LAST week, the Scottish Government announced that Inverclyde was one of seven areas to receive funding from the £100 million Attainment Scotland Fund.

The funding is targeting local authorities with the highest concentration of pupils living in deprived areas.

The focus will be on improving literacy, numeracy, health and wellbeing in primary schools in Inverclyde. It will help give our young people the best possible opportunity, regardless of background, to succeed.

Closing the attainment gap is a priority of this SNP government and I’m sure the funding for Inverclyde will assist pupils when they continue into secondary school and beyond.

Recently, I received a response from Morrisons which indicated a discrepancy in pricing between Inverclyde and nearby stations.

This is something I have highlighted on numerous occasions and continue to argue is fundamentally wrong.

No longer should Inverclyde motorists be punished at the petrol pumps.

I hope all retailers continue to pay close attention to their fuel prices because the customers will tell them what they think if they don’t.

On Wednesday, I attended the Scottish Business Resilience Centre Metal Theft Summit in Glasgow.

The summit drew on a number of experts to continue to raise awareness of the issue.

As Tele readers know, the issue of metal theft has affected Inverclyde, particularly in Larkfield last winter when homes had no electricity for hours, plus churches and railways, to name a few. We must ensure those who seek to profit from such thefts are properly dealt with by the law.