Scottish Parliament is losing talented MSPs because it is not family-friendly enough – Murdo Fraser MSP

I was very sorry to see the announcement by the Labour MSP Jenny Marra that she is not going to seek re-election to the Scottish Parliament next May.

Labour MSP for the North East Jenny Marra has announced she will step down at the next election. (Picture: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

It is clear in her statement what the primary reason was for this painful decision; she is the mother of two young children, and found juggling parental responsibilities with her parliamentary role an increasingly difficult task.

Jenny Marra is by no means the first MSP to have had to make such a decision, with representatives from across the parties stepping down because of the difficulties that they have fulfilling a parental role whilst trying to provide the best service to constituents. It is a desperate shame that people of talent such as Jenny Marra, Ruth Davidson and Gail Ross are all giving up on elected office because of these challenges.

When the Scottish Parliament was established, the intention was always that it would be a family-friendly institution. In practice that has proved much harder to achieve, in an environment where constituents are rightly demanding of the time of their elected representatives, and the pressures of a 24-hour media.

I do not believe that it is easy to solve these issues, but there are simple steps that the Parliament could take to assist those with young families.

One bugbear is the constant last-minute shift in schedules, pushing sitting times into the evening with very short notice, and wreaking havoc with timetables for parents who have children at home who need to be collected from school or childcare, fed, and then taken to various activities.

Too often, such decisions seem to be taken to suit the demands of Government, rather than with any thought for the impact on MSPs and their family lives.

There will no doubt be those who argue that these demands simply come with the job; and if you cannot put up with the working pattern then you should seek employment elsewhere.

But it would be a great shame if we had a Parliament that was not able to properly reflect the whole of Scottish society, and not have amongst its members those who are parents of young families. If that means that Holyrood has to take a long hard look at itself and decide to change, then so much the better.

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