Archive for February, 2013

Christopher Pincher Calls for Statement on NHS Care

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Yesterday in the House of Commons yesterday, Tamworth’s MP Christopher Pincher, called for a statement on NHS care in Staffordshire.

Staffordshire born Mr Pincher said, “May we have a statement on the approach to care in the Staffordshire NHS cluster? My 22-year-old constituent, Thomas Berry, suffers from spinal muscular atrophy, which means that he cannot do very much for himself, but the cluster wants to change his care plan, against his wishes, the wishes of his carers and the advice of his doctor.

“That could have a material impact on his health, yet the cluster is not even able to tell me whether it thinks it might have an impact on his health. May we have a statement so that we can question Staffordshire’s approach to care, including the apparent refusal of the chief executive and the head of continuing care to answer MPs’ questions adequately?”

Andrew Lansley MP, the Leader of the House, replied, “I know that the chief executive of the Staffordshire primary care trust cluster would be very willing to meet my hon. Friend to discuss this matter, if it would be helpful.

“Obviously I cannot enter into a discussion about his constituent, but the general point he makes is that the whole object of care plans is for them to be agreed between the patient, their family and their clinicians.”

Conservative Controlled County Council Cuts Council Tax

Friday, February 15th, 2013

Conservative controlled Staffordshire County Council announced today that they are cutting their share of the council tax for the coming year from April.

At this morning’s meeting of the Full Council, Cllr Philip Atkins, Leader of the Council, said the County Council will be cutting council tax for 2013/14 by 0.1%. The cut follows a freeze in council tax for the last two years in Staffordshire.

Since taking control of the County Council in 2009, the Conservative controlling group have only raised council tax once, in 2009 by 1.4%, compared with an average annual increase of 6.5% over the previous ten years by the Labour Party.

Knitting Appeal Crosses the Atlantic

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

Volunteers all the way from America are the latest recruits to the knitting campaign to supply Tamworth & Lichfield’s local battalion – 3 Mercian (The Staffords) – with beanie hats for their upcoming tour of Afghanistan.

The North Staffordshire Regiment Living History Association, also known as the “Black Knots” is an American based re-enactment group that works to further understanding of the average British soldier in World War Two.

The organisation is based on the East Coast of the United States with members from Eastern Virginia to Southern Pennsylvania. They are the only group in that part of America to portray an English Infantry Regiment. The Black Knot’s primary re-enactment focus is of the 6th Battalion and 2nd Battalion of the North Staffordshire Regiment.

But the members of the Black Knots now have an additional focus and are busily knitting beanie hats for 3 Mercian.

So far, nearly 400 hats have been generously knitted and donated by individuals and sewing circles to our local troops to wear under their Kevlar helmets during training and deployment. The helmets can be very uncomfortable in high or low temperatures so a knitted beanie hat worn inside the helmet helps enormously.

Tamworth MP, Christopher Pincher, said, “It is wonderful that our beanie hat campaign has “gone global” showing that respect and affection for British troops extends beyond our own shores to those of our ally America. I hope we can show our appreciation as a community for the kind help of our American friends and I will be talking to the Council about that.

“Thank you to everyone already involved in this project. If you would like to help, or know someone else that might, please call my office on 01827 312 778 or they can be collected from the Staffordshire Regiment Museum. We really want to see every deployed soldier receive a hat.”

Curator of the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Danielle Pritchard, said, “Staff and volunteers here at the museum are very proud to get involved with Chris Pinchers knitting campaign. It would be fantastic to be able to get enough hats for every soldier in 3 Mercian and attached from 4 Mercian, ready for their tour in October. As this will be their last as ‘Staffords’ we here at the museum are keen to get involved with anything which will assist them and show them we are always thinking of them whilst they perform their difficult duties.”

3 Mercian, along with reservists from 4 Mercian, will be deployed to Afghanistan in October 2013. Mr Pincher will take names and addresses of everyone who helps and will invite each to take part in a “big handover” of the beanie hats to commanders of the Mercian Regiment later in 2013.

Matthew Ellis Announces Body Cameras for Staffordshire Police Officers

Sunday, February 10th, 2013

Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, has announced body cameras are to be given to more than 1,000 police officers in the county to capture criminal evidence on film.

Matthew Ellis, said about £100,000 would be spent to issue the equipment to all frontline officers. The cameras are the size of a mobile phone and clip on to police vests.

Mr Ellis said, “The cameras will be extremely useful in gathering evidence which can be submitted to court. I think there’s a great advantage in officers having these cameras; it means they are safer and able to capture incidents such as anti-social behaviour.”

He said the cameras would be given to all officers out on patrol, including police community support officers and specials, after a successful trial.

Mr Ellis said he believed the cameras were “good value for money.”

He said, “As police office numbers go down I want to see more individuals patrolling so that we spread officers out more and I think that body cams are an excellent additional means of police officers having some extra protection. This will pay for itself many times over in the future and above all it’s about modernising Staffordshire Police and making the most of technology.”

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Archive for February, 2013

Christopher Pincher Calls for Statement on NHS Care

Conservative Controlled County Council Cuts Council Tax

Knitting Appeal Crosses the Atlantic

Matthew Ellis Announces Body Cameras for Staffordshire Police Officers

Owen Paterson MP & Christopher Pincher MP

Christopher Pincher Speaks on Francis Report Statement

Pincher Thanks Everybody Who Have Knitted Hats for Our Troops

Conservative Party Councillor Appointed Licensing Chairman

Christopher Pincher Calls for More Investigation into Fracking

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