Views

We should be proud of university title - for the Inverness Courier

THE formal award of university title to the University of the Highlands and Islands is fantastic news for our area.

It is a huge tribute to the hard work and dedication over many years of some inspiring people, and we should be proud of the achievement.

It is also a reminder of the importance of high quality education and skills to our economy. The quality of the workforce and the range of skills available is one of the issues raised most often by businesses locally and nationally as we work hard to support economic growth.

Over the last few weeks I have visited businesses across the country, from Inverness to Cornwall, to hear their ideas on things the government can do to help them. I have also been highlighting the additional funding we have provided to create an extra 75,000 apprenticeships every year for the next four years.

Apprenticeships are beneficial to young people and employers alike and are a key component to ensuring our economy has the right skills.

In welfare, too, our reforms are designed to get people off benefit and into work. The new "work programme" will provide tailored support to help people address barriers to work - with innovative businesses and organisations getting involved and being paid by results.

The next stage for UHI in Inverness is the work on the new campus at Beechwood for Inverness College. This is a key plank for the future development of our city and it must not be subject to further delays.

Having been in development for so long, this project must remain at the front of the queue and should not simply be "in the pipeline" for new college developments established by the Scottish Government.

I hope the necessary approvals will be given before the start of the elections period - this is critical to preventing months of further delay.

POST OFFICE

One of my early decisions in government - and one I am very proud of - was to agree plans to nearly double government investment in the Post Office network over the next four years.

Local post offices play a vital role in communities large and small, and this investment is part of the coalition government's commitment to protecting and making the post office network sustainable.

So I was utterly astonished to see Labour MSPs' unfounded scaremongering on this subject.

From a party that closed more than 6,000 post offices when in government, including several cherished branches here in Inverness, this beggars belief.

They should be ashamed of their attempts to scare communities into believing that the coalition government intends to repeat their closure programme.

Nothing could be further from the truth. As in so many other areas of government policy, Labour made a mess of it and we are doing our best to set matters right.

Posted on: 01/03/2011