Dave Thompson MSP

I used a Rural Affairs Climate Change and Environment Committee (RACCE) meeting to propose to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, food and the Environment, Richard Lochhead, that dairy breaks for school kids should be introduced in Scotland.

I remember milk breaks when I was in Primary School in the fifties and it is a real shame they were stopped they were stopped in the 1980s.

A dairy break would ensure children were better nourished and improve their ability to learn, and give young folk the chance to develop a taste for dairy products, such as milk and yoghurt, which would set the tone for the eating and drinking habits they take into their adult lives.

But, it would not only be beneficial to a child’s health, it is an initiative that would boost the sales of milk and yoghurt, and at a time when the dairy industry is going through a tough time.

It is a win, win, proposal, and one I am pleased the Cabinet Secretary has said he will seriously consider taking forward.

I have also written to the major food retailers asking if they would be interested in contributing to such a scheme and I look forward to receiving their responses.

It was a pleasure to host “10 years of a child’s life saved” - a Trading Standards Institute (TSI) event in the Scottish Parliament. This was arranged to highlight and combat the illegal sales of tobacco and alcohol products to children.

I supported the Scottish launch of TSI’s new “Create a Campaign” competition, which offers participating school across the UK the opportunity to win one of two £1,000 prizes and the chance to come to TSI's annual conference to collect them.

The initiative invites teams of young people aged 12-15 to get creative and come up with a campaign to combat illegal underage sales and help prevent the use of tobacco and alcohol products by children.

As such, I will be writing to all the High Schools in the constituency to recommend that they take part in this fantastic competition, and in doing so, they might just win £1,000 for their school.

I showed my support for improved Pancreatic Cancer research, awareness, diagnosis, treatment and care by taking part in an awareness exhibition at the Parliament.

The exhibition was manned by representatives of Pancreatic Cancer UK and Pancreatic Cancer Scotland. It included information about the disease as well as a ten point plan put forward by Pancreatic Cancer UK, calling for faster diagnosis of the disease and a better patient experience throughout the whole process.

Pancreatic cancer has the worst survival rates of any of the most common cancers and I am sure many reading this will have unfortunately known friends or family with the disease, or perhaps suffered from what is a very aggressive form of cancer.

This is why we need to do more to improve pancreatic cancer awareness, so we can learn what is required to change pancreatic cancer’s shockingly low survival rates - which have been far too low for far too long.