Older people in Haslngden and Hyndburn are amongst those hardest hit by the government’s devastating cuts to the NHS and care services in particular.
Too many older people are stuck in hospital wanting to go home but unable to do so because the help and support is not there for them. This is contributing to the crisis in A&E created by the Tory-led Government.
The Oldham Report, which was published this week, sets out proposals to provide better care for millions of older people who would benefit from a single care team – doctors, nurses, therapists – working together to support them.
The report focuses on how we can ensure better, more efficient care for the millions of older people and those with long-term conditions who have multiple needs.
This group of people currently account for 70 per cent of all health and care spending, but the care they receive is fragmented and inefficient, with the system responding separately to each problem, and families passed around between different professionals and organisations. This fragmentation also means that problems get missed, such as mental ill-health.
Whole-person care is also about putting more emphasis on preventing illness in the first place and avoiding the need for unnecessary hospital visits. When an older person falls and suffers a fracture it causes pain and distress. It also costs the NHS £2 billion a year. It would be better to pay £50 installing a grab rail in someone’s home rather than £14,000 treating someone with a broken hip.
If we are to provide older people with the care they deserve and prevent our NHS being overwhelmed by spiralling costs, then we need to help it meet the challenges of the 21st Century. That’s what Labour is determined to do.
Wednesday, 12 March 2014
Tuesday, 11 March 2014
WOMEN ARE AT THE SHARP END OF THE COST OF LIVING CRISIS
Things have never been so tough for women and their families. But David Cameron and Nick Clegg just don’t get it. When it comes to women, it’s out of sight out of mind for this out of touch government.
Many women are struggling in low wage, temporary and insecure work with one in four earning less than the living wage.
Women are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis. They know what it means to have to make the family finances stretch that little bit further, or to have to choose between their career and family because the cost of childcare is just too high. For women across the UK this is no recovery at all.
But instead of supporting women David Cameron and Nick Clegg have tuned their voices out. They’ve shut women out of the top table of politics and lost touch with the reality of their lives.
This Saturday is International Women’s Day and I’m proud that Labour stands up for the issues that affect women in Haslingden and Hyndburn.
Labour will make work pay for women by giving a tax rebate to firms that sign up to become living wage employers in the first year of the next Parliament. We will strengthen the minimum wage and tackle the abuse of zero-hours contracts and agency workers – the jobs where women are particularly affected.
Too many women have to choose between family and work because of the cost of childcare - which has risen by 30 per cent since 2010. So Labour will give every working family 25 hours of free childcare for their three and four year olds – an increase of ten hours a week.
The Tories and Lib Dems are out of touch with the issues facing women – only Labour can be trusted to help women and their families.
Many women are struggling in low wage, temporary and insecure work with one in four earning less than the living wage.
Women are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis. They know what it means to have to make the family finances stretch that little bit further, or to have to choose between their career and family because the cost of childcare is just too high. For women across the UK this is no recovery at all.
But instead of supporting women David Cameron and Nick Clegg have tuned their voices out. They’ve shut women out of the top table of politics and lost touch with the reality of their lives.
This Saturday is International Women’s Day and I’m proud that Labour stands up for the issues that affect women in Haslingden and Hyndburn.
Labour will make work pay for women by giving a tax rebate to firms that sign up to become living wage employers in the first year of the next Parliament. We will strengthen the minimum wage and tackle the abuse of zero-hours contracts and agency workers – the jobs where women are particularly affected.
Too many women have to choose between family and work because of the cost of childcare - which has risen by 30 per cent since 2010. So Labour will give every working family 25 hours of free childcare for their three and four year olds – an increase of ten hours a week.
The Tories and Lib Dems are out of touch with the issues facing women – only Labour can be trusted to help women and their families.
Monday, 10 March 2014
4340 children in poverty are estimated to miss out on the £135 warm home discount in Haslingden & Hyndburn.
I am deeply worried that an estimated 4,340 poor children in Hyndburn are missing out on the warm homes discount to keep their homes warm.
