Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has welcomed the opening of the application process for the Young Persons’ Free Bus Travel Scheme. From today, all young people and children aged 5 to 21 are entitled to apply for their new or replacement National Entitlement Card (NEC) or Young Scot NEC to free bus travel across [...]

Highlands and Islands SNP MSP Emma Roddick has highlighted the positive changes implemented by the Scottish Government to the assessment process for Adult Disability Payment, which will replace the Personal Independence Payment for Scottish claimants in Spring 2022. Commenting, Roddick said: “It is universally acknowledged by key stakeholders, such as Scottish Association for Mental Health, [...]

Emma Roddick MSP Local MSP Emma Roddick has welcomed record investment in Scotland’s NHS, including £57 million for NHS Shetland and £57.1 million for NHS Orkney. The Scottish Government Budget confirmed £18 billion for Health and Social Care, including £12.9 billion for health boards through the pandemic and to accelerate the recovery of vital services.  [...]

Watch the intervention here. SNP MSP Emma Roddick has hit back at a Tory intervention on her speech in support of the Scotland Loves Local Fund, describing them as “insincere”. Conservative MSP Douglas Lumsden intervened on her speech to claim that the Scottish Government had been there too long and wasn’t doing enough to support [...]

On Wednesday 15th December, 2021, SNP MSP Emma Roddick voiced her support for the Scottish Ambulance Service’s Patient Transport Service and urged the Scottish Government to do more to foster their work helping patients with mobility needs in rural areas. Commenting, Roddick said: “The Patient Transport Service has done fantastic work in recent years supporting [...]

Emma Roddick MSP Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has welcomed the progress on plans, announced on Tuesday, for a new £125m NHS Shetland Hospital. The Gilbert Bain Hospital is expected to be built within the next five years and to include 100 residential units, a helipad and carbon net-zero designs. This comes after an [...]

Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has expressed her delight in regards to vital funding support that will be available in next year’s Scottish Budget, including the Welfare Fund and the Discretionary Housing Payment. This is a part of the 2022-2023 Scottish Government Annual Budget announcement and includes ambitious plans to be implemented to make [...]

Emma Roddick has quizzed the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Kate Forbes, on how her new Scottish Budget will address depopulation in the Highlands and Islands. Roddick said: “The drivers of depopulation range from infrastructure issues to wages and job opportunities, and internet connectivity to healthcare. “If we are serious about tackling depopulation in our rural [...]

Emma in Parliament delivering a speech about green lairds and their impact on the Scottish Highlands. SNP MSP Emma Roddick has welcomed a commitment in today’s Scottish Government’s budget statement to invest £831 million into affordable housing. Roddick, Scotland’s youngest MSP, has previously said tackling the housing crisis is her “top priority”. She claims short-term [...]

Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has argued in Parliament for consideration of the wider “causes of low footfall” when designing business support. In a debate on the Scotland Loves Local Fund, which recently paid out its first round of grants including £20,000 to Inverness and surrounding areas, she celebrated that this funding was “at [...]