News Bulletin from Aidan Burley MP #58

7/29/2019 News Bulletin from Aidan Burley MP #58

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In this edition:

Public meeting on changesto Mid Staffs NHS TrustAidan Burley MPs DiaryWebsite of the week:Peoples MillionsBurley raises councilleaders scaremongering inCommons health debatePhoto news:Charity bake-off for ComicRelief at GorsemoorPrimary School

Budget brings income taxcut for 35,232 people inCannock ChaseRecruitment day for careprovider in MP Help ZoneBurley meets with TransportMinister and LondonMidland ChiefAidan welcomes extramoney for primary schoolsportBurley 'astonished' at 3

uncollected council taxMP seeks clarification fromCouncil Leader overHospital privatisationclaimsCouncil WatchAidan in the papers:Cannock MP says councilleader 'deliberatelymisquoted' himAND FINALLY...Conservatives bring in beerduty cut to help 4,972 pubsin West MidlandsHave your sayHow to contactAidan Burley MP

Issue 58 Thursday 21st March 2013PUBLIC MEETING ON CHANGES TOMID STAFFS NHS TRUST

Aidan is holding the first in a seriesof public meetings over thechanges announced by theindependent health RegulatorMonitor to Mid Staffs NHSFoundation Trust.This first meeting will be held atCannock Wood Village Hall onFriday 22 March between 6pm-7pm. The Hall is situated on

Buds Road, Cannock Wood, Rugeley, WS15 4NB.Any resident is welcome to attend.Commenting, Aidan said: "The changes announced by Monitor lastweek, effectively abolishing Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust, are

profound and significant and deserve thorough explanation andexamination. Local people may well be asking what these changesmean for them and their families, and what the future holds for bothCannock and Stafford Hospitals. I will try and explain the changes inthe report and answer questions local people may have. In particular,

I want to listen to residents views on local healthcare provision andexplain what I believe is the best way forward for Cannock Hospital the jewel in the crown of National Health Service provision in CannockChase."

Since the last edition, Aidan has:

Competed in a Bake-Off with staff and the head teacher of

Gorsemoor Primary School to raise money for Comic

Relief.

Visited Pertemps People Development Group, to meet with

a group of unemployed former executives who contacted him

to discuss their situation. He explained the Governments

approach to the Work Programme.

Spoken in a House of Commons debate on NHS

accountability.

Met with David Bennett from Monitor to discuss recent CPT

report.

Spoken with Chief Executives of Walsall and

Wolverhampton NHS Trusts about future provision of

services in Cannock Hospital.Met with Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy to discuss future of

healthcare in Mid Staffs.

Attended a session of the Work and Pensions Select

Committee to hear oral evidence from representative

organisations on the Governments Work Programme.

Attend a breakfast meeting hosted by the All Parliamentary

Health Group entitled The Francis inquiry: lessons from

Mid Staffs with Robert Francis QC Chairman of the Report of

the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

Attended RFU Drinks Reception celebrating the launch of

National All Schools Programme.

Met with Transport MinisterNorman Baker MP and London

Midland Managing Director Patrick Verwer to get an update

about train services on the Chase Line and represent the

views of constituents.

Spoke with Mid Staffs NHS Trust Chief Executive Lyn Hill-

Tout to discuss constituents concerns about Mid Staffs Trust

complaints procedure.

Questioned the Department for Communities and Local

Government on whether Cannock Chase district council has

taken up the offer from his Department to help promote theRight to Buy scheme.

Held a help and advice surgery at Morrisons in Rugeley,

where local residents raised concerns including the

amendment to yellow lines in a residential street, school place

allocations, Stafford and Cannock Hospitals, access to legal

aid and benefits claims. Aidan has followed up a number of

enquiries relating to benefits, and is working with the LEA on

the issue of school places.

