By George Child Payment is supporting families
As things in the national news seem to be increasingly bleak these days, I thought it would be a good idea to focus on the positives currently happening in Scotland right now.
The financial ramifications of Covid-19 and now the Tory induced cost of living crisis have undoubtedly affected people the length and breadth of the country so I was delighted to see knew figures published last week that outlined how successful the Scottish Child Payment has been since it was introduced.
Now available to all eligible children under 16, 7,105 children in Paisley and Renfrewshire alone have received payments since the scheme’s inception in February 2021, totalling £5,004,310.
The full roll-out has been described as a “watershed moment” in tackling poverty in Scotland and I’m incredibly proud of how the SNP in Government are quite literally lifting families out of poverty right here in our town.
Indeed the initiative has been hailed as a “gamechanger” by anti-poverty charities and is backed up with £442million of funding from the Scottish Government in the next financial year.
This is expected to lift around 50,000 children out of poverty in 2023/24. As Paisley’s MSP I am delighted that these new figures show a significant uptake in families being supported across our local communities and the sheer number of children and families benefitting since its inception is absolutely wonderful.
The payment, which is now £25 a week - a 150 per cent increase - is a momentous achievement of the SNP in Government and is the most ambitious poverty reduction measure in the UK.
Combatting child poverty and giving all children in Scotland the best start possible is vitally import to both me and the Scottish Government so I was also very pleased by new figures confirming that over 96 per cent of school leavers in Paisley and Renfrewshire are in positive destinations as last year saw the highest number of young people now in work, education or further training after leaving school since records began.
The statistics also show a further reduction in the overall attainment gap across Scotland, with the gap between school leavers from the most and least deprived areas progressing after school narrowing to a record low of 4.4 percentage points.
These record-breaking figures show that the Scottish Government’s education recovery plan is working as young people in our town are continuing to succeed despite unprecedented challenges in recent years.
While the Scottish Government will continue to dig deep in its fight to close the attainment gap and end child poverty, our efforts are repeatedly curtailed by the UK Government’s reckless pursuit of ideologically driven austerity.
I for one am tired of Scotland’s potential for positive change being hindered by a reckless government we did not vote for so it is only becoming more and more clear that we must choose another path to continue implementing policies that align with our goal to make Scotland the best place for children to thrive and grow.
A Paisley thug who committed a “cowardly attack” on a shopkeeper during a terrifying Boxing Day raid has been jailed
Christopher Holland, 34, and another male attempted to raid the till at the Best-one store on St James’ Street in the town at 10.30am on December 26 last year.
The brute, described as a prisoner of Low Moss jail, East Dunbartonshire, admitted threatening shop owner Zeeshan Saeed; pinning him to a chair, repeatedly punching his face, holding him in a headlock and stealing £50 worth of cigarettes.
At Paisley Sheriff Court, Sheriff Bruce Erroch KC slammed the 34-year-old’s thuggish behaviour stating: “This was a cowardly attack on a man providing a public service.
“There was an element of planning, you weren’t acting alone. You had taken heroin the night before and you are assessed as having the capacity to cause serious harm and that is of concern to the court.”
Prosecutor David Gallagher previously explained the shop is an off-sales newsagents and internal CCTV captured the entire incident.
He also explained Mr Saeed has been the owner of the shop for the last four years.
Mr Gallagher revealed: “Mr Saeed opened the store as normal around 9.30am.
“Around 10.30am, the accused and another male attended at the front door of the shop and peered through the glass door.
“Saeed was seated behind the counter within and observed Holland enter the store.
“Holland was wearing a black face mask and a green jacket with his hood up.
“The accused entered the till area through an unlocked door and punched Saeed to the face twice with his right hand while holding Saeed on the jacket with his left hand and then pinned him to the chair while holding him in a headlock.
“The other male then entered the store and entered behind the till area while Holland tried to open the till using the function on the till computer.
“Holland, as observed on CCTV, can be seen to have a tattoo on his right hand and another on his right forearm.
“Saeed was then told to open the till repeatedly.
“Holland then punched Saeed again and the accused and the other male held Saeed down on the chair.
“The other male then grabbed a polo packet from the shelving unit and scanned the barcode attempting to open the till drawer however this was unsuccessful.”
The court heard Mr Saeed managed to press the panic button and he told Holland that cops had been alerted.
Mr Gallagher added: “While both men were pinning Saeed down, the other male opened the drawer underneath the till and removed four cartons of Player Superkings cigarettes with a total value of £50. Both males made off and Saeed awaited for police arrival.”
The court was told police received information that the male responsible was the brother of a man who had robbed the shop on a previous occasion in October 2019 – and. on December 28, Holland was traced at a property in Brown Street.
Mr Gallagher added: “Holland attended at the door and officers immediately identified the jacket worn by Holland as the same worn by the suspect in the CCTV.
“Holland was placed under arrest and taken to Greenock police station. While in a holding cell, Holland freely stated, ‘I know I’m bang to rights. It was 100 per cent not Aaron that was with me, I can tell you that. You won’t know the guy, he’s not from here, he’s from London.’
“Holland also stated, ‘You know it was f ***** g me, you’re not stupid, I’m wearing the f ***** g jacket and I have the joggers on under my jeans, I’m bang to rights.’
“The accused was interviewed, replied ‘no comment’ to caution and charge and was held in custody to appear in this court.”
Defence agent Tony Bolland explained how Holland was “introduced to violence at a young age in the family setting.”
Mr Bolland added: “At the age of 16, after serving time with the cadets, he joined the army and wished to pursue a career there.
“However, he was medically discharged at 19 and he felt at a loss and in solace, he turned to drugs and that lies at the root of this man’s offending.
“At this time, he was spending any money he got on drugs, and heroin in particular and this is what’s caused him to act in this way.
“He has asked me to express his remorse and his sincere apologies.
“He understands the seriousness here and the extent of his conduct.”
Sheriff Bruce Erroch KC jailed Holland for 48 months, reduced to 32 months backdated to his date of remand on December 29.
In addition, Sheriff Erroch KC made Holland subject to a 12-month supervised release order upon his liberation. *Terms and conditions: Offer open to new customers only. Customers MUST USE THE OFFER CODE SPR23 to receive the offer. This offer entitles you to receive a 40% discount for the first 13 weeks and then 20% discount off the cover price thereafter. This offer is redeemable by direct debit only (taken by a monthly payment plan). VOUCHER ORDERS: You will be sent individually dated pre-paid vouchers (to redeem at the retailer) within 14 days by post (from the date you have placed the order). Not all retailers offer home delivery, please check directly with them. Offer details correct at the time of printing. Phone lines are open Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, standard call charges apply. Offer ends on 20/05/2023
come back to my home town and be able to invest in the town that invested so much in me as a kid and as a young person.
“Not only that, but to be able to provide a space for the community to gather.
“For us, it wasn’t just about providing coffee.
Sadly we’ve come to the conclusion that our time in Paisley is coming to an end Alan Baird
It was about building relationships and investing in people.
“We never wanted to make it just about a transaction, we always wanted to make it about a relationship.
“But we also recognise that everything is for a reason and, sadly, we’ve come to the conclusion that our time in Paisley is coming to an end, and so over the next few weeks we will be wrapping things up here.
“We very much hope it’s not the end of the book, but just the end of the chapter, and that one day we will hopefully be back. But times as everybody knows have got challenging financially for many businesses and financially for many individuals, so it’s just not viable for us to remain open.”