Views
Supporting our Mountain Rescue Teams - for the Inverness Courier
It has been a sad reality of my role as Chief Secretary that more often than not I’ve had to say No rather than Yes. Dealing with the financial mess the country was left in by Labour has meant being as frugal with the Treasury purse strings as people in the Highlands and across the UK are having to be with their own. I look forward to the economic recovery that may allow the Treasury to do more in the future. This week though I was afforded a rare and very welcome opportunity to say Yes.
My friend and colleague Tim Farron, MP for Cumbria asked me during Treasury questions about what could be done to help Mountain Rescue meet the £200,000 a year VAT costs of lifesaving equipment, which other emergency services are able to recoup. I was able to tell Tim that, yes, we were going to help and that in the spending review we had managed to put aside money to meet these costs. The Department for Transport is responsible and will be making a further statement in due course but it is worth recognising the vital work Mountain Rescue does.
Like Tim in his constituency I have seen the vital, life saving work that Mountain Rescue Teams do in the Highlands. When I worked for the Cairngorm National Park and now as an MP I’ve met regularly with these heroic volunteers who provide a vital service to their community. Just like other emergency services they are constantly putting the welfare of others ahead of themselves and quite knowingly putting themselves in great danger. The last two winters have been particularly brutal and these men and women are often called to act in horrendous conditions that the rest of us would not consider braving to go out for a paper, let alone to go up a mountain in. It is exactly the kind of service that our Prime Minister has in mind when he talks about the Big Society.
However you phrase it this kind of community volunteerism should be recognised and supported by all politicians, regardless of party. We will do a great disservice to the work of organisations like Mountain Rescue if we do not give them a helping hand when times are tough. That is why I was so thrilled to be able to find the money to help Mountain Rescue teams across the UK to meet their unavoidable equipment costs. I know they are highly trained passionate people performing their role superbly and that is how must allow them to stay. I hope I will never need them but it gives great peace of mind to all of us who enjoy walking in the Cairngorms to know that they are there.
Council Budget
Last week the Highland council agreed their budget for the coming year and finalised savings of some £55million. Tough decisions needed to be taken following the settlement the council received from the Scottish Government and I am pleased that they have managed to agree a budget which keeps local swimming pools, libraries and community centres open.
I welcome the decision to look again at classroom assistants and that a group will look at how the council provides support to pupils in the classroom. I had a number of parents and pupils raise concerns around this and I am pleased the council have been able to take on board those concerns and reconsider that proposal.
Posted on: 15/02/2011