Website of the week:

www.peoplesmillions.org.uk

The Peoples Millions programme is an exciting partnershipbetween the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) and ITV in which the publicget a chance to vote for the community projects they want toreceive funding.This is a great opportunity for 76 projects to receive up to 50,000 toinspire involve and improve their local community. Through ITVcoverage Peoples Millions want to encourage local charities andcommunity groups to apply for BIG grants and raise awareness ofNational Lottery funding. Each night for a week in November, thosewho make the best applications will battle it out on prime time ITVregional news for the public vote. Whether or not they succeed, the

competition represents a great opportunity to mobilise support andpublicity behind a local cause.There is a simple entry form online atwww.peoplesmillions.org.ukor you can contact the Big Advice Line on 0845 0101112. The

deadline for applications is 13th May 2013. To date approximately halfof all groups entering the competition have not been funded by BIGbefore.You can also follow Peoples Millions 2013 on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peoplesmilions and on Facebook athttp://www.facebook.com/PeoplesMillions

Burley raises council leadersscaremongering in Commons health

debate

Click on the image above to watch Aidans speech.

Aidan has demanded in the House of Commons that the ShadowSecretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham, speaks to the Leader ofCannock Chase District Council, George Adamson, and the LabourParliamentary candidate to stop them needlessly scaremongeringlocal people about false 'privatisation' plans for Cannock Hospital.It comes after the launch of a local Labour party petition "fightingplans aimed at privatising the NHS". The leader of the council hassaid that he was launching a petition against being "victims of Toryprivatisation plans".Speaking in the debate last week, Aidan hit back in Parliament saying:"There are no plans in the Monitor report to privatise Cannock

Hospital, so I want to know where the local Labour party is getting itsinformation from. In fact, as a result of the Foundation Trust status,

private providers are already operating in Cannock Hospital. I notethat there were no protests from Labour councillors when privatehealth facilities were introduced into Cannock Hospital."

Aidan demanded that in the interests of accountability andtransparency Labour Ministers should call on their council leaders andparliamentary candidates to stop "scaremongering among local

people for political ends" saying "They cannot fight privatisation ifthere are no plans to privatise anything. They cannot start a petition tosave Cannock Chase Hospital if the Monitor report suggests making ita centre of excellence for orthopaedic elective surgery in the WestMidlands."To read the full text of Aidans speech, click here.

Click on the image above to watch coverage of the debate inParliament on BBC Midlands Today.

Photo news:Charity bake-off for Comic Relief atGorsemoor Primary School

Aidan taking part in the Comic Relief bake-off atGorsemoor Primary School.

Last week Aidan took part in a charity bake-off at Gorsemoor PrimarySchool in aid of Comic Relief.Competitors had to bake and decorate six cupcakes, which were

judged by the school children, who voted for their favourites by puttingcoins into jars.

Although Aidans cupcakes did not win, they were sold off to parentsand pupils to raise more money for comic relief.Commenting, Aidan said: It was great fun to take part in the bake-offalong with staff, pupils and parents at the school whilst at the same

time raising money for such a good cause.

Budget brings income tax cut for 35,232

people in Cannock ChaseThe amount people can earnbefore paying income tax - thepersonal allowance - will rise to10,000 in April 2014.

Hard working people in CannockChase will be over 700 better offevery year than when thisGovernment came to office.

Almost three million more of thelowest paid will pay no income tax at all.This tax cut will benefit an estimated 35,232 people in CannockChase. In April 2014, 382 people will be lifted out of income tax,taking the total number of people in Cannock Chase lifted out of taxby Conservatives to an estimated 4,079.

Labour want to reintroduce the 10p tax band that they abolished.Conservatives in Government have now turned Labours 10p tax bandinto a zero pence tax band. Every person paying tax at the 10p ratewhen Labour doubled it, will now be paying no income tax at all onthat income.

Aidan commented: This Budget has delivered real support for peoplewho aspire to work hard and get on. Around 35,232 people inCannock Chase will be over 700 better off every year. With thislandmark tax cut, Conservatives have cut tax bills for 24 million

people.

