Dundee Liberal Democrats - www.dundeelibdems.scot

Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP has today warned that the Scottish Government's proposal to publish a new suicide prevention plan in September 2022 will leave a "dangerous blank", as the current strategy will expire at the end of 2021.

Every Life Matters, Scotland's Suicide Prevention Action Plan was published in 2018, 586 days late. The plan was scheduled to run until 2021, which will leave another gap with almost a year in between.

Speaking in this afternoon's Scottish Parliament debate on Drug Related Deaths, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton stressed the importance of trauma informed care when dealing with addiction and its treatment.

During the debate, Scottish Liberal Democrats secured an amendment to confirm parliament's support for strengthened guidance from the Lord Advocate on the issue of diversion from prosecution.

Commenting on the appointment of the new Lord Advocate and Solicitor General, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"It will soon be six years since the tragic death of Lamara Bell and John Yuill by the side of the M9 motorway.

"Despite numerous promises of a Fatal Accident Inquiry the families are still left without answers.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called for a 5p increase in the minimum unit price to 65p and encouraged the Scottish Government to "finish the job" after new figures showed significant reductions in the number of adults exceeding safe weekly drinking guidelines.

Today's figures published by Public Health Scotland show that while sales have dropped, the sales figures are still higher than in England and Wales.

In response to reports that schools have had to pay the SQA almost £18 million more than was required to provide the exams service this year, Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Beatrice Wishart MSP has condemned the "exams tax", and called for a refund.

Reports by TES Scotland revealed that the "alternative certification model" (ACM), which replaced the exams, has cost the SQA £7 million, which is £17.5 million less than the sum gathered through the annual levy paid by schools to the SQA for their service.

Orkney and Shetland MP and Liberal Democrat spokesperson on political reform, Alistair Carmichael, has today warned of the risk to democratic participation from the Conservatives imitating right wing voter suppression policies from the United States. Speaking at Electoral Commission Questions in the House of Commons Mr Carmichael asked how many actual fraudulent votes were expected to be blocked by new voter ID restrictions, and raised the growing concerns in the US around intentional blocking of minority voters.

Chesham and Amersham

I'm writing this month's report before we know the result. But we do already know that we've had the best candidate in Sarah Green, run the best campaign and had an awesome amount of help from people all around the country.

That would all be impressive even in normal times, but coming off the back of the huge May elections and while we're all still dealing with coronavirus and lockdowns, that's been an amazing achievement.

Commenting on the embargoed Audit Scotland briefing on how the Scottish Government managed PPE arrangements during the pandemic, Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

"The new report shows what we've been saying for months. The government's PPE procurement was clearly inadequate and unacceptable.