The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Bruce MP

Column from Sir Malcolm Bruce MP- local investment needs, Government reshuffle, Tarves surgery, BBC Aberdeen

Governments must tackle skills needs

The recent report by PWC Aberdeen only served to highlight what everyone connected with the offshore oil and gas industry already knows. The industry is going through a period of dynamic development and the work force is ageing. Therefore, we need a huge number of new entrants with engineering skills at all levels if we are to meet market opportunities.

After a misjudged first budget that undermined confidence and investment, changes in the last budget, not least on decommissioning, have led to an upturn in new investment and that will be further helped by the extra relief for mature fields announced last week

I know first-hand a number of companies in the north east who are actively seeking new people to train - sometimes a few, often tens or hundreds.

I raised this with the Prime Minister at the first question time since the summer. His reply acknowledged the potential and indicated that he wanted to hear what could best be done.

I will be sending him detailed suggestions, copied to the key ministers. We already have OPITO as a dedicated training centre for the industry and this could become the nucleus of an energy academy such as proposed by PWC.

Clearly other colleges and universities could contribute to this. In that context the Government will need to recognise and address the need for a much more responsive visa issuing process. It takes too long to approve visas for often very short visits. This is a global industry and people with key skills need to move around the world at short notice.

Small reshuffle - few hurt

I do not believe that Government reshuffles cause very much excitement among the general public. At least, so far, this Government has not felt the need to shuffle the deck as often as Tony Blair did - and a good thing too.

Of course it matters a lot to the people directly affected. Otherwise, its purpose has to be about improving delivery of government policy and broadening the experience of the talent within the governing parties.

I regret the departure of those of my colleagues who have done a good job in government but have made way for other colleagues to come into government. It will be interesting to see the impact of having Lib Dem ministers in DEFRA, DFID and the Welsh Office - and, more negatively, not having ministers in defence and the foreign office. It will also be interesting to see how effectively David Laws supports Nick Clegg as a strategic thinker for whom I have a high regard.

For my own part, I take satisfaction in being elected as chair of the International Development Committee by MPs and therefore outside the reach of the leader's reshuffle!

Summer tour retains its value

My recently completed summer tour proved useful in catching up with a variety of issues around the constituency as well as enabling a significant number of people to raise issues with me individually. These were varied - and both local and national in character - although, of course, confidential.

This was the 30^th time I have carried out such a tour - which was a novelty when I started it with only a couple of Liberal colleagues having initiated the idea.

Of course, I live locally with my family and follow the local media as well as making regular visits throughout the year to many parts of the constituency. Nevertheless, the tour makes sure I reach some of the smaller communities I might not otherwise visit every year.

Local post offices are campaigning to retain existing services and offer new ones - something I support them in. I am glad the Government has eschewed a closure programme and provided extra funding for the post office network. Nevertheless, there is real worry that the car tax contract is currently out to tender and losing that would be a great loss to many branches and an inconvenience to some members of the public.

This would be on top of the loss of national savings business and threat to premium bonds.

Will ministers save Tarves or just dish out blame?

It was a huge disappointment that the Tarves GP surgery closed last week. The Haddo practice explained that the loss of dispensing income, following the opening of a pharmacy against the wishes of the local community and NHS Grampian, made the operation unviable.

Of course, it is not that Tarves gets no benefit from a pharmacy - it is just that for most people, that is outweighed by the loss of a surgery in the village.

The decision to end the dispensing rights in Tarves and Pitmedden of the Haddo medical practice was taken by NHS Grampian. In my discussions with them they have been adamant that they had no choice but to take that decision according to the rules - as they put it there is no "wriggle room". I have raised the suggestion that the restriction on dispensing could have been limited to Tarves but NHS Grampian tell me their legal advice is that it would have been challenged.

So what now? Had advice been given to apply the rules differently or the rules been changed during the last three years the present situation could have been avoided. Ministers, however, knowing the situation, have argued that the development of community pharmacies is part of the way forward and have not sought to put in place any measures to deal with a situation such as the one that has arisen.

Provision of surgeries in different communities is driven by GP practices who are self employed contractors to the NHS not its employees. There is growing campaign for new replacement health centres in Ellon and Inverurie and for one to be opened in Balmedie.

It should have been possible to retain Tarves. The practice still owns the premises. Given that the pharmacy is up and running and the practice is redeploying its staff makes it difficult to reverse the decision. It would take a guarantee of income to replace what is lost by dispensing - which did not directly subsidise the surgery but contributed to overheads and staffing. Can Scottish Government ministers deliver this - having taken no steps so far? I am sure the people of Tarves would like to know, even more than I do.

BBC cuts threaten Aberdeen's viability

The BBC is facing further staffing cuts as a result of the decision to freeze the license fee. The Corporation is notorious for its top heavy management and the telephone number sums it pays to its stars.

It is therefore a matter of great concern that BBC Aberdeen faces the loss of a journalist and three engineers under the latest proposals.

This reinforces my concern that the operation the BBC has at Beechgrove is heading the same way as Grampian -a shell - a ghost of its former self.

The corporation is saying that it will maintain the same programming schedule but with fewer staff - but already the BBC does not provide the level of coverage of North East events as it used to do.

Local staff are part of the community and have local knowledge which informs their input in ways that a raiding party from Glasgow could never provide.

The loss of the Tom Morton show and the Potting Shed further erode Aberdeen's contribution. I understand that relocating Tom Morton's show to Edinburgh has required the recruitment of a sound engineer there to do the work the one facing redundancy currently does in Aberdeen.

BBC Scotland has always been too Glasgow-centric. Although Pacific Quay is also facing deep cuts - they are a long way from the Aberdeen situation of reducing critical mass potentially to below viability. Regional input across Scotland is far less than the regional input across England - which is the opposite of what it should be given our geography.

Aberdeen was set up at the very start of the BBC and it cannot do what is needed with the skeleton staff now proposed.

ENDS