Summer a time to reconnect
Last week marked the end of the session of the Scottish Parliament and the start of the summer recess.
After some annual leave, I will be back out and about in my constituency on my regular programme of visits and events.
The summer recess is a very welcome opportunity to catch up on local issues and developments and I look forward to seeing many constituents on my travels.
The end of the parliamentary year is an opportunity to reflect on this session of business. I am acutely aware that in political and governmental life, there are always challenges to be addressed and difficulties to be overcome.
I believe however that across a range of different areas of policy, the Scottish Government is delivering substantial benefits for the people of Scotland.
On education, the most recent data shows that we are beginning to close the attainment gap and that a rising proportion of young people from deprived backgrounds are making it to university.
On agriculture, over £314 million in financial support has been paid to nearly 14,000 farmers and that has been undertaken earlier than the payment window under the Common Agricultural Policy.
On health, we have invested a further £50m to reduce waiting times and we have in Scotland the best performing accident and emergency system of any part of the United Kingdom.
All of this takes place as we wrestle with significantly increased volumes of outpatient cases.
On justice, we are experiencing a 43 year low in crime levels in Scotland as Police Scotland deliver effective protection for our communities.
I was able to announce to parliament significant progress on the educational improvement agenda.
I have been determined to ensure we have a more empowered education system able to take the initiative to ensure we are constantly improving education in the classroom.
I had planned to legislate for these measures but productive discussions with local authorities have persuaded me that we can deliver these changes quicker by agreement rather than by changing the law.
We will therefore take steps to create a head teachers’charter that will give much more control and influence to our schools and create much stronger measures to improve education.
I want to make early progress on this agenda and will be working with local authorities and other partners to do this.
The first minister made a number of changes to her ministerial team before the recess.
The team has expanded to reflect the broader range of powers we now have to deal with and the significant change that will have to be handled with Brexit.
A number of new faces have joined the team and I am particularly pleased to see a new generation of very capable individuals coming forward.
Media attention focused on all of the changes and also on one appointment where previous comments made by one of my colleagues meant we could not secure parliamentary support for the appointment.
The new ministerial team will concentrate on preparing the programme for government that will start the third year of this parliamentary session in September. John Swinney MSP insists education remains a priority despite changes in approach