BANFFSHIRE and BUCHAN COAST Liberal Democrats

Scottish Liberal Democrats have today called for red tape to be slashed from the £30m funding package for Scottish businesses in urgent need of covid support. The party warned that councils are struggling to administer the support schemes due to the ultra-short timescale rushed through by the Scottish Government. With no time to recruit additional personnel councils are having to divert key staff from other business development support to process and check applications.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and North East Fife MSP Willie Rennie has today questioned the Scottish Government's crumbling promises after a joint announcement from the Scottish and UK Governments that they were providing no further financial support for engineering firm.

Last month, a deal for BiFab to manufacture eight wind turbine jackets at its yards in Methil, Fife collapsed.

Speaking after the Scottish Parliament passed the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Liberal Democrat equalities spokesperson Caron Lindsay commented:

"Liberal Democrats are delighted to lend their wholehearted support to this bill.

"Period poverty has no place in the 21st century. Nobody should be left in the distressing position that they are without the period products they need.

Speaking in response to a tweet from SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford accusing a member of the public of breaking COVID laws, the leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats Willie Rennie said:

"Ian Blackford should apologise immediately this blundering tweet which accused a private citizen of breaking the travel restrictions when he had no evidence of him doing so.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has today called on the Scottish Government to introduce new rules whereby any region moved into level 4 coronavirus restrictions will be able to test their entire adult population after the success of a scheme involving 30-minute lateral flow tests in Liverpool.

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.