Recruitment day for care provider

in MP Help Zone

Aidan has arranged for careprovider Home Instead SeniorCare to run a recruitment open dayat his town centre Help Zone, on

Friday 22nd March from 10am-midday, for anyone who would liketo consider working in care to

attend and potentially secureemployment on the day.Home Instead work to provide care

to those who need it in their own homes, and services includepersonal care, companionship, befriending, light housework, mealpreparation and transportation. They work with anyone over the ageof 18, and offer a specialist service to those suffering from Alzheimer'sand dementia.Home Instead are actively recruiting for new caregivers, and havevacancies in Cannock, Rugeley, Hednesford, Burntwood, Penkridgeand all the surrounding areas. They are looking for people who arefriendly, cheerful, reliable and who have their own means of transport.The hours are flexible (usually 16-24 hours per week), mileage ispaid, and no previous experience is necessary as full training isprovided.Home Instead Director, Fran Sayer, commented "It is fantastic that

Aidan has taken the time to help us arrange a recruitment day torecruit new Caregivers and assist us with providing home care in theCannock Chase region. With the high elderly population in Cannock, itis important for Home Instead to constantly recruit caring,compassionate individuals who want to work in care for the rightreasons. Many of our Caregivers are in the over 50's age group and

bring with them a wealth of life experience. We provide our Caregiverswith a high level of training and support to enable them to become

professionals within the Care sector. In addition we provide our ownCity & Guilds accredited Alzheimer's training for Caregivers which willalso be provided for families of client's with dementia. We are lookingforward to a great day at the MP Help Zone and meeting lots of

potential new Caregivers."

Aidan added: "I am delighted to be able to offer my Help Zone toassist a firm who are looking to recruit and invest in training local

people, as well as providing a vital service to those who need care athome. This is a fantastic opportunity to work in a rewarding andimportant role, and I would encourage anyone who might beinterested in applying, or learning more about Home Instead, to callinto the Help Zone on Friday 22nd March to find out more."

Burley meets with Transport Ministerand London Midland Chief

Aidan Burley yesterday met withTransport Minister Norman BakerMP and London Midland Chief

Executive Patrick Verwer todiscuss the Chase Line rail serviceand constituents concerns.

Aidan demanded the meeting toget an update on the serviceprovision following the recent wellpublicised problems suffered by

London Midland with staff shortages during the last few months of2012.During the meeting Aidan stressed the importance of having a reliabletrain service for his constituents, many of whom rely on it to get to and

from work, and sought reassurances from the operator on whatsystems were being put in place to increase resilience so similarproblems do not happen again the future. In response LondonMidland Chief Executive, Mr Verwer, said the company has recruitedmore drivers since Christmas to try and avoid further cancellations.The meeting, held at the Department for Transport, also gave the MPthe chance to raise a number of constituents' concerns, including thehandling of customer complaints, the importance of ensuringcustomer information screens at stations are functioning correctly, andbetter information for passengers suffering cancelled trains andsubsequently missing their connections.

Mr Verwer accepted that complaint response times were too high. Hetold the MP that a number of new staff have now been recruited tohelp deal with the backlog, and that response times were now slowlycoming down from eight weeks to three to four weeks.In response to Aidan's concerns over the reliability of the CustomerInformation Systems (CIS) at local stations, Mr Verwer told the MPthat all systems and ticket machines along the route will now bechecked on a more regular basis.London Midland is currently set to run the Chase Line franchise untilSeptember 2015, during which time Aidan said significant

improvements need to be seen.Speaking after the meeting Aidan said: "I was pleased to secure thismeeting with both the Minister and London Midland Chief Executive todiscuss rail services in Cannock Chase and highlight constituents'concerns"There appears to be a common theme of 'communication' with

passengers which runs through a lot of the complaints I receive - whytrains are cancelled, how long the wait is for the next one - but thereare also some basic issues such as Customer Information Systems(CIS) the overhead screens on the platforms which don't evenappear to be working on some platforms. London Midlandacknowledged these problems and assured me that plans were nowbeing put in place to resolve these issues."