New research from The Children’s Society which reveals a huge number of [see our interactive map for this data] children in poverty in Hyndburn are missing out on crucial help that could keep them warm.
There are nearly two million children in poverty nationwide in families that are not getting the Warm Home Discount. This provides a £135 annual rebate on their fuel bills - enough to cover a typical family’s energy bills for a month.
Cold Homes is something that has been of great to concern to me. I am concerned that the ECO insualtion scheme for terraced homes is being significantly reduced jeopardising the local Warms Homes scheme. Some 60% of homes in Hyndburn are hard to treat, hard to insulate.
Your Labour Council is also providing some 300 new and newly modernised properties for rent to combat poor housing that was highlighted on Newsnight a fortnight ago.
When I wrote to school heads last year they reported to me a growth in the number of children both hungry and cold turning up at the school gates.
I am gravely concerned that when a family receives their heating bill, parents have to choose between feeding their children a decent meal and putting the heating on. I support The Children’s Society call for the government to make the Warm Home Discount automatically available to all families with children who are living in poverty which will make a real difference to families in poverty struggling to pay energy bills.
In Behind Cold Doors: The chilling reality for children in poverty, The Children’s Society found that more than three million families were likely to cut back on food this winter so they can pay their energy bills.
And of the five million families that said that they were likely to turn their heating down because of the cost, more than half said they were worried that their children would become ill as a result.
This spring, the government has the opportunity to make sure no child has to grow up in a cold home when it reviews its fuel poverty strategy and consults on the future of the Warm Home Discount.
The Children’s Society’s Chief Executive Matthew Reed said: “It is alarming that huge numbers of children across the UK are growing up in a cold home. The scale of the problem, as these figures show, is truly appalling. The government must take decisive action now to move children in from the cold and help stop their parents from having to make this terrible choice between heating and eating.
By making the Warm Home Discount automatically available to all children living in poverty, the government can give these families a lifeline to help them out of poverty, and they should do it now.”
Local data
Please see our interactive Warm Home Discount map for the full UK breakdown by constituency.
Notes
• See our UK-wide Warm Home Discount map.
• The Warm Home Discount is a £135 rebate for low-income, vulnerable households. It is key to families not having to choose between heating their homes or feeding their children. Families living in poverty with children do not automatically get this key support. Many do not even know about it. And for others, even if they are in poverty, they may not qualify because they work or because their energy supplier’s scheme is no longer available for that year. As a result, these children are being left to grow up in cold homes. For more information see Behind Cold Doors: The chilling reality for children in poverty.
• Nearly two million children in poverty miss out on a Warm Home Discount primarily because the amount of support available for low income families is limited. Many families who desperately need the support don’t even know it exists. In other cases, families can miss out because they switch supplier between the point at which they apply, and the point the discount would be applied to their bill. By making sure all families with children living in poverty automatically get this support, these families wouldn’t need to apply to their supplier for support, and there would be no risk of them missing out on this vital lifeline that can help them out of poverty.
• A typical family with two children heating their home to the recommended 21 degrees Celsius, spends £1,403 a year on energy bills according new analysis from the Association for the Conservation of Energy produced for The Children’s Society. For a family not in work, this is more than 10% of their income.
• 3.5 million children in the UK are living in poverty.
• Six in 10 children living in poverty are in low-income working families.
• By 2020 – the year by which the government committed to end child poverty – an estimated 800,000 more children will be living in poverty than today according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
• The Children’s Society is supporting the first ever Children’s Commission on Poverty. It is being led by a panel of 16 children and teenagers from across England, ranging in age from 12 to 19 who are leading an 18-month investigation into child poverty in the UK. It provides a crucial platform for children to speak out about what poverty is really like and reveal, through their own eyes, the day-to-day challenges they face and what needs to be done.
• The Children’s Society wants to create a society where children and young people are valued, respected and happy. We are committed to helping vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, including children in care and young runaways. We give a voice to disabled children, help young refugees to rebuild their lives and provide relief for young carers. Through our campaigns and research, we seek to influence policy and perceptions so that young people have a better chance in life. Someone who acts on their behalf and can help guide them through the extremely complex system. These children deserve to be kept safe so they can recover from the trauma they have suffered and rebuild their lives.
