Archive for January 17th, 2014
Friday, January 17th, 2014
Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis says getting better value for money is key to maintaining frontline policing in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
Dealing with issues such as the sale of the former police headquarters’ site, which has lain empty since 2010 costing nearly £3 million, are crucial to releasing money into local policing. The old HQ site was vacated following the decision by the Police Authority to buy new HQ buildings in Weston Road, Stafford.
The Conservative PCC replaced the Police Authority in November 2012 and more than halved the bill of almost £1 million a year for the empty site by levelling it in 2013.
Mr Ellis said, “I inherited an immensely complex situation from the Police Authority which had not been moved forward. I am frustrated at the amount of money spent on maintaining an empty site, which could have instead gone into frontline policing in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
“My decision to demolish the site has instantly saved almost half a million pounds a year in tax-payers’ money and I’m determined to pay down the overall debt and release more money into local policing. Although it has taken a few months longer than I’d ideally have liked, I’m now about to appoint agents to help dispose of the site so that in the next few months we should be in the position to further bolster frontline policing resources.”
Friday, January 17th, 2014
Chancellor George Osborne has said he wants to see an above-inflation increase in the minimum wage.
He has said the “economy can now afford” to raise the rate, currently set at £6.31 an hour for people over the age of 21. The call comes after Labour claims that the economic upturn has not translated into improved living standards.
But Mr Osborne said it was Labour’s fault that they had fallen and he was aiming to make people better off. The value of the minimum wage, paid to an estimated 1.35 million people, has fallen in real terms since the financial crisis of 2008. The current rate of inflation is 2%.
Conservative Mr Osborne said it would have to increase to £7 an hour by 2015 for its value to return to where it was before the economic downturn struck. The rate is recommended by the Low Pay Commission, which is overseen by Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable.
He said the coalition, since coming to power in 2010, had “rescued the country from the brink of disaster and got us into a position where we can now see the minimum wage going up for people and, more broadly. I want living standards to go up for the whole country as we fix the economy.”
Mr Osborne said, “Britain is poorer because of what happened to it in the great recession. People in the country are poorer because of what happened in the great recession.
“I want to make sure we are all in it together, as part of the recovery, which is why I want to see above-inflation increases in the minimum wage, precisely because the British economy can now afford that. This government, and I as chancellor, are on the side of hardworking people. I want a welfare system that supports work, that’s fair to those who use it and those who pay for it.”
He added that the government was planning another “big increase” in the amount of money people can earn before paying income tax and defended his plans to remove a further £12bn from the welfare budget.
The minimum wage rate for workers aged 18 to 20 is £5.03 an hour, while it is £3.72 for under-18s.
Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis says getting better value for money is key to maintaining frontline policing in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.
