Bruce Crawford MSP for Constituency

LABOUR/TORY OPPOSITION FAIL TO SUPPORT INVESTMENT IN STIRLING Communities across Stirling Constituency are set to benefit from greater support as a result of the Scottish Government’s Budget. However Labour and Tory opponents failed to support in- vestment for Stirling Constituency in the budget – with the three opposition parties voting against the SNP’s proposals to fund local services. The Budget will see Stirling Council receive £2.8million more than anticipated extra funding for 2017/18 as part of an additional £160m from the Scottish Government to Scottish Councils. This Scottish Government budget provides a strong funding deal for my Constituency, giving spending commitments to the NHS, education, infrastructure, environment and the economy. For the opposition parties, with the exception of the Greens, to vote against all of thiswas deeply disappointing and against the best interests of our communities. It was disappointing to see Labour and the Tories more interested in political point scoring ra- ther than standing up for their local communities – but there’s still time for them to drop their opposition and back the Scottish Government’s proposals as the Budget Bill progresses. Stirling and the surrounding villages will benefit from a range of direct spending commitments, including; £495m for NHS Forth Valley, support for the planned redevelopment of Stirling Sta- tion, electrification of Falkirk Grahamston, Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa line and funding to pro- mote the case for the Stirling/Clackmannanshire City Deal. Labour and the Tories should think again before choosing to rob Stirling of these vital services in a narrow-minded campaign designed to achieve nothing more than embarrassing the SNP Scottish Government. This budget is too important for our local communities to allow that to happen. KERSE ROAD CLOSURE I have been contacted by some of my Constituents about the pro- posed closure at Kerse Road. I, along with Cllr Jim Thomson and Cllr Gerry McLaughlan, recently met with Network Rail to discuss possi- ble options around the Kerse Road Bridge closure. I have asked Net- work Rail to investigate all options available and will be meeting with them again next month after the formal planning application has been submitted. £1,424,400 BOOST FOR SCHOOLS Schools in Stirling Constituency will benefit from a £1,424,400 funding boost as part of the Scottish Government’s drive to improve standards in schools, it has been revealed. The share each school is due to receive from the Scottish Government’s new £120 million Pupil Equity Fund has been revealed by Deputy First Minister . 38 primaries and 7 secondary’s across the Constituency are set to receive additional support worth thousands of pounds. It will be up to teachers and school leaders to decide the best way of using the funding to close the poverty related attainment gap in their schools. Every child in Scotland should have the best possible start in life, and it is unacceptable for children from the poorest backgrounds to have their chances limited by circumstances out- side their control. The SNP in government has made closing the poverty-related attainment gap our number one priority, and our new £120 million Pupil Equity Fund is aimed at doing just that. This new announcement will let parents, teachers and school leaders see how much funding they can expect to drive up standards and tackle the inter-generational cycle of deprivation in their school.

VISIT SCOTLAND RECEPTION This month I sponsored a reception in the to celebrate the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology. At the reception, one thing that really captured my imagination was a new virtual reality app that VisitScotland is developing. Us- ing the app to fly around the majestic Wallace monument was a truly remarkable experience and showed me strongly the power of virtual reality for the future. It is a fantastic tool in enabling poten- tial visitors to explore our history, landscape and heritage and en- couraging them to travel to Scotland. I was delighted that the Cabinet Secretary announced that Doune castle would be one of the sites in Scotland to receive a portion of £6.6 million of funding to support conservation, repair and visitor facilities. STIRLING CARE VILLAGE Work has begun on the Stirling Care Village, which is a £35 million development built on the grounds of the Stirling Community Hospital. It will transform the way services are delivered by bringing a wide range of health, social care, training and GP services together in one location. The plans will see a new Care Hub created for older people who require additional short-term care, an assessment or rehabilitation following an illness, an operation or an acute hospital ad- mission. The Care Hub will also provide specialist support for patients with dementia and those who require palliative and end of life care. Services will be delivered in a modern, pur- pose-built facility with more than 100 short-stay care beds. JOBS BOOST FOR STIRLING AS SCOTTISH TOURISM BOOMS The number of people working in tourism in Stirling increased by 12% in one year, new figures show – with Scotland as a whole seeing an increase of 11 per cent. The statistics produced by Visit Scotland show that tourism supports 5800 jobs in across my Constituency, 13% of total jobs in the area. Our tourism industry is going from strength to strength and this increase in jobs shows the vi- tal role that tourism plays in Scotland’s economy and particularly across the Stirling Constitu- ency. Scotland is famed for its warm welcome, incredible scenery and top class attractions – and in the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology we are celebrating our exceptional histor- ical attractions. With Scotland ranked second in the Rough Guides list of the best countries in the world to visit this year, tourism in Stirling has a very bright future.

NHS WAITING TIMES It is testament to the dedication of our NHS staff that 94.2% of patients in the Forth Valley area were seen within four hours in what was the busiest December for four years. The figures also show that our A&E departments continue to outperform other areas of the UK and have done so for the last 21 consecutive months of published statistics. As we have seen throughout the year, A&E figures will fluctuate week-to-week and the Scottish Government are monitoring this closely to ensure no-one is waiting longer than abso- lutely necessary in our emergency departments. Our A&Es have consistently out-performed those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but we want to go further and continue to im- prove performance in Scotland.

And Finally … My new Constituency Office address is; Office 16, John Player Building, Stirling Enterprise Park, Stirling, FK7 7RP. If you have a Constituency enquiry you can contact me via email at [email protected] or by telephone on 01786 471899