Dundee Liberal Democrats - www.dundeelibdems.scot

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP today called for "a service transformation from CAMHS through to crisis" after it was revealed that 833 people died by suicide in 2019.

Statistics published today by Public Health Scotland show there were 833 probable suicides registered in Scotland in 2019 - an increase from 784 in 2018.

Commenting on the results of the EIS survey published today which shows that less 1/3 of teachers feel safe in schools, Scottish Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Beatrice Wishart MSP commented:

"Teachers could not be more clear. They are not being made to feel safe in their schools.

"There are legitimate and serious concerns, but so far teachers have been met with blunt dismissal.

Speaking after a BBC Sunday Politics interview with Health Secretary Jeane Freeman in which she confirmed that COVID positive people were being transferred to care homes, the health spokesperson for the Scottish Liberal Democrats Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"What is happening is the opposite of what we were told by the government.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today raised concerns over the Scottish Government's failure to level up mental health services after it was revealed that both training of new mental health first aiders and training for instructors has been paused for the past eight months

The training of mental health first aiders in Scotland is undertaken by Public Health Scotland, who have paused Mental Health First Aid training in Scotland for the duration of the pandemic. This is in contrast to England where training never stopped and is instead being delivered as a virtual classroom course.

This week FPC met with an unusually light-looking agenda but we still managed to talk for two and half hours! We received an excellent presentation from Mimi Turner, Director of Strategy, Messaging and Research. Mimi talked us through the scale of the task ahead of us in terms of understanding how the Party fares when voters are asked whether we share their values; whether we'll do what we say; whether we're perceived as wanting to help ordinary people get on in life; and whether they see us as competent and capable.

November's meeting opened with a discussion with Ed Davey in which he outlined his plans for the Parliamentary Party going forwards. Collectively we deliberated on how to make sure all parts of the party are collaborating effectively and making best use of Ed's overarching strategy.

The Moving Forward Programme

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Weekly Whip w/c 16th November

Monday 16th November

To start off the week, the Commons had a quiet day of business.