September 2009

28.9.2009 12:26
MP SET TO MEET SHIPYARD APPRENTICES
Inverclyde youngsters are proving their worth when it comes to winning apprenticeships at BAE’s Govan and Scotstoun Ship-yards. This year nine of them fought off strong competition from all over the West of Scotland to gain much coveted apprenticeships in the Clydeside yards straight from school. Now local MP David Cairns is heading up to Glasgow to meet the young people who have joined the 500 others from Inverclyde who depend on the yards for their livelihood.   

23.9.2009 15:58
MP PLEDGES SUPPORT FOR SCOTLAND’S SEA SUNDAY
Local MP, David Cairns, is marking the important contribution our seafarers make to the community, by supporting Scotland’s ‘Sea Sunday’ at the end of September. The day acknowledges the valued and difficult job of the Scotland’s maritime workers. It also raises the profile of their often inadequate working conditions and creates more support for the charities and volunteers who campaign for improvements to welfare at sea and at home. Sea Sunday was first celebrated in 1975 at the request of the Mission of Seafarers.   

17.9.2009 07:41
NICKY EXPERIENCES WORK AT THE PARLIAMENTARY OFFICE
Notre Dame High School pupil, Nicky Jackson, was so determined to do her work experience in the Parliamentary Office of David Cairns MP that she persuaded her teachers to let her take a week off school. The school’s fourth years are off on work experience later in October, but the Parliamentary Office didn’t have a spare desk for Nicky. The resourceful teenager didn’t give up and volunteered to come in when one of the staff was on holiday.   

16.9.2009 13:08
YOUTH GROUPS SHOULD ENTER PHILIP LAWRENCE AWARDS
Local MP, David Cairns, is urging youth groups and organisations throughout Inverclyde to enter the Philip Lawrence Awards. The competition is dedicated to the memory of Philip Lawrence – an inspirational Head Teacher who was killed in 1995. Each year the hard work and achievements of 11 to 20 year olds is acknowledged at a glittering awards ceremony in London. This scheme is organised by the 4Children charity, together with the Home Office and Frances Lawrence, widow of the Head Teacher.  

9.9.2009 15:10
HERBAL HIGHS SHOULD BE MADE ILLEGAL
Home Office plans to crack down on so called ‘legal highs’ are being backed by Inverclyde’s Labour MP David Cairns. Legal Highs are drugs which, although harmful, aren’t banned under existing drug legislation. The three drugs being targeted are Gamma-Butyrolactone (GBL), Benzylpiparazine (BZP) and synthetic cannabinoids. Plans to ban all three by the end of the year have been confirmed by the Home Office.  

4.9.2009 15:52
OUT AND ABOUT IN INVERCLYDE
Inverclyde Labour MP David Cairns is taking advantage of the Parliamentary recess to visit as many organisations and local businesses as possible. When Parliament is sitting David has to spend half the week at Westminster, but the recess allows him to devote all his time to meeting the many groups and local employers that make up the Inverclyde constituency. During the coming weeks David will be going along to dozens of places as diverse as the Greenock Fire Station, Garvel Clyde and the Scottish Association for Mental Health, to listen to what people have to say and find out how he can help them.   

3.9.2009 09:48
CAIRNS WELCOMES PLUMMET IN AFGHAN POPPY CULTIVATION
News that poppy production in Afghanistan has fallen by a dramatic 22% this year has been welcomed by Inverclyde Labour MP, David Cairns. According to the authoritative 2009 Afghan Opium Survey produced by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 123,000 hectares of poppies were grown this year well down on 193,000 hectares cultivated in the peak year of 2007. The most significant decrease was recorded in Helmand Province, where cultivation declined by a third to 69,833 hectares from 103,590 hectares in 2008. The number of opium poppy-free provinces also increased from 18 to 20 out of a total of 34.