Tag Archives: Welsh economy

• FM confirms government will put forward options to include MSPs in child protection scheme
• Chancellor’s Speech – Wales still an afterthought to Labour
• David Chadwick Launches Bid to Protect Cross-Border Patients

FM confirms government will put forward options to include MSPs in child protection scheme

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today said that the Scottish Government must press ahead with measures to ensure that MSPs are subject to the same child protection and vulnerable adult checks as teachers and social workers.

In Scotland, Protecting Vulnerable Groups (PVG) checks are a legal requirement for anyone with a regulated role, including teachers, social workers and sports coaches.

Failing these checks could mean being barred from regulated roles with children, regulated roles with adults or from both types of regulated roles.

However, an MSP is not a regulated role, meaning members do not presently have to complete PVG checks.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for many years for MSPs to be subject to the checks.

In a letter to the party, First Minister John Swinney has now announced that:

The government is preparing information to be provided to the Parliament for consideration on the disclosure system, the PVG scheme and options available in relation to elected representatives.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said:

MSPs regularly work with children and vulnerable adults in the course of their duties but are subject to none of the checks that a teacher or social worker would be.

Self-policing, which is what Scottish political parties have so far relied upon, simply doesn’t cut it.

We need to have measures in place that will directly prevent those working in politics from using their status to manipulate, target and exploit vulnerable people.

I’m glad that at last the Scottish Government are listening to Scottish Liberal Democrat proposals and I would urge the First Minister to ensure that they are swiftly passed into law.

My party is here to get things done, and making our politics a safer and better place with fewer scandals is a part of that effort.

Chancellor’s Speech – Wales still an afterthought to Labour

Responding to Chancellor John Healey’s speech on growth in Coventry this morning, David Chadwick MP, Welsh Liberal Democrat Westminster spokesperson, said:

The Chancellor talks about delivering growth in every postcode, but once again Wales appears to be an afterthought.

While the new partnership with the Cardiff Capital Region is welcome, there is no new guaranteed funding or projects for Cardiff or Wales attached to today’s announcement.

Wales has been shortchanged for too long, missing out on billions in rail investment and receiving a disproportionately low share of research and development funding.

These structural issues need to be addressed if we are serious about unlocking Wales’ economic potential.