20th February 2023: A Week in Parliament

First Minister

I was as shocked as anyone when the news broke about the First Minister resigning. I am gutted she has decided to step down from the role she carried out with such grace and dignity. But as she referenced in her press conference, she is a human being at the end of the day - and serving as FM and party leader since November 2014 will have been extremely tiring and stressful. I commend her for her leadership over the last eight years and her service to the party for more than 30 years. She was a true leader in every sense of the word – personified through overseeing some of the most unprecedented times in our country’s history, namely the covid pandemic. As well as being strong and courageous in her leadership, I feel she changed the dynamic of mainstream party leaders. She was everything that her Westminster- elite opposition wasn’t transparent, personable, and forward-thinking. At the point of resignation, she was still, by far, the most popular leader of any political party in the UK. Nicola will be sorely missed but I wish her well and look forward to her still being a force and fighting for change from the backbenches at Holyrood.

Royal Mail Visit

I enjoyed meeting with representatives from Royal Mail at my local depot at Queen’s Drive in Kilmarnock. The purpose of the visit was to learn more about PDAs (Postal Digital Assistants). It is a matter which has been controversial with a lot of postal workers feeling that it is infringing on their privacy and essentially tracking them as they work. I spoke with workers on the floor and members of their Union before noting some of their concerns and raising these with their superiors. It was reassuring to hear that the PDA data cannot be accessed for live tracking in place. The management figures were adamant that the purpose of this device is to improve efficiency and they do not have the capacity to spy on workers. They hope the data it gathers will spread the workload better for workers and identify areas which are of higher demand and need more assistance. The discussions with both parties were positive and it was great to have an open dialogue which I hope provided a lot more clarity for both sides. It was also great to see the relationship between the management team and Denis, the local Union Rep, I liked the fact they could both raise their concerns and still maintain a strong working relationship – it is a testament to the individuals as a lot of other workplaces may not be as receptive. That doesn’t mean however, that that there are not concerns about the use and monitoring of the PDA data, and there is no doubt that the Royal Mail workforce feels “big brother” is watching them. the company has to do more to prove this is not the case. I look forward to being kept up to date with the proceedings and being part of the BEIS Select Committee's ongoing enquiry.