MOD CRITICISED FOR MILITARY INQUIRY DELAYS
Posted on Thursday, July 12 2007
WESTMINSTER SNP LEADER DESCRIBES THE SITUATION AS “SCANDALOUS”The Ministry of Defence is under pressure to justify the continuing delays in inquiries into the overseas deaths of military personnel. According to media reports the UK government has not provided further funds to the coroner investigating the cases. This is despite pledges to help bereaved families by cutting the length of time they must wait for an inquest.Westminster SNP Leader Angus Robertson MP has described the situation as “scandalous” and highlighted the situation that a date remains to be fixed for a coroner's inquiry into why a Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss crashed in Afghanistan last September. RAF Kinloss is situated in Mr Robertson’s Moray constituency.Speaking about the situation Mr Robertson said:“The ongoing delays in holding inquiries into overseas military deaths are scandalous.“Every week both Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have paid their respects to brave service personnel who have died abroad, but their government is completely failing to support the bereaved families.“It is a bare minimum to expect speedy inquiries but the backlogs continue and requests for proper funding have been put off.“Not only are Coroners inquest proceedings in general taking too long, but the results of the RAF Board of Inquiry into the Nimrod tragedy have still to be released.“This is holding back an inquest into the deaths of 14 military personnel who were aboard the Nimrod, which went down in near Kandahar in Afghanistan. ENDS
MORAY MP URGES CONSTITUENTS THINK ABOUT THEIR PERSONAL DATA
Posted on Wednesday, July 11 2007
Moray Scottish National Party MP Angus Robertson has urged his constituents to think about how their personal information is used and to be very aware of companies and organisations who look after various aspects of their personal affairs.The Westminster MPs comments come on the day that the Information Commissioner released a report detailing what he described as a 'horrifying' number of companies and agencies who breach data protection laws with customers personal information.Companies who have committed such breaches include major High Street banks with various reported incidents of losing significant numbers of customer details on stolen and lost laptops, as well as personal details being dumped unshredded in bins. Another well known case involved High Street retailer TK Maxx who had details of huge numbers of customers payment methods stolen in a sophisticated internet hacking incident.Public bodies whose security procedures gave cause for concern included the Child Support Agency whose handling of temporary staff access to customer details was called into question.The Information Commissioner is quoted as saying of incidents that "Frankly these are inexcusable. None of this is really rocket science - security is fundamental".Commenting the SNP's Mr Robertson said:" The people of Moray and elsewhere have a right to expect that companies and agencie they need to hand over personal details will look after this information in a secure and appropriate manner. This report from the Information Commissioner gives serious cause for concern that this is not happening in many cases." While there is no suggestion that organisations such as banks, phone companies and the Child Support Agency are deliberately breaching Data Protection Laws it is abundantly clear that many are not taking pro-active steps to protect customer and client information." Customers use many of these services through necessity. For example almost everyone needs to have one or more bank accounts for basic day-to-day life and as for the Child Support Agency I would suggest that confidence in the Agency must now be at an all time low, however clients have no choice but to use the agency's services." I sincerely hope that companies and organisations using sensitive customer data are paying close attention to this issue and, where appropriate, that they seek advice from the Information Commissioner's Office on data handling procedures." We have a situation where organisations such as banks who encourage customers to shred sensitive documents are themselves failing to heed their own advice. This is simply inexcusable and much work remains to be done to protect the public interest."Ends.
MORAY PARLIAMENTARIANS WELCOME DIAGEO ANNOUNCEMENT
Posted on Wednesday, July 11 2007
Moray MP Angus Robertson and MSP Richard Lochhead have today [Wednesday] welcomed the publication of Diageo's planning proposals for a new distillery at Roseisle.The news gives detail to the announcement several months ago that the whisky giant was planning a 100 million pound investment in its Scottish operations.Commenting on the latest development SNP MP Angus Robertson said:" Diageo's announcement that they have lodged an application for a new distillery is great news for the whisky industry and demonstrates the potential for growth in Moray's economy." The whisky industry is going from strength to strength and I am very pleased that Diageo want to invest a significant amount of money in developing facilities in Scotland's whisky producing heartland." As a Vice Chair of the Westminster All Party Whisky Group I am in regular meetings with industry representatives and government ministers to discuss how the industry can best be supported and allowed to expand and develop. This investment by Diageo makes the whisky industry's base all the stronger in Moray and I believe we can look forward to a vibrant future for distillation in Moray.Moray MSP Richard Lochhead said:" Whisky industry employment in Moray is a vital sector of our local economy and investment such as this provides security not just for Diageo employees but for the industry as a whole." Export markets have been growing significantly in recent years, especially in emerging economies such as China." There is huge demand for high quality product and that is what Moray has produced consistently for many, many years." Not only does it provide direct employment for Diageo but there are also associated haulage jobs, engineering industry work and many other spin offs."Ends.
CAUTIOUS WELCOME TO CHILD MAINTENANCE BILL
Posted on Monday, July 9 2007
"URGENT ACTION NEEDED TO SORT OUT AGENCY'S 'DISASTER'" - Angus RobertsonMoray SNP MP Angus Robertson has highlighted the House of Comments Public Accounts Committee's serious criticisms of the child support system. The report, which has just been released, blamed poor project management, a failure to deal effectively with IT suppliers, and poor financial management at both the Department of Work and Pensions and the Child Support Agency. The report has been released just ahead of the second reading in the House of Commons of the Child Maintenance Bill which will create a new child maintenance delivery agency along with other reforms. The agency was established in 1993 and by October last year one in four of the applications it had received since 2003 were still waiting to be cleared.In the same year there was a backlog of 250,000 cases, £3.5bn in maintenance had not been collected, with 60 per cent deemed uncollectible, and in 2005-06 a total of 55,000 complaints were received. In 2003 the government introduced reforms to the system, but the report found them to have been unrealistic.A newly introduced computer system brought with it major problems due to its complexity, and had been attempted when CSA was already struggling with major restructuring, the report said.The Chair of the Committee went on to say that "The reform of the Child Support Agency has been one of the greatest public administration disasters of recent times".Moray MP Angus Robertson has welcomed the report and also given a cautious welcome to the new bill.Mr Robertson said:" The problems with the CSA are well documented and radical action is clearly required. The CSA represents one of the biggest issues raised with my by Moray constituents in my postbag and at surgeries. " The current agency has totally failed both parents and children. The Bill however needs to go further and end the anomaly where different systems are in place for people on the same circumstances depending on when maintenance started. Unless this basic unfairness is tackled a legacy of bitterness will remain. "There are also some concerns about particular aspects of the Bill, especially as to why the Government has conceded that parents should be able to enter into agreements between themselves yet they are seeking to restrict the agreement to one year. This seems illogical. "Agreements should have within them the power to vary and more clarity needs to be given on how agreements will work and particularly in the Scottish context how they are to be enforced. "Prior to the CSA in Scotland we had an excellent system where a Minute of Agreement could be recorded in the Books of Council and Session and thereafter could be enforced in the same way as a Summary Decree. I would urge the Government to look at reintroducing such a system which would speed up action in this area." Ends.
|