Visit our website at http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk
If you have received this email in error and are not the intended recipient please notify the Email Administrator, using the email address: postmaster@childrenssociety.org.uk. Please note that access to this email by anyone other than the intended recipient is unauthorised, and we would appreciate you respecting our privacy. Any disclosure,copying or distribution of a message by an unintended recipient may be unlawful.
This email is from the Church of England Children's Society
Company No. 40004-C England
Charity Registration No. 221124
Registered Office: Edward Rudolf House, Margery Street, London WC1X 0JL
VAT Registration No. 626649317
Subsidiary Companies:
The Children's Society (Services) Ltd Company No. 4545124, The Children's Society (Trading) Ltd Company No. 885496
New research from The Children’s Society which reveals a huge number of [see our interactive map for this data] children in poverty in Hyndburn are missing out on crucial help that could keep them warm.
There are nearly two million children in poverty nationwide in families that are not getting the Warm Home Discount. This provides a £135 annual rebate on their fuel bills - enough to cover a typical family’s energy bills for a month.
Cold Homes is something that has been of great to concern to me. I am concerned that the ECO insualtion scheme for terraced homes is being significantly reduced jeopardising the local Warms Homes scheme. Some 60% of homes in Hyndburn are hard to treat, hard to insulate.
Your Labour Council is also providing some 300 new and newly modernised properties for rent to combat poor housing that was highlighted on Newsnight a fortnight ago.
I am gravely concerned that when a family receives their heating bill, parents have to choose between feeding their children a decent meal and putting the heating on. I support The Children’s Society call for the government to make the Warm Home Discount automatically available to all families with children who are living in poverty which will make a real difference to families in poverty struggling to pay energy bills.
In Behind Cold Doors: The chilling reality for children in poverty, The Children’s Society found that more than three million families were likely to cut back on food this winter so they can pay their energy bills.
And of the five million families that said that they were likely to turn their heating down because of the cost, more than half said they were worried that their children would become ill as a result.
This spring, the government has the opportunity to make sure no child has to grow up in a cold home when it reviews its fuel poverty strategy and consults on the future of the Warm Home Discount.
The Children’s Society’s Chief Executive Matthew Reed said: “It is alarming that huge numbers of children across the UK are growing up in a cold home. The scale of the problem, as these figures show, is truly appalling. The government must take decisive action now to move children in from the cold and help stop their parents from having to make this terrible choice between heating and eating.
By making the Warm Home Discount automatically available to all children living in poverty, the government can give these families a lifeline to help them out of poverty, and they should do it now.”
Local data
Please see our interactive Warm Home Discount map for the full UK breakdown by constituency.
Notes
• See our UK-wide Warm Home Discount map.
• The Warm Home Discount is a £135 rebate for low-income, vulnerable households. It is key to families not having to choose between heating their homes or feeding their children. Families living in poverty with children do not automatically get this key support. Many do not even know about it. And for others, even if they are in poverty, they may not qualify because they work or because their energy supplier’s scheme is no longer available for that year. As a result, these children are being left to grow up in cold homes. For more information see Behind Cold Doors: The chilling reality for children in poverty.
• Nearly two million children in poverty miss out on a Warm Home Discount primarily because the amount of support available for low income families is limited. Many families who desperately need the support don’t even know it exists. In other cases, families can miss out because they switch supplier between the point at which they apply, and the point the discount would be applied to their bill. By making sure all families with children living in poverty automatically get this support, these families wouldn’t need to apply to their supplier for support, and there would be no risk of them missing out on this vital lifeline that can help them out of poverty.
• A typical family with two children heating their home to the recommended 21 degrees Celsius, spends £1,403 a year on energy bills according new analysis from the Association for the Conservation of Energy produced for The Children’s Society. For a family not in work, this is more than 10% of their income.
• 3.5 million children in the UK are living in poverty.
• Six in 10 children living in poverty are in low-income working families.
