Latest News –  Martin Whitfield MSP

6 to 12 June is Carers Week, the annual opportunity to celebrate and raise awareness of caring and unpaid carers, which this year is campaigning to make caring Visible, Valued and Supported. Martin Whitfield MSP pledged his support for carers in South Scotland region ahead of the week, commenting: "Carers have had a particularly challenging time during the COVID-19 pandemic, facing reduced support and cuts in respite and other services.  Many are now being hit by the cost of living crisis, so Carers Week 2022 is a perfect opportunity to recognise and thank unpaid carers for the amazing job they [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP has tabled a motion at the Scottish Parliament welcoming the promotion of Tranent Juniors FC to the Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL). The motion congratulates everyone at the club on the achievement, which was secured following victory over West of Scotland Football League champions Darvel in the deciding play-off match. Commenting on the club’s success, Martin Whitfield MSP said: “Securing promotion to the Lowland League for the first time in the club’s history is amazing news for Tranent Juniors and everyone at the club deserves huge credit for this achievement. I know how much it means to [...]

Martin Whitfield MSP has attended a Stroke Association exhibition event at the Scottish Parliament and given the charity's vital work his full support. The exhibition gave MSPs the opportunity to find out more about stroke policy in Scotland, how they can work with the Stroke Association to support and drive forward improvements in treatment and care and also receive a personalised constituency profile. Speaking after visiting the charity's exhibition, Martin Whitfield MSP said:  "I was pleased to find out more about the work of the Stroke Association in Scotland at their exhibition at Holyrood earlier this month. Stroke is Scotland's [...]

An innovative pop-up play event giving children and families the time, space and freedom to design, build and play as they like has been given the thumbs up by Martin Whitfield MSP. The former teacher joined ward councillor Shamin Akhtar at the Tinkertown experience at Letham Mains Primary School, laid on by East Lothian Play Association and The City of Play. Together they saw the excitement and ingenuity of local children as they used real tools, pallets and scrap timber to bring their ideas to life. The open nature of Tinkertown offers children the opportunity to engage in a rarely [...]

Martin Whitfield has joined other MSPs in welcoming pupils from Cockenzie Primary School to the Scottish Parliament this week. The two classes of P7 pupils attended on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week as part of the parliament’s official Education Service programme of school visits. They are among the first groups of pupils from East Lothian to visit the Scottish Parliament following the restart of school visits as restrictions were eased. Commenting after the visits, Martin Whitfield MSP said: “I was delighted to join colleagues in greeting the Cockenzie pupils at Holyrood and participating in a question and answer session [...]

The Accounts Commission’s 2022 Local Government Overview Report has underlined the scale of the challenges facing Scotland’s local councils as spiralling inflation and significant increases to the cost of living compound the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The report highlights that the current position for councils and the communities they serve is ‘challenging and complex’ and identifies a range of issues they need to confront. These include dealing with increasing demand and service backlogs, long-standing pressures, including rising poverty and inequalities, high absence levels and acute skills shortages amongst some key front-line workers, a lack of certainty and flexibility over [...]