AS THE convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross Party Group on Industrial Communities, I took the opportunity of leading a debate in Parliament on ‘Industrial strategy for a more prosperous, fairer Britain’, a publication by the Industrial Communities Alliance.

The alliance is the all-party association of local authorities in the industrial areas of England, Scotland and Wales, and this publication lists a series of steps that the alliance believes should be taken to improve our communities blighted by the decline and neglect of our manufacturing industries. When you see that manufacturing output, for example, has still not recovered to its pre-2008 recession level, you know there are major challenges to overcome. The publication is well worth a read – you can find it at www.industrialcom munitiesalliance.org, and I hope you’ll also take the time to read through the debate at the Scottish Parliament’s webpage.

On a not entirely dissimilar note, the East Lothian Poverty Commission launch their report ‘Challenging Perceptions, Overcoming Poverty’ this week. The commission was set up to examine evidence of growing levels of deprivation and inequality throughout the county, and to propose ways the impact of poverty could be reduced.

The commission heard evidence from many local and national experts on a wide range of related topics such as education, mental health and wellbeing, and housing and fuel poverty, as well as taking on board the influence of local residents affected by poverty.

The report makes a series of recommendations on what steps can be taken, and I look forward to taking these on board and seeing what I can do to help in my role as an MSP.

Finally, I was delighted to attend the Loretto Youth Players’ annual musical last week, which took place at The Brunton. This year the musical was the classic ‘Summer Holiday’, and the hard work of everyone involved really shone through on a fabulous evening.