Archive for August, 2013
Friday, August 30th, 2013
Sunday, August 25th, 2013
Conservative run Lichfield District Council is urging businesses to tender for skills development plan.
Lichfield District Council is part of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP). It was set up in November 2010 and one of its aims is to help create an extra 100,000 private sector jobs across the region by 2020.
To do this, some parts of the GBSLEP work through Employment and Skills Boards to deliver a range of initiatives and programmes to boost local skills, employability and job opportunities.
In southern Staffordshire, there is a need to understand what type of skills are required across the area, and Lichfield District Council is calling on local businesses to tender for a skills development plan.
The plan will include carrying out an employer skills survey, reviewing baseline skills data, reviewing economic strategies and skills plans in South Staffordshire and across the GBSLEP area, developing a skills position statement, and creating a skills plan for the South Staffordshire area.
The skills plan will include a map of key stakeholders and communication/engagement channels, identification and initial engagement with strategically important businesses, and scoping existing business networks.
Councillor Mike Wilcox, Leader of Lichfield District Council, said, “This is an important piece of work, and will help us to understand what skills we excel in and what skills we lack in across the area. The aim of the work is to boost skills across southern Staffordshire and ultimately help to create thousands of new jobs.”
Find out more about the tender process, but visiting www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/skillstender. The deadline for detailed proposals is Thursday 5 September 2013. To find out more email oliver.dove@lichfielddc.gov.uk.
Saturday, August 24th, 2013
Staffordshire’s Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis is backing a new scheme which urges young people to do the right thing, set for launch in the autumn.
The scheme, part of Crimestoppers’ ‘Fearless’ campaign, will give non-judgemental advice and information to young people in schools to help them make the right decisions in difficult circumstances.
Mr Ellis met with regional Crimestoppers’ representatives to discuss the plans this week.
He said, “Tackling the root causes of crime by intervening early is a central part of my new Safer, Fairer, United Communities strategy. Positively engaging young people is key to this – as we’ve already seen through the launch of the young Police Cadets initiative which I’ve instigated in Staffordshire.
“This Crimestoppers’ scheme will better equip youngsters to make the right choices and make it easier for them to report crime anonymously. This follows a call to action issued to all Staffordshire people earlier this year when I decided, for the first time, to include direct promotion of Crimestoppers in all 500,000 council tax bills.
“Using the population’s eyes and ears is immensely powerful and could 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.”
Crimestoppers is the only charity that guarantees complete and total anonymity for anyone who contacts them with information about crime or criminals. And usually there’s a cash reward which can be claimed secretly by the person providing information.
More information on the Fearless campaign – which urges young people to be “fearless against crime” – can be seen at www.fearless.org.
Thursday, August 22nd, 2013
Local communities across the country should create and fly their own flags to help them maintain their sense of civic pride, Conservative Minister Eric Pickles has suggested.
Mr Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, said villages, sports clubs and community groups should now design and fly their own flags after he relaxed planning rules.
Planning regulations which require express consent for flag flying will be scrapped in England from October 12. Currently, securing the permission costs as much as £335. Rules on the number, size and siting of flags in all areas away from sensitive sites such as national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty are also being relaxed.
Mr Pickles has welcomed a new guide launched by the Flag Institute which outlines how local groups can design and register a flag. The Communities Secretary will this month display two flags, created by members of the public from the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, outside his Westminster office.
He said that community flags show that people’s “sense of belonging can’t be wiped out by a bureaucrat’s pen stroke on a map”.
“As a proud Yorkshireman, I’m delighted to see my compatriots in the Ridings are renewing their sense of local pride with these newly designed flags. These new designs are absolutely great.”
Mr Pickles added, “This proves that your sense of belonging can’t be wiped out by a bureaucrat’s pen stroke on a map. The new guide from the Flag Institute, the UK’s national flag charity, will lead to many more local flags being designed and registered and I look forward to flying them on the streets of Whitehall.”
Current rules technically require express consent for any flag attached to buildings under planning regulations in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007. Express consent is obtained from local authorities but typically requires a fee to be paid. Separate rules apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where the relaxation will not apply.
Last year the Union flag was flown permanently for the first time from Parliament.
Sunday, August 18th, 2013
Policing charges for community events in Staffordshire have been scrapped by the county’s Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner.
Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), said events with no commercial interest that “benefit the community” were now exempt from the charges. He said the costs for events that require a police presence can reach up of £7,000, depending on their size.
Mr Ellis said. “The expectation is people will act as stewards, but there will still be police on site.”
He added the safety of community events would not be compromised. Mr Ellis said residents already paid for policing through local and national taxes so did not see the value of them paying “a third time”.
Thursday, August 15th, 2013
Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, has welcomed the announcement that Tamworth primary schools are set to receive an additional £331,475 in additional funding to support physical education as part of the Olympic legacy.
The additional school funding will be ring-fenced to ensure the funds can only be spent on delivering first class physical education for primary age pupils to develop the next generation of Olympic athletes.
