2003 Archive >>>

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, is backing the Woodland Trust, WH Smith and Tesco’s 2005 Christmas Card Recycling Scheme – and is urging his constituents to do the same... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, is encouraging local people to give one final gift this Christmas. The Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS) is traditionally stretched between Christmas and New Year and Mr McNeil is encouraging more donors to join him in coming forward to help out... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, is warning party-goers to watch out for people spiking their drinks this Christmas... (more)

Local people who want to get back to work or escape temporary, dead-end jobs are being urged to make learning new skills their New Year’s Resolution... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has welcomed the news that work on replacing the West Station Bridge is set to begin in February... (more)

Greenock and Inverclyde is set to benefit from new Scottish Executive funding aimed at fighting poverty in Scotland, it has been announced. A 3 year Community Regeneration Fund package worth £318 million has been unveiled, with £14,643,000 earmarked for improving health and boosting employment opportunities in the Inverclyde area... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, will visit Royal Mail staff at Greenock’s Knowe Road Sorting Office on Friday 3rd December to thank them for their hard work over the festive season... (more)

Professor David Kerr is set to be quizzed by MSPs on the progress being made by his Advisory Group on a National Framework for NHS Service Change, it has been revealed... (more)

Commenting on Wednesday’s Scottish Parliament debate on the dispute between football pools companies and clubs,  MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said... (more)

Commenting on the forthcoming announcement on smoking in public places, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said... (more)

Speaking following remarks by the Health Minister regarding the financial situation of Argyll and Clyde Health Board, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said... (more)

Scotland’s Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson, will be questioned by local Labour Party members and supporters on her key reforms of the criminal justice system this Thursday... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has dismissed as “narrow-minded nonsense”, the SNP’s refusal to support London’s bid for the 2012 Olympic Games... (more)

Chair of the National Advisory Group on Service Change (NAGSC), Oxford University’s Professor David Kerr, is to kick off the long-awaited and much called for public debate on the future shape of the NHS on Monday 18th October in Greenock... (more)

Commenting on today’s ministerial reshuffle, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said... (more)

Greenock and Inverclyde’s two Parliamentary representatives have told how the debate on the Health Service in Scotland is being driven by events in Inverclyde... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has again met with health service unions at Inverclyde Royal Hospital to discuss the next phase of the campaign against Argyll and Clyde Health Board’s discredited Clinical Strategy... (more)

Health Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, has welcomed Professor David Kerr’s willingness to contemplate changes for the IRH which would keep it open in a way which would satisfy public demands... (more)

Commenting on today’s publication of Lord Fraser’s report of his inquiry into the Holyrood building project, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has welcomed today’s announcement by Health Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, that he will not issue any final decision on Health Board plans for service change until the National Framework Advisory Committee has reported... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, is calling on Health Minister, Malcolm Chisholm, to defer any final decision on Health Board plans for service redesign until the National Advisory Group on Service Change (NAGSC) reports to Ministers in March 2005... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has challenged Health bosses to prove that centralising health services actually delivers better patient care... (more)

The biggest killer of young men in Scotland – suicide – will be the subject of the first ever Member’s Business Debate in the new Scottish Parliament... (more)

NHS Argyll and Clyde’s controversial Clinical Strategy will be “Exhibit A for the prosecution” in the Scottish Parliament Health Committee’s major Inquiry into workforce planning in the health service... (more)

The unprecedented decision of NHS Argyll and Clyde to extend the consultation on its under-fire Clinical Strategy has been welcomed by MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil and MP, David Cairns... (more)

Calls to Crimestoppers Scotland from the Greenock area have doubled, new figures show... (more)

Saturday’s march and rally against NHS Argyll and Clyde’s proposals to downgrade Inverclyde Royal Hospital is his community’s chance to turn up the heat on the Health Board bosses, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has said... (more)

First Minister, Jack McConnell, says there is “a pressing need and demand in our local communities to have services delivered as locally and humanly as possible.” Tackled by MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, on the issue at First Minister’s Question Time, the First Minister declared that “as many services as possible must be delivered locally.”... (more)

Greenock and Inverclyde’s MP and MSP, David Cairns and Duncan McNeil, have described as “positive and productive” their meeting with Glasgow University’s Dr Andrew Walker – the leading Health Economist charged with carrying out the independent evaluation of NHS Argyll and Clyde's clinical strategy... (more)

Two of Inverclyde’s most respected doctors are ready to play their part in drawing up a credible alternative to the under-fire Argyll and Clyde Clinical Strategy, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, revealed to the Scottish Parliament today... (more)

The top academic charged with carrying out the independent evaluation of NHS Argyll and Clyde's under-fire clinical strategy will hear the case for Inverclyde Royal Hospital this Friday... (more)

The impact on the Inverclyde economy of implementing NHS Argyll and Clyde’s Clinical Strategy must be investigated without delay, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has said... (more)

Duncan McNeil MSP, the member of the Parliament’s Corporate Body with portfolio responsibility for procurement, says next month’s “Meet the Buyers” event in the Scottish Parliament will be good for business and good for the Parliament... (more)

Speaking in the Scottish Parliament yesterday, Communities Minister, Margaret Curran, paid tribute to the Greenock Telegraph and its campaign to help local residents speak out against antisocial behaviour... (more)

