Archive for March, 2013
Saturday, March 30th, 2013
Conservative controlled Staffordshire County Council’s new approach to managing staff absence has resulted in 9,000 fewer sick days, equivalent to 36 full time employees or £540,000 worth of gained productivity.
The 8% reduction means that the county council’s absence rate – now at 7.68 days per employee – is the same as the private sector and below that for similar sized organisations in the public sector. The latest figure of 7.68 per employee is lowest it has been.
A county council spokesperson said: “A fit and healthy workforce is vital for a well run organisation. While some staff sickness is unavoidable, our new approach has had a big effect. It’s about taking action to support staff to prevent sickness, or when they are absent, helping them get back to work as soon as possible.
“It is not about being harsh or unreasonable, but by focussing on early intervention, we can ensure we are getting people the right treatment that allows them to come back to work. The counselling service has reduced psychological-related absence by 14% through concentrating efforts on early support. Our Pilot Physiotherapy service has helped us achieve a 12% reduction in musculoskeletal absence and shown a 300% return on our investment.
“The result of this new approach to attendance management is over 9,000 more days worked by our staff, to provide the services that people in Staffordshire rely on.”
A new absence management process was launched in February last year with communication and training for almost 1,000 managers, promoting greater personal responsibility for reducing absence. Every tier of management now receives monthly absence reports for their teams, highlighting any areas where extra support or action is needed.
A pilot physiotherapy service was established for staff with musculoskeletal conditions such as pain and stiffness in joints, muscles, nerves and soft tissues. It offers rapid treatment to help staff return to work quickly. The new physiotherapy service is provided by local Staffordshire firm CTC Physiotherapy. It compliments existing occupational health and staff counselling services already provided to enable employees to remain in work or return to work quickly.
Saturday, March 30th, 2013
Official Government figures released this week confirm that council tax bills have been cut in real terms across England this year, thanks to the Government’s third year council tax freeze initiative.
Overall, this means that council tax has fallen in real terms by 9.7 per cent under this Government.
The statistics show there is only a 0.8 per cent average change in council tax across England this year, with two-thirds of local authorities freezing their bills. In London, bills are falling by -0.2 per cent. A number of local authorities are going further and cutting council tax in cash terms, including Boris Johnson in London.
- Council tax doubled under Labour: Under Labour, council tax bills in England hit a record £1,439 a year on an average Band D home in April 2010. Bills more than doubled under Labour. By contrast, the cumulative effect of the three council tax freezes is worth up to £425 compared to a five per cent rise in each of the last three years for residents in Band D homes
- Labour want higher council tax: In Government, Labour Ministers opposed a council tax freeze. In Opposition, Labour’s Shadow Ministers still continue to oppose the council tax freeze
- Conservative councils cost you less: Analysis of the figures show that Conservative councils continue to provide lower levels of council tax than Labour or Liberal Democrat councils. Averaged across tiers, Conservative-controlled councils charge £69 a year less than Labour-controlled councils on a Band D home, and £100 a year less than Liberal Democrat-controlled councils
- Local Conservatives supporting the freeze: A total of 131 Conservative councils are freezing council tax, compared with 51 Labour and 10 Liberal Democrat. 7 out of 10 Conservative councils are freezing, compared to only half of Labour councils. In addition, almost two-thirds of Conservative Police and Crime Commissioners in England are freezing council tax, but no Labour Commissioners.
Commenting, Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, said, “Council tax more than doubled under Labour. But Conservatives in Government have worked to freeze council tax for three years, helping hard-working families and pensioners with their cost of living. Over the last three years, council tax bills have fallen by almost 10 per cent.
“Ed Miliband’s Labour Party opposes freezing council tax, which shows how Labour remain addicted to higher taxes, and are on the side of bureaucracy, wasteful spending and not the taxpayer.”
Saturday, March 30th, 2013
Friday, March 29th, 2013
Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, last week joined 74 hardy knitters who braved arctic conditions to take part in the handover of knitted beanie hats to the 3rd Mercian battalion (The Staffords).
The handover took place at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum, Whittington, where more than 15 boxes of hats where given to soldiers of 3 and 4 Mercian (the Territorial battalion).
Around 700 hats have been generously knitted and donated by local individuals and sewing circles to troops to wear under their Kevlar helmets during training and deployment to Afghanistan. The helmets can be very uncomfortable in high or low temperatures so a knitted beanie hat worn inside the helmet helps enormously.
