Savvy students are at the cutting edge in young consumer rights competition

13th December 2009

Four pupils of Dingwall Academy have retained the school's title as winners of the North of Scotland Heat Young Consumer of the Year Competition held on Friday 11th December at Highland Council Chambers, in Inverness.

Quiz Master, Jamie Stone MSP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, put Braeview Academy, Dundee and Dingwall Academy, Highland to the test, with questions on money and credit, consumer law, food and safety and the environment.

Organised by The Highland Council's Trading Standards Team within TEC Services, the competition has seen an increase in teams from all over the North of Scotland competing for a place in the Scottish Final.

The winning team, from Dingwall will now go on to represent the North of Scotland area in the Scottish finals which are due to be held in March 2010 with the winners then representing Scotland in the UK Final.

Presenting prizes to Hannah Forbes, Rebecca Skinner, Ruth Macleod, and Abigail Skinner of Dingwall Academy, Adam Moore, Administration Services Controller of United Utilities said: "United Utilities are delighted to support the Young Consumer of the Year Competition as it gives us an opportunity to meet students from schools based around the whole of the north of Scotland".

Mr Moore added: "Part of our work in partnership with schools nationally is to raise awareness of the work we do in ensuring safe, clean drinking water. It is important to educate future generations of the valuable resource of clean drinking water and how this resource can be affected by pollution and other environmental issues."

Highland Councillor Angela MacLean for Dingwall and Seaforth Ward who is a member of the Council's TEC Services Committee said "Youngsters benefit greatly from participating in the competition, even if they do not get the top prize. The knowlegde they gain about credit, money , shopping rights to name but a few of the subjects covered in the competition will be invaluable to them once they leave school for further education and employment."

Councillor MacLean further added her thanks to Highland Trading Standards staff for organising the event. She said: "Highland Trading Standards is leading the way in promoting this important educational event for youngsters in the North of Scotland. I would like to thanks all those who took part in the competition and to the Trading Standards staff for organising the event. Our thanks must also go to Jamie Stone MSP who continues to support the competition by being quiz master for the North of Scotland event."

For further Highland Trading Standards news please go to www.highland.gov.uk/tradingstandardsnews

Main sponsors of the competition are:
United Utilities is the UK's largest operator of wastewater systems. It is one of the UK's largest multi-utility companies and has over 30 sites across the UK. It manages waste water treatment facilities in Scotland. It also owns and operates the wastewater network in North West England. The company treats 2,200 million litres of wastewater every day via a network of around 39,000 kilometres of sewers. They maintain a network of sewers and treatment works to collect and treat wastewater from these homes and businesses, before returning it safely to the environment. In the North West they maintain and operate 39,000 km of sewers and 600 wastewater treatment works. They also manage wastewater networks in Wales for Dwr Cymru Welsh Water. Around the world they are providing and improving wastewater services in Australia, Bulgaria, Estonia, the Philippines and Poland www.unitedutilities.com

Photograph
LtoR Adam Moore, United Utilities, Hannah Forbes, Rebecca Skinner, Jamie Stone MSP, Ruth Macleod, Abigail Skinner and Cllr Angela MacLean.