• By 2020 – the year by which the government committed to end child poverty – an estimated 800,000 more children will be living in poverty than today according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
• The Children’s Society is supporting the first ever Children’s Commission on Poverty. It is being led by a panel of 16 children and teenagers from across England, ranging in age from 12 to 19 who are leading an 18-month investigation into child poverty in the UK. It provides a crucial platform for children to speak out about what poverty is really like and reveal, through their own eyes, the day-to-day challenges they face and what needs to be done.
• The Children’s Society wants to create a society where children and young people are valued, respected and happy. We are committed to helping vulnerable and disadvantaged young people, including children in care and young runaways. We give a voice to disabled children, help young refugees to rebuild their lives and provide relief for young carers. Through our campaigns and research, we seek to influence policy and perceptions so that young people have a better chance in life. Someone who acts on their behalf and can help guide them through the extremely complex system. These children deserve to be kept safe so they can recover from the trauma they have suffered and rebuild their lives.
Visit our website at http://www.childrenssociety.org.uk
If you have received this email in error and are not the intended recipient please notify the Email Administrator, using the email address: postmaster@childrenssociety.org.uk. Please note that access to this email by anyone other than the intended recipient is unauthorised, and we would appreciate you respecting our privacy. Any disclosure,copying or distribution of a message by an unintended recipient may be unlawful.
This email is from the Church of England Children's Society
Company No. 40004-C England
Charity Registration No. 221124
Registered Office: Edward Rudolf House, Margery Street, London WC1X 0JL
VAT Registration No. 626649317
Subsidiary Companies:
The Children's Society (Services) Ltd Company No. 4545124, The Children's Society (Trading) Ltd Company No. 885496
Offering budding entrepreneurs in Hyndburn the chance to bring their ideas to life
Dear Mr Jones, I am writing to let you know that the application window for the 2014/15 intake of Lloyds Bank and Bank of Scotland Social Entrepreneurs is now open until Thursday 3rd April, and to invite you to encourage budding entrepreneurs in your constituency to apply. By starting a social enterprise this year, your constituents could provide new opportunities for both themselves and the residents of your local area. All they need is a great idea!
Launched in April last year, the Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme with the School for Social Entrepreneurs provides both financial support (grants from between £4,000 - £15,000) and access to a comprehensive learning support programme including a business mentoring scheme. Over the next five years the programme, which is also supported by The Big Lottery Fund, will support around 1,300 social entrepreneurs to Start and Scale innovative social organisations:
We would also like to offer you for the opportunity for an organised visit with a student in your local area. The schools themselves are based in 10 key locations (Bristol, Cornwall, Plymouth, East of England Hampshire, North West, Scotland, London, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber) - however students from across the country are welcome to apply to the programme.
Further information about the programme is attached and please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to arrange a visit.
Kind regards, Katie
Launched in April last year, the Lloyds Bank Social Entrepreneurs Programme with the School for Social Entrepreneurs provides both financial support (grants from between £4,000 - £15,000) and access to a comprehensive learning support programme including a business mentoring scheme. Over the next five years the programme, which is also supported by The Big Lottery Fund, will support around 1,300 social entrepreneurs to Start and Scale innovative social organisations:
• Start up: For those at an early stage in the development of their project or organisation, the Start Up programme support students in personal development and basic business skills development to help turn their project or project idea into a reality. Each 'Start Up' participant will receive a grant of £4,000 to support their learning and the development of their project.Students from the Programme have so far developed a wide range of exciting enterprises that have brought substantial benefits to their own communities and much further afield. Prospective social entrepreneurs need to apply online at http://www.the-sse.org by 3rd April.
• Scale up: For those who have an established organisation and are looking to take it to the next level, the Scale Up programme will equip them with the tools to develop it further and maximise its social impact. Each 'Scale Up' participant will receive a grant of £15,000 to support their learning and the development of their project.
We would also like to offer you for the opportunity for an organised visit with a student in your local area. The schools themselves are based in 10 key locations (Bristol, Cornwall, Plymouth, East of England Hampshire, North West, Scotland, London, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humber) - however students from across the country are welcome to apply to the programme.
