Glasgow SNP MSP Bob Doris has today suggested a "Festival of Glasgow" to coincide with the 2014 Commonwealth Games.  

Bob Doris will make the call during the final debate on the Commonwealth Games Bill and will be submitting the idea to the consultation on a legacy of the Commonwealth games.

Bob Doris said: "The 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow are a once in a lifetime opportunity to build a sporting, social and cultural legacy for our city.  

"The games have the potential to involve the whole city and to show off the best Glasgow has to offer.
 

Bob Doris, SNP MSP for Glasgow, has backed calls for the UK Treasury to return £30million of Attendance Allowance funds to Scotland. An independent review of the Free Personal Care scheme, conducted by Lord Sutherland, has concluded that Scottish Government "should in the short term seek the reinstatement of the £30 million in attendance allowance", which was withdrawn by the Westminster Government when the scheme was introduced.

Attendance Allowance is a tax-free social security benefit paid to people over the age of 65 who need help with personal care or who need a lot of looking after. It is intended as a contribution towards the extra costs faced as a result of being physically or mentally disabled. With the introduction of the Free Personal and Nursing Care policy in Scotland in July 2002, the allowance was withdrawn from individuals in residential care who had all their disability-related needs met by that care.
 

Scottish National Party MSP Bill Kidd will this week join international representatives at the Preparatory Committee for the 2010 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in Geneva.

Mr Kidd, who is attending with Scottish CND will address a meeting of NGOs at the conference on Monday 28th April.  He will set out the opposition of the SNP to the renewal of Trident, the actions of the Scottish Government’s working group on Trident and the opposition of the Scottish Parliament to the renewal of the Trident nuclear weapons system.

Speaking from Glasgow Mr Kidd said: "It is an enormous privilege to have been invited to speak on Scotland’s behalf against the renewal of nuclear weapons.

"For the first time ever Scotland has a government and a parliament opposed to nuclear weapons with a clear vision of a nuclear free Scotland.
 

Bob Doris, Glasgow SNP MSP  has backed the calls of the Scottish National Party MPs in Westminster in demanding assurances that ID cards will not be introduced by the back door.

Bobs comments come after the SNP questioned Scottish Secretary, Des Browne, on the issue. The questioning highlighted the widely held concerns of Scots over the government's proposals for ID Cards. In his response the Scottish Secretary failed to dismiss concerns over the cost of the proposals, the effectiveness of the proposals or whether Scottish students could be used as "biometric guinea pigs".

Commenting Bob said: "I know for a fact that this is an issue of major concern to Glasgow students and Des Browne is living in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks there is support for the introduction of ID cards.
 

New £842m Southern General will not waste money on private finance 

Glasgow SNP MSP  Bashir Ahmad  has welcomed confirmation that the new Southern General Hospital  will be built using public money, not waste millions of pounds through the  discredited private finance initiative .

Mr Ahmad received  confirmation  that the Scottish Government has now granted approval for the New Southern Hospitals Project in Glasgow at a total capital cost of the project is £842 million  in a parliamentary question released today. The First Minister announced the plans at the STUC Conference in Inverness.

SNP government delivers 39% increase from Lib/Lab Exec's final year in power

Glasgow SNP MSP Bill Kidd has warmly welcomed figures which show a record level of installations under the Government's Central Heating programme, and which has resulted in a 39% increase in the number of installations between 2006/07 and 2007/08.

In 2006/07 there were 10,238 installations compared to 14,205 in the last recorded year when the SNP Government came to office in May 2007.

In addition extra funding from the Scottish Government has helped to reduce the waiting list from 11,300 in November to 9,300 by the end of March.

SNP Spring Conference today (Sunday) unanimously supported a resolution expressing concern about the UK Government's Identity and Passport Services (IPS) plans to axe over 100 workers at the Glasgow Passport Office and redirect postal applications services to England.

Commenting after the vote Glasgow MSP Sandra White, who has been campaigning on the issue and spoke in the debate, said: "I welcome this overwhelming support. Over 100 jobs are to be lost in Glasgow and many more throughout the UK as a result of this decision and staff at other centres in the UK are now asking themselves who will be next.

"Many people are concerned that they may end up having to travel to England to have their passports renewed and the IPS is unable to issue any assurances that this will not happen.