Chief Executive, Angela Leitch

Welcome to the August issue of Inform.

Many of us will have enjoyed a welcome break and have now returned to our work routines. Our schools go back next week and an important event for our young people, their families and teachers is the delivery of the SQA exam results on 6 August. This can be a stressful time so education colleagues working closely with a range of teams elsewhere in the council, as well as other education providers and local employers can offer a range of opportunities for our young people to embark on positive destinations when they leave school.

It’s not just in education that we try to involve and include young people. The public consultation on the council’s draft Climate Change strategy recently closed. We received 160 responses, some extremely detailed, which are now being collated and reviewed. Separately, over 100 responses to the climate change survey for children and young people were submitted. In addition to being on our Consultation Hub, this survey was also circulated widely and included on the Young Scot website. As we progress the full strategy, the views and suggestions of our young people will be integral to its development and success.

Whilst we may not have always enjoyed the best of weather this summer I would like to thank all colleagues who help to maintain our towns and villages. A number of major road improvements including resurfacing works have been carried out, our beaches and coastal sites have been managed well to cope with the large visitor numbers on sunny days and our parks and open spaces provide welcome places for recreation. Shortly the In Bloom judges will be returning to East Lothian to assess this year’s entries and I am sure we will celebrate partnership successes again.