Last week the last meeting of the Full Fife Council met before the Summer break. A number of substantive items were discussed.

During Question Time I asked two questions last week. One was regarding a recent EIS survey which showed very low levels of teacher morale, asking how the Council would deal with this. The response from the SNP Education Convenor was disappointing in my view, with a few platitudes and then attacking politicians such as myself for effectively putting the teaching profession down. I responded by mentioning I was a strong supporter of teachers, being the son of a retired one, and suggesting a decent pay rise for the profession.

My other question was regarding numbers of additional needs teachers, which it was pleasing to see that despite a national decrease in Scotland, Fife has managed to buck that trend.

Later during a Report on Best Value Assurance by the Council’s Chief Executive, I asked a question on the functionings of the Fife Health and Social Care Partnership and the challenges it faced. While I did not get a full answer at the time, I felt it was important to highlight this considering the threat of closure by the Board of the Out of Hours GP Service in Dunfermline.

Other substantive business discussed include the Edinburgh City Deal, the Innapriopriate Behaviour Working Group, shortages of farm workers due to Brexit and a Lib Dem motion to divest from fossil fuels with the Council’s pension scheme.