Further information about the programme is attached and please do not hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or would like to arrange a visit.
Kind regards, Katie
Local firms who take on an apprentice and get a £1,941 boost
I want to encourage more businesses to take on an apprentice, after new research revealed the extent of the benefits involved.
Every time a local company hires an apprentice, their bottom line gets an average boost of £1,941. This happens immediately, while the apprentice is being trained, and represents the benefit after typical wage and training costs for the North West are deducted.
The number of apprentices has increased rapidly since the National Apprenticeship Service was created in 2009. Despite this, surveys show that 60% of small businesses are missing out because they don’t know enough about how apprenticeships work. Many assume that they are difficult to administer and will involve a short-term cost.
Last year, 1,440 young people and adult learners started an apprenticeship in Hyndburn. That helped local businesses by a total of £2.8m in 2012/13.
The new research was commissioned by AAT, which has pioneered apprenticeships in accounting. Non-traditional areas like accounting now make up the majority of apprenticeships, demonstrating the huge range available.
This is a chance for firms to give back to the community – and by giving local people a chance, they will also be boosting their bottom line.
Every time a local company hires an apprentice, their bottom line gets an average boost of £1,941. This happens immediately, while the apprentice is being trained, and represents the benefit after typical wage and training costs for the North West are deducted.
The number of apprentices has increased rapidly since the National Apprenticeship Service was created in 2009. Despite this, surveys show that 60% of small businesses are missing out because they don’t know enough about how apprenticeships work. Many assume that they are difficult to administer and will involve a short-term cost.
Last year, 1,440 young people and adult learners started an apprenticeship in Hyndburn. That helped local businesses by a total of £2.8m in 2012/13.
The new research was commissioned by AAT, which has pioneered apprenticeships in accounting. Non-traditional areas like accounting now make up the majority of apprenticeships, demonstrating the huge range available.
Jane Scott Paul, the Chief Executive of AAT, welcomed the news saying;“I am delighted that Graham Jones MP is encouraging more companies to employ an apprentice. Far from being a cost, apprentices bring benefits straight away.I would agree. If they don’t have one already, every local business in Hyndburn should consider employing an apprentice. Apprenticeship starts increased massively after the creation of the National Apprenticeship Service in 2009, but there is a danger that progress could stall unless more companies hear the message. We can do better for our young people and adult learners.
“It’s really important that employers know there are apprenticeships for all shapes and sizes, including those in non-traditional sectors like accounting and law. That’s how apprentices boosted UK firms by £1.8 billion last year.”
This is a chance for firms to give back to the community – and by giving local people a chance, they will also be boosting their bottom line.
Notes to editors
1. The research was produced for the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT) by Cebr, with data on the net benefits for each region and each Parliamentary constituency in England. A report on the national findings was released on 28 February 2014. It is available on AAT’s website: www.aat.org.uk.
2. Cebr is an independent economics consultancy established in 1992 that provides macro and microeconomic research and advice to businesses across a range of sectors, including transport, energy, retail, property and information technology. Cebr undertakes quantitative research using a suite of computer-modelling tools and qualitative methods.
3. The gain to an employer of hiring an apprentice can be summarised as:
Employer gain = apprentice output + apprentice subsidies – apprentice wages – apprentice training costs
4. The average net benefit delivered by an apprentice varies according to the type of apprenticeship (which ranges from Team Leadership and Management to Hairdressing) and the level and related cost of training involved.
5. Cebr calculated the average organisational net benefit from hiring an apprentice in 2012/13 by estimating:
o Average apprentice wages in 2012/13.
o Average training costs in 2012/13.
o Economic output produced by an apprentice in 2012/13.
6. To estimate apprentice wages Cebr drew on data in the 2011 and 2012 BIS Apprenticeship Pay Surveys. The wage rates have been uprated to give a 2012/13 figure. Cebr also used data in the 2012 BIS Apprenticeship Pay Survey on average contracted hours for apprentices.
