter right for everyone involved in sports at any level. You can watch my contribution at https://www.scottishparliament.tv/.../members-business... around 16:24.

On Wednesday I held a roundtable for the JCI (Junior Chamber International) chapter, who are based in Esslingen, Germany. We discussed relations between Scotland and the EU (including Germany) since Brexit, investment, and networking. Some interesting discussions took place and I look forward to continuing these points at the next Cross-Party Group on Germany, of which I am a Member.

On Thursday I sponsored the Luminate and Let’s Sing dementia singing group performance in the Scottish Parliament. Luminate are a member of the national Dementia Inclusive Singing Network and the group, Let’s Sing, meet weekly to support people living with dementia in Musselburgh through the opportunity to sing together. They sing both familiar and new music, challenging the expectation that people living with dementia are not able to learn (or wouldn’t enjoy learning) new things. It was a fantastic performance and lovely to meet with everyone involved in the choir – I hope they had a great day too!

Also on Thursday, I closed the Economy & Fair Work Committee Debate on a Just Transition Inquiry for Grangemouth and the North East and Moray. It was a fantastic and informative debate, with contributions from across the chamber. You can watch the full debate, on which I intervene on several occasions, at https://www.scottishparliament.tv/.../economy-and-fair...
and my closing reflections on behalf of the Committee from 16:50.

This week, I have been visiting Tallinn, Estonia with the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Public Administration Committee to learn more about how Estonian public services have been transformed through digitisation. Estonia is a frontrunner in digital governance and innovation so it is right that we explore the success of such programmes for Scotland.

Our itinerary included meeting with Deputy Secretary General for Economies and Innovation, Sandra Särav-Tammus, at the Ministry for Economic Affairs and Communications. We also met with Deputy Secretary General on Fiscal Policy, Sven Kirsipuu, and Kaur Kajak, the Ministry of Finance’s Deputy Secretary General for Public Governance Policy. Their insight on public policy matters was invaluable and has given myself and the Committee a lot to reflect upon as we return to Scotland.

I have tabled 4 motions in the Scottish Parliament this week that celebrate the achievements and successes of individuals and local groups across the Falkirk East Constituency.

My team and I have also been busy opening new cases and assisting constituents with a variety of issues, with our total number of cases since the beginning of the year now totalling 1086.