Aidan welcomes extra money

for primary school sport

An extra 2,719,100 will go toprimary schools acrossStaffordshire to transform school

sport, improve coaching for theyoungest pupils and inspire theOlympic and Paralympic stars ofthe future.London 2012 gave Britain a oncein a lifetime opportunity to inspire a

nation to enjoy sport and the Government wants to embed that intothe school day from an early age. The Prime Minister has announceda 150 million Olympic legacy fund to improve the quality of provisionin every state primary school in England.Commenting Aidan Burley MP said: "Young people across Cannock

Chase will benefit from this announcement. This money will help tosecure the Olympic legacy and support our gold medal winners of thefuture."The Prime Minister, David Cameron said: "The Olympic andParalympic Games marked an incredible year for this country and Iwill always be proud that we showed the world what Britain can do. Iwant to ensure the Games count for the future too and that meanscapitalising on the inspiration young people took from what they sawduring those summer months. This investment will benefit a wholegeneration of children for many years to come."

Burley 'astonished' at 3 uncollected

council tax

Aidan has said he is 'astonished'that Cannock Chase DistrictCouncil has failed to collect over3.3 MILLION of council tax inrecent years, and has called on itto step up its efforts to re-claim themoney it is owed.

Figures obtained by the Chase MPshow that 624,000 of unpaid

Council Tax remains uncollected for the financial year 2011/12, whiletotal Council tax arrears for all past years stands at 3,320,000. Thisfigure for 2011/12 amounts to 1.36% of total collectable debt.Furthermore, these figures do not include debts written off for unpaidcouncil tax which are then removed from the figures.

All this comes at a time when Cannock Chase District Council recentlyapproved a 2% rise in Council Tax for 2013/14.Commenting on the figures Aidan said: "At a time when Councils arehaving to make savings, ensuring that all money that is owed to themis collected would be a good place to start. The truth is that the peoplewho do pay are being hit twice not only picking up the bill forthemselves, but also subsidising the non-payers. It is astonishing thatCannock Chase District Council is being so complacent about chasingits considerable arrears over half a million pounds just last year.""Having already been hit by Labour's refusal to freeze Council Tax,local residents should not be unfairly penalised by uncollected taxesdriving up bills even further to subsidise the minority who refuse to

pay their share. If all this money were collected by the council it couldbe used to help freeze council tax and help improve services."

MP seeks clarification from Council

Leader over Hospital privatisationclaims

Aidan has written to the Leader ofCannock Chase District Councilurgently seeking clarification overpotentially misleading comments

reported in the StaffordshireNewsletter on 8th March.

According to the article CllrGeorge Adamson was quoted assaying the local Labour party waslaunching a petition because theyfelt that Cannock Hospital was atrisk of being one of the first 'victimsof Tory privatisation plans' for theNHS."We want our hospital to stay openas a hospital, not an office block,"said Councillor Adamson. "It isvital that Cannock Hospital staysas part of the NHS."Responding in a letter today to Cllr Adamson, Mr Burley said "I cancategorically confirm that there are no plans in either the Monitorreport or within government to in any way privatise Cannock Hospital.So I want to know where Cllr Adamson is getting his information from?The last Labour government granted Mid Staffs Foundation Truststatus, as a result of which the NHS Trust already rents out space toBadger healthcare Ltd and The Alliance Medical MRI Suite within

Cannock Hospital. Does Cllr Adamson now think they should bethrown out of the building?"

Aidan added: "It is noticeable that we heard no protests at all fromLabour Councillors or MPs when private healthcare facilities wereactively encouraged into Cannock hospital. In the case of the MRIscanner, it is currently providing NHS services to local people. DoesCllr Adamson now think local people should suddenly be preventedfrom receiving those NHS services?""It seems that only now, when a Conservative Government savesCannock Hospital for the public sector, are we hearingscaremongering allegations from those same people who supported

the part-privatisation of our hospital."

