Report to the People
9th July 2007
Committee Must Keep Key Issues on Agenda
In contrast
to the more obscure matters which detain some Holyrood Committees, Local
Government and Communities, of which I have been elected Convener, concerns
itself with a raft of matters which directly affect you and your family.
In essence,
it looks into how the local services on which we rely are delivered by councils
and, perhaps more controversially, how they are paid for (and by whom).
The communities aspect of the work will focus on housing, regeneration
and tackling poverty - all issues of huge importance here in Greenock and
Inverclyde.
So there’s
a lot to get my teeth into in the coming parliamentary session - and no shortage
of organisations and special interests trying to tell me where the Committee’s
priorities should lie. Being
naturally suspicious of people who want to tell me what I should be thinking, I
plan to spend time over the summer examining the key issues and talking to those
with particular insights thereon.
Should we,
for example, institute a major inquiry into drug use in our communities and all
aspects of the damage it is doing? Do
we need to consider how changes to local government funding would affect family
budgets in communities like ours? What about guaranteeing that all council workers get equal
pay for equal work?
It is easy
for politicians to be blown off course by interest groups’ agendas, or become
immersed in trivial side issues. And
the goal must be to ensure that that doesn’t happen on this Committee.
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