eNews 30th April 2023

My week started with local meetings followed by attending Living Lerwick’s AGM in Lerwick Town Hall. Tourism and retail in Shetland are getting back on their feet after the disruption of Covid-19. Supporting our local retailers is vital to retain the vibrancy of the town centre, and as we prepare for the Tall Ships Races event in July I hope we see a return to pre-pandemic tourist levels. The issues around capacity on Northlink is interlinked and I continue to engage with the Scottish Government on this matter.

This week also had a cosmic feel as I visited aerospace company, HyImpulse Technologies, to learn about their engine development for satellite launches working with SaxaVord Spaceport in Unst. Returning to Parliament I then highlighted the exciting current work and future potential of Shetland’s space sector in a debate on Scotland’s opportunities in the space industry on Thursday, which you can watch in full here.

I took the opportunity to press the Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero to meet with Shetland fishing and aquaculture sectors over Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs) during a question session. You can see the full exchange here.

I also urged the Cabinet Secretary for External Affairs to ensure Scottish universities do not miss out on the EU Horizon exchange programme. The question can be seen here.

I also asked the Cabinet Secretary for Education what is being done to ensure provision of mental health counselling in schools. You can see the question and answer here.

Finally this week, as Deputy Convener of the Cross Party Group on Poverty, I attended our online CPG meeting where an enquiry into rural poverty was launched. This will cover island as well as Scotland’s rural communities with the aim of exploring the impacts of poverty on people’s lives, looking at its causes and possible solutions. More information can be found on the Poverty Alliance, who provide the secretariat to the CPG, here.