The SNP Scottish Government has extended eligibility for the Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP) to thirteen more local authority areas ahead of its national rollout as the fifteenth Social Security Scotland payment on 22nd April. The new payment is for people of State Pension age who are disabled or living with long-term health conditions, taking a fairer [...]

Emma Roddick MSP has spoken out following her dissent in a committee report, refusing to agree that a pause in the expansion of the industry should not be pursued despite welfare, mortality, and environmental issues highlighted. The SNP MSP dissented from this recommendation, against the grain of her party colleagues. In a debate on the [...]

Emma Roddick MSP has welcomed the continued efforts of volunteers at Inverness Tool Library, an organisation based in the Carse which provides the opportunity for locals to borrow tools for household projects. The library has been running for two years with the support of Circus Artspace, in what was previously a furniture shop next to [...]

SNP MSP Emma Roddick has hit out at Tory colleagues for “dangerous” rhetoric around disability payments, claiming that recent rhetoric from both the Conservative and Labour parties in the UK is “terrifying” disabled people. The Highlands and Islands MSP intervened on a speech by Conservative Stephen Kerr MSP during a debate on UK welfare cuts [...]

Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick has joined L’Arche Highland to celebrate 50 years since the charity was founded. L’Arche Highland is a community of around 130 people, both with and without learning disabilities, in Inverness. The charity helps people to live more independent lives, including in their shared houses, which Emma Roddick has visited [...]

Emma Roddick MSP has welcomed a “momentous milestone” reached in Scottish Child Payments following the news that over £1.7 billion has been paid out to recipients since the payment was launched in 2021. In Shetland, over £2.5 million has been paid out over the last four years, with 865 children benefitting as of December 2024. [...]

MSP for the Highlands and Islands, Emma Roddick, has welcomed figures which reveal that 3,705 students in the Highlands benefited from free university tuition in 2023/24. The figures, which are the most up-to-date on record, demonstrate the positive difference that the flagship SNP policy of free tuition is making in the Highlands. Under Labour, students [...]

As part of the nationwide Apprenticeship Week Celebrations for the week of 3 to 7 March 2025, Highlands and Islands MSP Emma Roddick visited Capgemini’s Inverness office to highlight the importance of apprenticeships in driving future talent and workforce development. The visit saw Emma Roddick MSP engage with apprentices currently working at Capgemini, discussing the [...]

SNP MSP Emma Roddick has said she is “proud” to have voted for the Scottish Budget, which passed yesterday [25th February 2025] with support from the Green and Liberal Democrat parties. Only the Conservatives voted against the SNP Government’s budget, with Scottish Labour abstaining. The Islands MSP said: “Another year, another SNP budget that I’m [...]

Emma Roddick MSP has called out the impact of changes to Employers' National Insurance contributions following a visit to L’Arche Highland, a community for people with learning disabilities in Inverness. The Chancellor of the Exchequer said on the 30th of October 2024 that the secondary Class 1 rate of employers' National Insurance Contributions (NICs) would [...]