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Cabinet meets faith groups
16/06/2009
The Scottish Cabinet will today welcome faith community representatives to Bute House to discuss working together to ensure that Scotland is well equiped to make a strong economic recovery.
Representatives will deliver a pre-Cabinet presentation to Government Ministers. They include:
- Most Reverend David Chillingworth, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church
- Dr Vazhapily Gopinathan from the Hindu community
- Right Reverend William Hewitt, Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland
- His Eminence Keith Patrick Cardinal O'Brien of the Catholic Church
- Rabbi David Rose from the Jewish community
- Imam Mustaqeem Shah from the Muslim community
- Dr Serjinder Singh from the Sikh community.
The meeting is the fifith in a series of Cabinet discussions with social partners. Business organisations, Lifelong Learning stakeholders, the STUC, local government, the third sector, and the Secretary of State have been invited to share their views directly in the form of a presentation.
This follows the success of last year's drive to allow Cabinet to hear the views and concerns of wider Scottish society, which saw Cabinet travel to different parts of the country for a series of National Conversation forums.
First Minister Alex Salmond said:
"As we drive forward work to develop and expand programmes to strengthen Scotland's economy, it's important we listen and consider the views of our social partners.
"The Scottish Government is doing all we can to ensure a strong economic recovery and fully recognise the valuable contribution the third sector plays in Scottish life and to the Scottish economy.
"We are committed to working together with all our community partners. From local volunteers to large social enterprises, we want to fully utilise their ability to support groups and communities that are difficult to reach.
"Faith organisations play an important role in Scotland's communities and in our celebration of Scotland's diversity. They often work at grassroots level with some of the poorest and most isolated members of our society, and are therefore well placed to work with us to ensure that the most vulnerable are not left behind as we respond to the economic downturn.
"I am delighted to welcome faith groups to Bute House to present their ideas to the Scottish Ministerial team. Working together we can identify opportunities to deliver real change for families and individuals through these challenging economic times."