The election is over. 129 new and returning MSPs have been elected to represent you in Holyrood for the next five years.
But this doesn’t mean campaigning is over. In fact, it’s just the beginning.
And for the new intake, they will be busy setting up their offices and deciding what causes they want to champion.
Thanks to you, we know which MSPs have already indicated their commitment to saving babies’ lives and supporting bereaved families.
Now we need to make sure they deliver, whilst also trying to reach those we didn’t manage to get to commit during the election.
But we can’t do this alone. There are lots of different ways you can engage with your MSPs. Below we set out a few of the ways we find are most impactful.
Step 1. Ways you can contact your MSPs
The first step is to identify who your MSPs are and how to contact them.
You can use the postcode checker on the Scottish Parliament website to find the names of your local MSPs.
Once you enter your postcode, you should be shown a list of your constituency MSP and regional MSPs. You can then click to see their contact information, which might include an email address, a telephone number and/ or addresses for Scottish Parliament or local offices.
The information provided by each MSP can vary, but ways to contact them may include:
Some MSPs may only make their email address publicly available. Sending an email is a quick and easy way to contact your MSP. You are not bound by office opening times so can send this flexibly at a time which suits you. You should also receive some form of acknowledgement email which reassures that your email has been received.
The downside of emails is that MSPs receive hundreds of emails each week, or even each day, and it can be easy for individual emails to be overlooked or lost. You may need to be persistent and send multiple emails before you receive a response. If you still don’t get a response, you may want to consider telephoning or writing to them.
Telephone
Speaking on the phone is something that people either love or hate. Some people find communicating by phone much easier than by email. But it can also feel a bit more formal or scary.
A call can be an easier way of relaying information than sending an email and you can be confident that someone has listened to what you have said and heard your concerns. You can also leave an email address and ask for a follow-up email to be sent confirming what you spoke about. This ensures there is a record of your call.
Write
Letter writing is the traditional way of communicating with your MSPs, but that doesn’t mean it’s not effective.
In fact, in an age where MSPs can receive hundreds of emails a day, sending a letter is a unique way of making your communication stand out and increase your chances of receiving a response.
The downside to writing a letter is that it takes longer than an email, and there is likely a cost associated with posting (unless you live close enough to hand deliver to a local office.)
In Person
Meeting with an MSP in person has lots of benefits. It can be much more personal than exchanging emails and you can also agree very clear next steps on how the MSP is going to take this forward for you.
Lots of MSPs hold surgeries with their constituents, either in person or via telephone/ skype.
You should be able to find out if (and when) your MSP holds surgeries by emailing or calling their office. They may also publicise these on their website or social media.
Step 2. What to say to your MSPs
So now you have found your local MSPs contact information and have thought about how you want to reach out to them, the next question is what do you want to say?
Some things you can raise with them include:
Raising awareness of pregnancy and baby loss in Scotland
In the run up to the election, we put together some key information about pregnancy and baby loss in Scotland which you may wish to share with your MSPs to raise awareness. This is around reducing rates of pregnancy and baby loss, bereavement care and postcode lotteries in mental health care. This also includes some questions you may want to ask them.
Making them aware of local issues – for example, a lack of bereavement or mental health support after baby loss
MSPs regularly meet with their local health services, and they want to know whether these are working well and delivering. As a constituent, they want to hear from you about your experiences of accessing care and what you would like to see change. They are interested in hearing both good and poor experiences of care.
Sharing you idea for how services either locally or nationally could be improved
You might have an idea for how services can be changed at a local, or even a national level, to save babies’ lives and support bereaved families. Your MSP may have some ideas and be able to support you to do this.
Step 3. What your MSPs can do for you
What can an MSP do with the information you have given them? The answer is lots. This could be more publicly (mentioning in a debate or media) or it can be more behind the scenes (writing letters to the Minister). This is something you and your MSP can agree together.
We always recommend agreeing very clear next steps with your MSP. This means you know what actions they are taking on your behalf and you can follow-up if they haven’t done this.
These actions could include:
Writing to the Government/ or a Minister to ask them what they are doing about an issue
You can ask your MSP to write to the Government, usually the relevant Cabinet Secretary, to raise awareness of a specific issue and ask them what they are going to do to resolve it.
Ministers must respond to MSPs correspondence, so this is a good way of finding out what the Governments view is on an issue and what they are doing about it. MSPs will most likely share a copy of the response with you and ask if there is anything else you would like them to do following this.
Asking a parliamentary question
Your MSP may be able to ask a parliamentary question; these can be either written or oral questions. Similarly to the above, the aim of this is to receive a response from the relevant Minister.
This is slightly more public than writing privately to the Minister. Other MSPs, MPs and journalists may see the question and take an interest.
Writing to the local Health Board or hospital
MSPs can also take up an issue with the local Health Board or hospital on your behalf.
This could include asking them about a specific policy they have in place, feedback about their services, or how they have handled a complaint you made. For example, they could ask them about plans to upgrade bereavement spaces or hire more bereavement midwives.
Health Boards will usually respond to MSPs, so this can be a good way of raising an issue or trying to change something at a local level.
Speak in a debate
MSPs regularly debate important issues. Sometimes this might be relevant to your local area or about pregnancy and baby loss. You can ask your MSP to speak in debates, sometimes MSPs may ask if they can share your experience to raise awareness during these.
Introduce or support a law change
Perhaps one of the most important things MSPs do is vote to change the law. They do this by passing, and scrutinising, Bills.
If you have an idea for how a law change could save babies’ lives or support bereaved families, you can talk to your MSP about this and whether they would be able to support it.
These are just a few ways that you can engage with your local MSPs, and what you might want to raise with them and ask them to do. If you would like to engage, or meet, with your MSPs we are always here to support you. If you have any questions or would like to have a chat about engaging your MSPs drop us an email on campaigns@sands.org.uk