January 2008

Constituency Among the many thing I did this month was go along and talk to the manager of the Oak Mall about his expansion plans for the Greenock Shopping Centre. There are exciting plans to have a food court, extend the existing Mall and build new car parking. In all, this should provide around 150 extra jobs. I also met with the new head of site at the IBM plant. He assured me that the company was committed to a long term future in Greenock and that he hoped to build on the existing workforce. Surgeries This month’s surgeries included the Parliamentary Office, St John’s School Hall and Craigend Resource Centre. Scotland Office Highlights from this month included visiting the high tech companies like Spiral Gateway at Edinburgh University and Touch Bionics at Livingstone. I also attended the Inter-Governmental Relations Conference in Edinburgh and the Salford TV Conference as well as going to an offshore oil and gas industry reception. Additionally, I went along to Longannet Colliery, met with the Chief Executive of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, representatives from the Bio Industry Association and attended a child poverty seminar. During Scottish Questions I was quizzed on television and the Post Office