Condemning the confirmation from Tory Chief Whip, Bill Aitken, that Conservative MSPs will vote to remove dispersal powers from the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said.... (more)

“The Scottish Executive Health Department,” MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has said, must “develop a comprehensive strategy” to provide for the early diagnosis and treatment of asbestos victims... (more)

Commenting on NHS Argyll & Clyde’s proposals for the future shape of acute care in its area, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, today said... (more)

Commenting on his recent visit with David Cairns MP to see how the Leith waterfront has been transformed by regeneration, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, today said... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has hailed today’s announcement by Amazon.co.uk that it is to create up to 300 jobs in Gourock as "proof that Inverclyde is still the place for top-line brands to invest."... (more)

Senior members of the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee are to visit Inverclyde as part of their major inquiry into Workforce Planning in the NHS... (more)

Proposals to tackle binge drinking have been welcomed by MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil. The new Scottish Executive plans seek to modernise Scotland’s licensing laws, promote sensible drinking and “call time” on irresponsible alcohol promotions. Launching the proposals, Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson said she hoped they could “break the link between excessive drinking and crime”... (more)

Local communities and private tenants will be given better protection following amendments to the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Bill. MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, backed the proposals, saying they were “good news for good tenants, good landlords and good neighbours.”... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde and Labour member of the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee, Duncan McNeil, says tomorrow’s Stage 3 debate on the National Health Service Reform (Scotland) Bill, is an ideal opportunity to give patients’ rights parity with those of professionals in the NHS... (more)

Space Invaders – the selfish motorists who dishonestly use disabled parking bays – are to be taken to task in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday. MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, and MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Johann Lamont, both of whom have been campaigning on the issue for some time, have secured a Member’s Debate on a jointly drafted motion... (more)

Local animal lovers have a “golden opportunity” to give their furred and feathered friends better legal protection, according to MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, today attended the launch of a brand new service to support young homeless people and those leaving care... (more)

Inverclyde Council’s swingeing cuts to frontline services have been condemned in a Scottish Parliament debate called by a Liberal Democrat MSP... (more)

The Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee is failing in its duty to hold the Health Minister and powerful vested interests to account, according to one of its own members. In a letter to Committee Convener, Christine Grahame, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, says that by pushing the major issues facing the NHS aside, the Committee is “allowing the Health Minister and professional interests within the NHS to escape effective scrutiny.”... (more)

Commenting on remarks made by SNP leader, John Swinney, on his visit to Inverclyde today, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said, “Lectures from John Swinney on the public finances? I’ve heard it all now. Next he’ll be giving tips on leadership... (more)

Local politicians David Cairns and Duncan McNeil had a sneak preview of Glasgow Airport’s second terminal today when they went behind the scenes to see how work on the new building is progressing... (more)

The announcement that a team of 10 extra police officers is to patrol the streets of Larkfield and Braside has been welcomed by MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil... (more)

Plans to set up a trade union for Scotland’s prisoners – a Confederation Of Nefarious Scoundrels, or CONS for short – should be locked up and the key thrown away, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has said... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has joined together with Justice Minister, Cathy Jamieson, to mark the launch of a new, improved 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Crimestoppers service... (more)

Deputy Health Minister, Tom McCabe and MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, have congratulated the Phoenix Community Health Project for winning a GlaxoSmithKline Impact Award of £20,000... (more)

Commenting on the ongoing industrial action being taken by some local authority nursery nurses, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, today said... (more)

First Minister, Jack McConnell, has pledged to issue a personal invitation to IBM’s overseas workers to “help us grow the Scottish economy.”... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, is calling for action to stop selfish drivers misusing disabled parking bays in supermarket and other private car parks... (more)

Commenting on today’s announcement which confirmed Sanmina-SCI’s decision to make redundant 150 employees at its Greenock plant, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, said... (more)

The Public Local Inquiry into the hold-up on work to replace Greenock’s West Station Bridge is set to begin next week as scheduled... (more)

Yet another NHS consultation process is today in tatters after a leaked memo exposed a Health Board’s plan to bypass public opinion and centralise all inpatient gynaecological services at the Royal Alexandria Hospital in Paisley... (more)

MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, will urge supermarket giant, Tesco, to listen to the views of its loyal customers when he meets the company’s property chief this Friday... (more)

Could better co-operation on the ground speed up the much needed modernisation of Inverclyde’s housing? That’s the question Communities Minister, Margaret Curran, will be asking key figures on her visit to Greenock next Monday... (more)

Commenting on a statement issued yesterday by Leader of Inverclyde Council, Cllr Alan Blair, on the subject of Inverclyde School Buildings, MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, today said "Cllr Blair might be on the run, but he can’t hide from the fact that independent experts – no less than HM Inspectorate of Education themselves – have absolutely slated his administration’s ‘unsatisfactory’ performance... (more)

Inverclyde Council’s under-fire Liberal Democrat leadership must urgently rethink their “unsatisfactory” schools policy, says the HM Inspectorate of Education... (more)

Greenock and Inverclyde’s dentists are to have their say on the future of dental services in Scotland. MSP for Greenock and Inverclyde, Duncan McNeil, has written to all dental practices in his constituency, encouraging participation in the Scottish Executive’s major consultation, Modernising NHS Dental Services in Scotland... (more)