This week I met with the Lord Advocate, the Procurator Fiscal and local senior police officers in Paisley to discuss progress on combating crime. Renfrewshire residents are set to benefit from a major overhaul of criminal justice agencies.

Next month a raft of new measures will come into effect to combat crime, including:

• Community Justice Authorities (CJAs) to help reduce re-offending by improving the way local councils, the Scottish Prison Service and other agencies work together to manage offenders

• Public Protection Arrangements to ensure sex offenders are tracked all the way through the criminal justice system and beyond by agencies combining their intelligence and expertise
• the modernisation of the police service on an all Scotland basis by bringing together police training, criminal records, the development of national information systems and a new national forensic service.

These measures will ensure crime in Renfrewshire keeps falling and help make our communities safer places to live for the law-abiding majority. BAGS OF POTENTIAL FOR NEW GREEN INITIATIVE If you care about the environment it is time to start thinking again about all those carrier bags when you go to the supermarket. As a result of growing pressure from concerned consumers retailers recently pledged to reduce the overall impact of their carrier bags by 25 per cent by the end of 2008. Stores will be reducing the environmental impact of bags by:

• Encouraging customers to reduce significantly the number of carrier bags they use
• Reducing the impact of each carrier bag (e.g. by using less plastic or incorporating recycled content
• Enabling the recycling of more carrier bags where appropriate

And talking of shopping we have just had FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT In addition to the environment, justice for developing world workers has become an increasingly important issue in the last few years. We had a debate in the Parliament and tea and coffee served in the Parliament are also fair trade products. In Paisley, as one of Scotland’s fair trade towns we have Rainbow Turtle shop dedicated to selling fair trade produce. And it is not just food. I bought two beautiful embroidered jackets for my children the last time I was in the shop. Ethical consumers can now buy a range of high quality goods, from chocolate to coconuts and jigsaws to jewellery, safe in the knowledge their purchases are benefiting some of the world’s poorest people.

WONDERUL WACKY WATERWORKS

I recently had the good fortune to attend a performance of Dr Bunhead’s