Stevenson Welcomes New Council Houses in North-East

Banffshire & Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed new figures showing over 460 new council houses have been built in the North-east since 2009 with Scottish Government funding, providing a “huge boost” to the local economy.

Analysis shows that the Scottish Government Council House Build Programme - introduced in April 2009 – has seen more than £135m invested to provide local authority housing for people across the country.

The funding incentivises local authorities to build new homes – the first such central government support to councils in a generation.

Commenting Stewart Stevenson MSP said:

“It is great news that this SNP Scottish Government has provided funding for more than 460 new homes in the North-east and demonstrates the scale and ambition of this programme.

“The SNP Government is on track to deliver 30,000 affordable homes across Scotland by March 2016, with 1,324 council homes built in 2013/14 alone – the highest number since a new generation of council house construction was kick-started in 2009.

"In contrast, the previous Labour/LibDem administration built just six council homes during the four years of their last term in office.

“Despite considerable challenges to the money we get back from Westminster the SNP Scottish Government plans to spend over £1.7 billion to deliver our target of 30,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of this Parliament, supporting an estimated 8,000 jobs each year.

“However only a Yes vote and the full powers of independence will give us full control to tailor our housing supply investment and initiatives to meet the needs of our communities and the homebuilding industry in Scotland.

“It will also provide the full borrowing powers we need to invest prudently in infrastructure, and not have our capital budget dictated to us by Westminster.”

Local MSP Welcomes Extra Help to Improve Hospital Patient Flow

Banffshire & Buchan Coast MSP Stewart Stevenson has welcomed the announcement from the Scottish Government that an additional £5 million is to be made available to help health boards to improve the flow of patients through the health and social care services.

© Scottish Government

Health Secretary Alex Neil MSP announced the funding boost which will aid further development of intermediate care, helping people to stay in their own home instead of going into hospital in the first place, and services that support people to regain their independence so they can return home sooner after a hospital stay.

Commenting, Stewart Stevenson MSP said:

“By improving the way that patients move through hospital and are supported at home, the investment will allow people to be moved from A&E to an appropriate ward sooner and reduce the amount of unnecessary time that patients spend in hospital.

“The funding will be carefully targeted to improve performance in seven health boards, including Grampian, working with their local authority, housing and Third Sector partners.”

Health Secretary Alex Neil MSP said:

“Our NHS and its partners is making sustainable progress around exploring new and innovative ways to improve the way that patients move through our health and care services.

“We’ve already legislated for health and social care integration to come into effect from April next year, but I am clear that we must make further progress now.

“That’s why I’m targeting £5 million today to support the transition to integrated health and social care and improve patient flow through a number of hospitals and community services.
“This investment will help improve the journey of many patients through hospital and back home supported by appropriate care services so they can leave hospital as soon as they are able.

“Improving flow through hospitals not only benefits the individual patient, but also helps improve the performance in frontline services like A&E and planned operations.”

Stevenson Highlights Important Friendship Between Scotland and Malawi

Speaking in a Scottish Parliament debate on Scotland and Malawi, Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast, highlighted the responsibilities that Scotland holds as a friend of the African nation.

He said that tackling the issues of tobacco and climate change would be beneficial for Malawi’s future.

Mr Stevenson said:

“Two thirds of Malawi’s exports are tobacco. We are rightly seeking to remove tobacco as a major part of our society, for the health of people in our country. However, when we do that it will have a significant effect on the economy of a country such as Malawi. We therefore owe a duty to countries such as Malawi to help them cross over to a more beneficial mode of agriculture.

“We are already seeing a danger that tobacco farmers, in the face of reducing profits, move across to grow cannabis. That will not be helpful in the long term for people who are in desperate need in countries such as Malawi.”

He added:

“Climate change is making agriculture a more formidable challenge in many countries in Africa, and we in the developed world are largely responsible for that. We therefore need to ensure that we support people in Malawi, which we are already doing through a number of programmes there.

“Malawi is an important friend of ours; let us be an ever-important friend of Malawi.”