The knitters were joined by soldiers from 3 Mercian and by the regimental mascots Watchman, the Staffordshire bull terrier and Derby, the ram.
Christopher Pincher said, “I want to thank all of the knitters who have put in so much of their time, effort and money to do their bit for 3 & 4 Mercian before they begin their tour in Afghanistan.
“We have received hats from all over the county – one even came from the US. It goes to show the profound respect and regard in which local people hold our brave soldiers. Thanks to the efforts of our tremendous knitters we managed to beat our target of 700 hats ensuring that each soldier on deployment to theatre will get a beanie.”
Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
Fourteen new police officers jobs will be advertised today following the decision in December by Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Ellis, to remove the longstanding freeze on recruitment.
The Commissioner said it’s important that Staffordshire Police introduces new blood to ensure the best policing into the future.
“I want Staffordshire to have the best police service in the country by 2016 and we need fresh thinking, effective technology and the brightest and best people to help make that a reality.
“Importantly this, and future, recruitment of officers will be based entirely on the merit and quality of those applying. I’ve made the decision that traditional methods of random selection when applicant numbers are high will no longer be the way things are done in Staffordshire.
“The Police expect demand for these jobs to be high so it’s a real opportunity to bring in the very best and ensure merit is at the heart of who’s successful – not bureaucracy. I think Staffordshire people would expect the very best public servants and that’s what we’ll get.”
Saturday, March 23rd, 2013
New public health powers transferring to Conservative run Staffordshire County Council from 1st April offer a great opportunity to encourage more local people to lead active and healthy lives.
That was the view of Cabinet members this week, as they discussed a report on the formal transfer of public health responsibilities from the NHS to the County Council.
It means that from the start of April, the County Council will have overall responsibility for a wide range of services, including measures to encourage healthy eating, to stop people smoking and to exercise more. Previously the services were provided by primary care trusts, which are being abolished in recent government reforms of national health care. The County Council will continue to work with the local community, GPs, the NHS and district councils to improve public health.
Welcoming the new arrangements, Councillor Robbie Marshall, Cabinet Member for Public Health and Community Safety, said, “The transfer of public health responsibilities from the NHS to Staffordshire County Council offers a great opportunity to encourage more residents to be active, healthy and well.
“Preventing illness by promoting healthier lifestyles is a key priority for the County Council because treating people when they are ill is much more expensive than preventing them from getting ill in the first place and this new responsibility will enable us to do more to influence people’s behaviour, starting from birth right through to old age.
“We will ensure that public health services and the benefits they bring are equally spread across Staffordshire. We will also deliver better value for money for the taxpayer by cutting the duplication that existed in the work of the council and health services in this area.
“Through closer partnership working with other public sector bodies and the voluntary sector we aim to provide a wide range of excellent services that contribute to improving the health and well-being of Staffordshire residents.”
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
The County’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), Matthew Ellis, is urging Staffordshire people to turn the tables on criminals by contacting the Crimestoppers charity which has brought thousands of wrong-doers to justice.
The Commissioner’s call to action comes after he instigated the first ever direct promotion of the crime fighting charity as part of the 500,000 council tax bills which dropped through letterboxes across Staffordshire and Stoke last week.
Crimestoppers is the only charity that guarantees complete and total anonymity for anyone who contacts them with information about crime or criminals. And very often there’s a cash reward which can be claimed secretly by the person providing information.
Mr Ellis says it’s time to use the power of Staffordshire people to make life more ‘uncomfortable’ for criminals and wrong-doers than ever before.
He explained, “Criminality is anti-social to law abiding people. From the lowest level wrong-doing to the most serious crime, it affects us all either directly or through the cost to public services and ever increasing insurance premiums. Crime is comparatively low in most of Staffordshire but it’s time to turn the screw that bit further.
“Over the next few years I want society to play a bigger part in tackling crime than ever before. Doing that alongside the work of police and other agencies will mean criminals constantly looking over their shoulder and waiting for that knock at the door… or that door going in!
“Getting information about the Crimestoppers service through almost every letterbox in Staffordshire and Stoke at little extra cost because the council tax information was going out anyway seemed a powerful and cost effective thing to do.