The Olympic legacy funding will be giving directly to head teachers to spend how they feel appropriate for their school on ensuring the best outcomes are achieved in developing sporting performance, sport participation and promote healthily lifestyles.
Mr Pincher said, “The introduction of this additional funding, and ensuring that it can only be used on physical education, is great news for all primary school children in Tamworth. I hope that the additional resources will help develop our own Andy Murray or Jessica Ennis as well as to encourage all pupils to participate in a sport they enjoy. It will continue to promote a healthy lifestyle which is important for many young people.”
The money will be made available to head teachers in September 2013 and how the money is spent on improving sport participation and performance will form part of the new Ofsted inspections.
Thursday, August 15th, 2013
A growing proportion of the public have faith in George Osborne and David Cameron’s ability to handle the nation’s finances, an opinion poll found in a fresh blow to the Opposition.
The ICM survey showed 40% of voters had confidence in the Conservative Chancellor and Prime Minister on the key issue of the economy, up from just 28% in June amid signs of a growing economic recovery.
Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and Labour Leader Ed Miliband were well behind on 24%. ICM Research interviewed a random sample of adults by telephone between August 9 and 11.
Thursday, August 15th, 2013
Staffordshire has seen a fourth consecutive monthly decrease in the number of people claiming job seekers’ allowance with more opportunities being created for people living in the county.
There has been a 1.4% decrease over the last month in the number of people claiming Job Seekers’ Allowance. Over the last quarter the JSA claimant rate has fallen by 11.4%. Staffordshire is below both the regional and national averages.
Conservative controlled Staffordshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Economy and Infrastructure Cllr Mark Winnington said, “For the fourth consecutive month we have seen JSA claimant figures fall in Staffordshire which really demonstrates the fact that we are leading the way in terms of ensuring the right opportunities are available for people looking for work.
“The County Council, Staffordshire’s LEP and other partners are working hard to increase skills so that businesses have the workforce they need. We are also attracting new business to the area and supporting existing companies, both larger firms like JCB and Alstom and our smaller enterprises. We are seeing continued positive announcements from Staffordshire businesses in terms of expansion and new jobs.
“Getting people back into work is an absolute priority for us and the fact that we have low unemployment rates compared to regional and national figures is extremely encouraging.”
Thursday, August 15th, 2013
Two Staffordshire County Council run museums have both received a prestigious award from Arts Council England (ACE).
Shire Hall Gallery and the Staffordshire County Museum, which are both managed by Conservative controlled Staffordshire County Council, received their awards for excellence in the running of the venues, managing the collections and providing a high quality visitor experience.
The ACE Accreditation scheme has been developed to align the museums with visitor expectations and both Staffordshire venues are in the first group to pass the new standards. The accreditation acknowledged the care and documentation of the extensive collections at both museums as well as how they are providing experiences that are both enjoyable and educational.
Staffordshire County Councillor, Mike Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Community, Culture and Localism said, “This is excellent news and a real pat on the back for our staff and volunteers. Getting an award of full accreditation is not easy and it is great to see our efforts recognised.
“Staffordshire County Council is committed to developing our museums and always strives to put on the best visitor experience possible. Staffordshire is, after all, the Creative County and we want to continue giving people access to great cultural activities.”
The ACE accreditation scheme is the national quality standard for museums and galleries. There are currently just under 1,800 museums participating.
Find out more about Staffordshire’s museums at www.staffordshire.gov.uk.
Saturday, August 10th, 2013
Staffordshire’s Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Ellis has this week signed off the decision to provide new technology to transform the police’s frontline resources.
The new GPS technology in cars will make sure that the right officer is sent to the most appropriate incident faster than ever before. This move is a significant step forward in major investment in new technology that will see officers being provided with the right tools to do their job, freeing them up to be more visible and giving them more time to do frontline policing.
New technology is fundamental to the radical new approach in the Commissioner’s five year strategy, Safer, Fairer, United Communities which is currently under consultation.
Mr Ellis said, “Getting officers visible and out and about in communities doing frontline policing, is the heart of my five year strategy to reduce crime and help communities to feel safer as well as being safer. This is a small but significant change and goes some way towards my plans to provide the right tools for officers to free up thousands of extra hours a week for local policing.
“As budgets shrink, I’m confident that by spending better we can achieve more. If nothing changes in Staffordshire the reduced funding will mean poorer services in the future. But things here are changing to provide better value for money, more targeted and more effective ways of delivering what’s needed.”
Chief Constable, Mike Cunningham added, “Public safety and quality of service are at the heart of this project and the new GPS system will mean that our control rooms have up-to-date information about where each vehicle is and what skills the drivers have so we can better deploy resources to incidents, getting the right person there, with shortest possible travel.
“The equipment will increase officer safety and the ability of the Control Rooms to send assistance. However, in addition to the vehicle equipment, the new equipment will make use of GPS signals from hand-held radios, joining this information with the new data from vehicles to give the Control Rooms and commanders the best possible real-time picture of police resources.”
