Gordon Macdonald MSP

IT apprentices in Edinburgh shared their knowledge of the IT profession with local MSP, Gordon Macdonald, as part of a national initiative, to help promote the benefits of work-based learning. The Edinburgh Pentlands MSP spent time at IT Centric as part of the Skills Development Scotland (SDS) ‘Apprentice for the Day’ challenge. IT Centric is one of Edinburgh’s leading Managed IT Services companies, offering IT Project and Consultancy in from everything from network infrastructure design, build and maintenance to server solutions, security planning and cloud services. The Apprentice for the Day challenge was launched by Minister for Employability and Training Jamie Hepburn during SDS’s Scott

MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands has teamed up with Marie Curie to fundraise for the charity’s care and support by hosting a “Blooming Great Tea Party”, in his constituency office. Inspired by a growing love of baking, the Blooming Great Tea Party, is part of a campaign by Marie Curie that encourages people to get together with family, friends, or colleagues to serve cakes and cuppas to raise funds for people living with a terminal illness. The funds raised helps Marie Curie to employ nurses to provide care in people’s own homes, when they need it the most, day or night. Nine hospices are also located at the heart of communities around the country, including the Edinburgh Hospice on Frogston Ro

Ahead of the opening of Pickering’s first ever dedicated gin and seafood bar in Beijing - on Saturday 21 July 2018 - Gordon Macdonald MSP visited Pickering’s Gin distillery to hail the success of the Scottish Gin. The brand-new venue, which will be located in the popular Chaoyang District of Beijing, showcases Pickering’s gins alongside fresh Scottish seafood. The bar is part of a long-term export strategy for the award-winning Edinburgh distillery, with plans to open Pickering’s Gin and Seafood Bars in many of the major cities in China. Amongst many drinks that will be available in the Beijing bar is the Pickering’s Oak Aged Gin. A unique, hand crafted, gin which is aged in whisky casks in

Tuesday 17 July, Member of The Scottish Parliament Gordon MacDonald will see first-hand the innovative research taking place to find life-changing treatments for dementia when he tours the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. As part of this tour, the MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands will visit with Dr Jill Fowler, an Alzheimer’s Research UK Senior Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Dr Fowler is leading a pioneering project investigating whether a protein, Nrf2, can protect against damage caused by reduced blood flow in the brain, which may be an early contributor to Alzheimer’s disease. By closely examining this protein, scientists will be able to unde

Gordon Macdonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, is calling on the Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council to implement the National Missing Persons Framework for Scotland. The Scottish Government launched this new framework in April 2017 which included guidance on support for families, as well as laying out responsibilities for professionals to support missing children and adults. According to the missing persons’ charity, Missing People, the framework’s success will depend on local partnerships taking forward the recommendations. The recommendations included in the framework rely on joint working, sharing information, and agreed divisions of responsibility. Commenting SNP MSP for E

The Ministry of Defence has cut 580 military and civilian jobs in Edinburgh since 2012, with communities in the Capital bearing the cost of misguided Tory policies. Successive UK governments have hammered Scotland’s armed forces and systematically dismantled Scottish regiments with a proud military past, rooted in local communities. These latest figures provided in a response to a Freedom of Information request by the SNP show a 12.3% reduction in the MoD headcount across a range of Scottish sites, with Edinburgh losing 34% - almost triple - of military jobs in total. This follows the announcement that the Tories intend to close a further eight military bases across Scotland, including Redfo

SNP MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, Gordon Macdonald, has written to Tory leader and Edinburgh Central MSP Ruth Davidson challenging her to follow the lead of Ashley Graczyk and to stand up against callous Tory cuts across the capital. Councillor Ashley Graczyk resigned from the Tory party this week in protest at cuts to disability benefits – just a month after it was revealed that over 1,200 disabled people across Edinburgh had lost vital support following UK government cuts, taking over £4.1 million away from vulnerable people in the capital. Gordon Macdonald is now challenging Ruth Davidson to stand up for people across Edinburgh and to fight the cuts which are hitting the poorest people har

COUNCILS SPEND 8% OF SCHOOL BUDGET PAYING LABOUR’S DEBTS Schools across Scotland continue to count the cost of Labour’s toxic PFI legacy – which will see councils spend nearly 10% of their school budgets servicing the debts that Labour left behind over a decade ago. New research into the toxic PFI legacy which continues to plague Scotland’s public finances shows that of the total spend on schools across Scotland by councils this year, 8% of that money will be used paying off Labour’s debts from their time in government. The analysis by independent researchers in SPICe has found that PFI unitary charges for Scotland’s schools in 2018/19 are estimated to be £434.3 million – a significant