“Using the population’s eyes and ears could be immensely powerful and see Staffordshire become as close to a no-go zone for crooks and criminality as is possible. It’s about galvanising community pressure and knowledge and making criminality an unwanted and antisocial thing to do. Crimestoppers provides anonymity so people can do their duty for Staffordshire in the fight against crime.”
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
From 2015, the Conservative led Government will pay 20% of childcare bills for working families – up to £1,200 per child.
Conservatives have been clear that we’ll do everything we can to make life easier for families in Britain.
At the moment, too many parents get up early and work hard and but see their income swallowed in childcare costs. Others simply can’t afford to work because nurseries and child minders are too expensive.
That’s why the Government has announced plans to dramatically cut the cost of childcare.
The plan’s very simple and works like this:
From 2015, the Conservative led Government is going to pay 20% of a working family’s childcare bills every year – up to £1,200 per child. This effectively gives people their tax back for childcare costs.
- We’ll begin by helping those with children under five – but year by year we’ll extend it until all children under twelve are covered
- It’s for families where all parents work – so of course it applies to working single mums and dads too
- This offer is only for families where no parent earns over £150k, nor receives tax credits, Universal Credit or Employer Supported Childcare
This is real money that will help 2.5 million families – the average family with 2 children will be up to £2,400 a year better off.
The scheme will be delivered through an online account which parents set up. For every 80p parents put in, the Government will put in 20p. The new scheme will help 5 times as many families as the current system of Employer Supported Childcare vouchers, which are only offered by 5% of businesses.
This additional support for families follows several other steps that Conservatives in Government have taken to help with the cost of living. We’ve cut tax for 24 million people, stopped Labour’s fuel duty rises, frozen council tax for 3 years and are forcing energy companies to put their customers on the lowest available tariff.
Make no mistake – tough choices need to be made as we clear up Labour’s mess. But we’ll always back people who work hard and want a better life for themselves and their children.
Friday, March 22nd, 2013
Yesterday in the House of Commons, Tamworth’s MP Christopher Pincher called for a debate on the proposed car parking charges at the Sir Robert Peel hospital in Mile Oak, Tamworth.
Mr Pincher said, “Following the Chancellor’s welcome help yesterday for the least well-off to keep more of their own money, could we have a debate on hospital parking charges, and especially on the decision by Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to levy up to £6 a day on users of the Sir Robert Peel hospital car park?
“The proposals were made without consultation, contrary to the trust’s previous assurances, and will hit the very people whom the Chancellor set out to help yesterday.”
The Leader of the House, Andrew Lansley, replied, “I know how important this issue can be for many constituents, particularly if they are frequent users of hospital services. A code of practice has been established through the NHS Confederation and that should ensure that those frequent users are able to access discounts and the like.
“I encourage my hon. Friend to talk to the Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust about that, while recognising that these are decisions for NHS organisations. As a Government we have not sought to impose a structure on hospitals. Indeed, we have not chosen to divert money that should be available to support patient care to the subsidising of car parking.”
Thursday, March 21st, 2013
Chancellor George Osborne has announced new plans to help people to buy their own homes.
The Help to Buy scheme expands a previous scheme, FirstBuy, which was aimed solely at first-time buyers. It enables all purchasers to put down a 5% deposit on a newly built home, much less than some banks now demand.
Up to 20% of the cost of the home will be funded by a shared equity loan, which will be interest-free for the first five years. This will in effect see the government taking a stake in the value of borrowers’ homes. It plans to invest £3.5bn in these loans.
The value of the shared equity loan is linked to the property’s value. So, for example, if the value the property has doubled by the time the shared equity loan is repaid, the amount the borrower has to repay will have doubled, too.
In year six, borrowers will have to pay a 1.75% annual fee, which will rise by 1% above the Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation every year after that. The remainder of the value of the property is paid for with a standard mortgage, to cover up to 75% of the loan.
Whereas the previous scheme FirstBuy was only open to first-time buyers, this one will be available to all buyers of newly built homes. Previously there was also an income limit of £60,000 a year, but this will no longer apply.
It will cover newly built homes up to the value of £600,000 and borrowers will be able to apply from 1 April 2013.
Conservative controlled Staffordshire County Council’s new approach to managing staff absence has resulted in 9,000 fewer sick days, equivalent to 36 full time employees or £540,000 worth of gained productivity.
