‘Make Scottish parly more family-friendly’
A Perthshire-based politician is calling on the Scottish Parliament to be made more family friendly.
Murdo Fraser MSP is asking Holyrood to rethink the way it works and try to accommodate those members who are trying to juggle parental responsibilities with their parliamentary role.
The Conservative member for Mis Scotland and Fife was speaking after Scottish Labour MSP Jenny Marra announcing she will not be seeking reelection to the Scottish Parliament in May.
He has submitted and circulated a motion at Holyrood asking for fellow MSPs to back the call to make the Scottish Parliament more inviting to those with families.
Mr Fraser said: “Like myself, Jenny has two children and I know only too well just how difficult it can be to carry out your job as an MSP while also trying to have time for your family.
“Jenny Marra is by no means the first MSP to have made such a decision.
“When the Scottish Parliament was established, the intention was always that it would be a family-friendly institution.
“However, that has proved much harder to achieve in practice in an environment where constituents are rightly demanding of the time of their elected representatives, and the pressures of a 24-hour media.”
Mr Fraser said the “constant last-minute shift in schedules, pushing sitting times into the evening” was a particular issue for parents.
He added: “I believe that the parliament can ill- afford to lose talented members because of its approach to timetabling and I am asking it to give urgent attention to the issue of sitting times, including looking at whether chamber sessions might be scheduled to begin earlier in the day.”