This week Aidan Burley M.P. made enquiries with the Department forCommunities and Local Government as to whether Cannock Chasedistrict council has taken up the Governments offer from to helppromote the Right to Buy scheme.Shockingly, the Minister informed Aidan that Cannock Chase did notwish to take up the partnership offer.The Minister went on to tell Aidan, I have recently visited an excellent

Right to Buy roadshow in Basildon and have seen at first hand thevalue tenants place oh receiving advice and help to explore homeownership further. I would encourage Cannock Chase and all stock-owning local authorities to consider the needs of their tenants andwork with my Department to hold a Right to Buy roadshow.Why are Labour Councillors in Cannock Chase so against givingpeople the opportunity to own their own homes?

Aidan in the papers:

Cannock MP says council leader'deliberately misquoted' himRobin Scott, Staffordshire Newsletter

Thursday 14th March 2013

An ongoing dispute betweenCannock politicians has seen thetowns MP accuse the councilleader of taking his words out of context.

Aidan Burley responded to comments made by Cannock ChaseDistrict Council leader George Adamson, suggesting he was out ofstep with his party in his response to the announcement healthcareregulator Monitor had recommended a radical reconfiguration of MidStaffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.Mr Burley said Councillor Adamson had deliberately misquoted himon the abolition of Labours failed foundation trust in MidStaffordshire.I said I was pleased that Monitor agree with me that a hospital mustremain open in Cannock not that I was pleased with their report as awhole,he said.

He [Councillor Adamson] also initially described the report as goodnews, now, after talking to his deputy, he has apparently changed hismind.Councillor Adamson, is this report good news or bad news?Both Bill Cash and I are concerned with many of their proposalsrelating to Stafford Hospital, and will continue to fight against adowngrading of A&E and acute services,he said.However this must be the first time in history the Labour Party inCannock are quoting Bill Cash to support their arguments.Where were they when he was the only Staffordshire MP calling for aPublic Enquiry in to the appalling standards of care in Mid-StaffsTrust?They were siding with their Health Secretary Andy Burnham whoopposed it, saying it would be a distraction.Mr Burley said in his opinion the Labour Party were part of theproblem with Stafford and Cannock hospitals and called on his rivalsto apologise for forcing through foundation status at a time whenpeople were dying from appalling care and the trust was going

bankrupt.Events have shown them to be wholly discredited and they will neverbe trusted again in Staffordshire to run our NHS,he said.Councillors Adamson and Toth now need to be very careful.The current proposals call for Cannock Hospital to remain open.If, through their opposition, these are reviewed and the hospital isclosed, they alone will be to blame.They should also now answer the questions I originally put to them on what basis do they say Cannock Hospital is being privatised?said Mr Burley.If there is none and they are scaremongering local people for theirown political ends, then that is outrageous and they should be utterlyashamed of themselves.

AND FINALLY...

Conservatives bring in beer duty cut to

help 4,972 pubs in West MidlandsThe Chancellor of the Exchequer hasscrapped Labours plans to increase beerduty in this weeks Budget, and instead cutit by a penny, meaning beer will be 1p perpint cheaper after Sunday night 4p perpint cheaper than it would have been underLabour.

Aidan welcomed the news, saying: Labourincreased beer duty by 60 per cent and left

our pubs fighting for survival.Weve not only scrapped Labours plannedincrease weve actually cut it.Its great for beer-drinkers, its great for breweries, and its great for4,972 West Midlands brilliant pubs.

There is still time to have your say on the issues that matter most toyou. Aidans online survey is live here and Aidan is keen to hearyour views to help him better represent you in the House ofCommons.

5 ways to contact Aidan Burley MP:

By Phone: 01543 502 447

By email: [email protected]

By post: Aidan Burley MP6 High Green Court,Newhall StreetCannock, WS11 1GR

In person: Click here for details of how tobook an appointment at AidanBurley MPs regular help andadvice surgeries.

www.aidanburleymp.org

More news from Aidan Burley MP, coming soon

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News Bulletin from Aidan Burley MP #58

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