7. The largest component of training costs is time spent by the employer providing on-the-job training. Cebr calculated these implicit time costs by using data in the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) on the wage costs of employees in different sectors/occupations in the economy.
8. Economic output for an apprentice has been estimated using both wage data in the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings and data on economic output and employment costs provided in the ONS Annual Business Survey (ABS). The ABS has enabled Cebr to estimate a relationship between economic output and employment costs in different sectors of the economy, including the economic output produced by an apprentice. Estimates have been adjusted to reflect the “productive capacity” of an apprentice – the extent to which an apprentice can replicate the tasks undertaken by a fully qualified worker. The productive capacity estimates have been based on existing research – in particular McIntosh (2007), “A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Apprenticeships and Other Vocational Qualifications”, Hogarth and Hasluck (2003), “Net Costs of Modern Apprenticeship Training to Employers” and Hogarth and Hasluck (2008), “The Net Benefit to Employer Investment in Apprenticeship Training”.
Fixed Odds Betting Terminals: My reply to the Association of British Bookmakers
Dear Dirk
Thank you for writing to me recently regarding my contribution to a Westminster Hall debate on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals as well as various other statements I have made about these machines. I note that you wrote to my local paper, the Lancashire Telegraph, so I have taken the courtesy to copy them into this letter. I have to take issue with some of the points you made.
WE’LL ONLY TURN BRITAIN AROUND IF WE BUILD ON THE TALENTS OF ALL
Labour has always grasped the need for a strong apprenticeship programme. That’s why, in Government, we rescued apprenticeship numbers. And it’s why we established the National Apprenticeship Week, still going strong in its seventh year.
With Britain facing a cost-of-living crisis we need to grow the apprenticeship programme – but instead the Tory-led Government is shrinking it. Under David Cameron, the number of apprenticeships for young people hasn’t gone up, it’s actually gone down.
The quality of apprenticeships has been badly tarnished: we've seen in-work training rebadged as apprenticeships and a spike in the numbers of apprenticeships of short duration and of poor quality. One in five apprenticeships lasts for less than six months; and, according to the Government's own research, one in five apprentices report receiving neither on nor off-the-job training as part of their apprenticeship. And a shocking 29 per cent receive less pay than they are legally entitled to.
With Britain facing a cost-of-living crisis we need to grow the apprenticeship programme – but instead the Tory-led Government is shrinking it. Under David Cameron, the number of apprenticeships for young people hasn’t gone up, it’s actually gone down.
The quality of apprenticeships has been badly tarnished: we've seen in-work training rebadged as apprenticeships and a spike in the numbers of apprenticeships of short duration and of poor quality. One in five apprenticeships lasts for less than six months; and, according to the Government's own research, one in five apprentices report receiving neither on nor off-the-job training as part of their apprenticeship. And a shocking 29 per cent receive less pay than they are legally entitled to.
Friday, 7 March 2014
The National Numeracy Challenge - 12 March
Dear Mr Jones, I am writing to you as chair of the independent charity, National Numeracy, to invite you to support a major new drive to help end low levels of numeracy in the UK.
As you are probably aware, there are 17m adults in England alone working at the equivalent of primary school levels in numeracy (literacy 5m) and 78% of the adult population are working below the equivalent of A*-C at GCSE (43% literacy).
Being launched on 12th March with the backing of the CBI, the TUC, a number of private and public sector employers and other organisations, the National Numeracy Challenge is a UK-wide drive to lift at least a million adults out of poor numeracy over the next five years. It calls on everyone from employers to community organisations to colleges to make this happen – and we call on MPs to support this drive too!
As you are probably aware, there are 17m adults in England alone working at the equivalent of primary school levels in numeracy (literacy 5m) and 78% of the adult population are working below the equivalent of A*-C at GCSE (43% literacy).
Being launched on 12th March with the backing of the CBI, the TUC, a number of private and public sector employers and other organisations, the National Numeracy Challenge is a UK-wide drive to lift at least a million adults out of poor numeracy over the next five years. It calls on everyone from employers to community organisations to colleges to make this happen – and we call on MPs to support this drive too!
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