Tag Archives: duncan dunlop

Mark Valladares

8 September 2026 – today’s press releases

By Mark Valladares | Tue 8th September 2026 - 11:59 pm
  • Dunlop responds to embargoed PISA report
  • Scottish Lib Dems seek urgent meeting with Justice Secretary over violence against women
  • PISA shows almost two thirds of pupils suffering from lack of assisting staff
  • Harley: A&E waits are totally unacceptable
  • Chou Turvey comments on 14% rise in domestic abuse charges reported to Crown Office

Dunlop responds to embargoed PISA report

Responding to the embargoed news that Scotland has recorded its worst ever results for reading and maths in the PISA international comparison of 91 countries’ education systems, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP said:

Once the best in the world, Scottish education just isn’t what it used to be. Under the SNP, our education system has tumbled down the rankings, lagging behind England on every measure of performance. This report makes for brutal reading.

Pupils with additional support needs aren’t having their needs met, too many pupils are frequently absent, and classrooms are more violent than ever before.

Pupils, parents and teachers feel let down. They deserve better.

Scottish Liberal Democrats want to give real power to schools, head teachers and communities because they know what pupils in their area need best. That’s on top of our plans to end the use of short-term and zero hours contracts for teachers and recruit 2,000 more pupil support assistants so that children who need extra help are able to receive it.

All of this is how we can give every child the best start in life and get Scottish education back to its best.

Scottish Lib Dems seek urgent meeting with Justice Secretary over violence against women

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Yi-pei Chou Turvey MSP has today sought an urgent meeting with Neil Gray, Scottish Justice Secretary, after failing to receive a response to her party’s letter to the First Minister about tackling violence against women, which was sent more than two months ago.

In her letter to Neil Gray, the Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP said there is a “growing backlog of promised measures that seem nowhere close to being delivered”.

During First Minister’s Questions, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called on John Swinney to act with urgency to tackle violence against women and girls. He said that it should not take victims, including those like Vikki Soloman and Stacy Hunter, to lose their lives before proper action is taken.

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Mark Valladares

26 August 2026 – today’s (other) press releases

By Mark Valladares | Wed 26th August 2026 - 10:30 pm
  • Dunlop: What is the Scottish Government doing to stop care-experienced young people dying prematurely?
  • Harley responds to extension of GP walk-in centres
  • Burnham Wales Visit – Wales doesn’t need another Labour listening exercise, Wales needs action

Dunlop: What is the Scottish Government doing to stop care-experienced young people dying prematurely?

Following a UK Government review into deaths among young people with experience of the care system in England, Scottish Liberal Democrat children spokesperson Duncan Dunlop MSP highlighted that the scale of the tragedy is “no different” in Scotland.

An independent UK Government review estimates that young people who are leaving the care system in England are dying at three to four times the rate of other people their age.

More than a third of the deaths examined by the review were believed to be suicides.

The Liberal Democrat MSP used his maiden speech in the Scottish Parliament to tell the stories of young people in Scotland whom the state has failed.

He has also repeatedly pressed the SNP government to commit to publishing the premature death rates of all care-experienced people, ensuring that a mechanism is in place to monitor progress.

Duncan Dunlop MSP said:

I got into politics because I want to transform the lives and outcomes of Scotland’s care-experienced young people.

The findings of the UK Government’s review are nothing short of tragic, and the horrifying scale of that tragedy is no different in Scotland.

After leading a care charity for many years, I have seen first-hand the trauma experienced by young people in Scotland’s care system. I have also seen how they have been utterly failed by the SNP’s broken Promise.

I have repeatedly pressed the Scottish Government to sit down to work on this specific issue. As a bare minimum, I want to see them gathering a clear picture of the problem in Scotland, which is why ministers should commit to publishing the premature death rates of all care-experienced people.

By taking steps like this, we can start to reinvigorate efforts to transform care and ultimately save lives. The Scottish Government needs to get on with it.

Harley responds to extension of GP walk-in centres

Responding to the Scottish Government’s plans to extend the number of GP walk-in centres despite stubbornly low attendance rates among those that are already up and running, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Adam Harley MSP said:

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Caron Lindsay

Duncan Dunlop MSP’s first speech: a compelling commitment to improving things for children in care.

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 27th May 2026 - 3:39 pm

Yesterday, our new MSP for the South of Scotland, Duncan Dunlop, made his first speech in the Holyrood Parliament and it had me simultaneously in bits, furious and relieved that vulnerable children in our care system now have a champion they can look to in Parliament to fight their corner.

He was withering in his criticism of the Scottish Government’s flailing reform of the care system. He described a horrible incident experienced by a young man who had just been rejected by his mum.  He read out the first names and children of care-experienced children he had known who had died, and saying he estimated that over 2 million days of life will not be lived by them and other care experienced young people who have died.

His critique includes the failed Promise, which was intended as the benchmark for the care system in Scotland.

Duncan, who is a former youth worker and Chief Executive of Who Cares? Scotland. He told the stories of young people who the state has failed.

Watch here.

The text is below:

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The Voice

Lib Dems pick charity chief exec and environmental campaigner to top South Scotland list

By The Voice | Thu 24th July 2025 - 2:02 pm

Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced that charity chief executive Duncan Dunlop and environmental campaigner Ray Georgeson will top the party’s list for the South of Scotland region at the Scottish Parliament election next May.

Duncan was born in Kinloch Rannoch on the edge of the Scottish Highlands. After studying at Edinburgh University, he lived in many places across the world and the UK, before returning to Scotland in 2008. He is a keen rugby enthusiast and coaches mini rugby.

Professionally Duncan is a qualified youth worker and an experienced chief executive who specializes in care system reform with over 25 years’ experience of working with and for vulnerable young people in the UK, New Zealand, West Africa, post-communist Lithuania and post-conflict Western Balkans.

For nearly a decade he was the Chief Executive of Who Cares? Scotland, which he transformed into a globally respected advocacy organization, refining its focus to boldly represent care experienced voices and champion their rights. Duncan led the case for reforming care in Scotland which created the Scottish Care Review (2017). He was the expert independent adviser to the English Care Review (2022) and New Zealand Review (2015).

Ray Georgeson is an award-winning recycling campaigner and experienced former local councillor and council leader. He has had a successful career in the recycling and resource management industries over many decades, with roles in the public, private and voluntary sectors. He is presently a senior manager in a major Scottish environmental organisation. Ray contested Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk for the Liberal Democrats in the 2024 General Election.

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