A very significant endorsement for this petition

Posted on October 7, 2023 by ianchisnall

Just over 7 weeks ago I wrote a blog entitled “Significant requests for us to Call a General Election” which was focused on a petition which is called “Call an immediate general election” listed as 641904 and submitted by David Nash. His petition can be obtained from here and the text is below. He submitted it on the 4th August and 12 days later when I spotted it, it had 41 signatures which I also signed and within a couple of more days on the Friday it had reached 50 signatures in the morning. However by the end of that day it reached 170 signatures which involved 99 from one location in Wales that is called Llanelli. Two weeks later at the beginning of September it achieved a total of 350 signatures. The following month at the beginning of this October it had reached 5,000 signatures which was certainly much better. By Wednesday this week, the 4th October it reached about 12,000 signatures so it was certainly growing. However last night it reached 157,000 signatures and this morning at the early stage it had reached 175,000 signatures and this evening it has past 215,000 signatures. It is clearly very significant. It will be very interesting to find out how it has raised that significantly this week and it would be fantastic if some of the other petitions could be endorsed.

There are a number of other petitions that cover a similar theme in the past. On July last year which was entitled Change the law so that UK citizens can call a General election that was submitted by David Simpson and the 618068 unit achieved 1,232 signatures. On 30th January this year one was entitled Call a General Election which was published by Shaun Bacon. It was 631901 and it obtained 2,125 signatures by the end of its time. There was another which published on 5th September last year as 621931 with the headline Hold a General Election within 100 days of the new PM being appointed which was published by Simon Matthew Dodd and it achieved 22,064 signatures by early March this year. Another on last July was submitted by Darrin Charlesworth who created Call an immediate general election to end the chaos of the current government and the 619781 item reached a massive 906,623 signatures which was very significant.

So here is the text of this recent petition

Call an immediate general election

The Prime Minister should call an immediate general election to allow the British public to have their say on how we are governed, we should not be made to wait until January 2025. Consistent opinion polling has shown the British public have lost confidence in the current government. The NHS is in crisis, the asylum system is broken, there are delays at the ports, and institutions are failing. The British people should be given a say on what to do next.

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Did Integrated Care Systems use a NHS Framework?

Posted on October 6, 2023 by ianchisnall

Back on the 19th September on the day that the Parliament was closing down because of the Conferences one of the MPs who submitted a question was Caroline Lucas who is the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion. She submitted this question which can be obtained from here and it is entitled “Breast Cancer: Screening”.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether Integrated Care Systems have used the NHS England Core20PLUS5 framework and associated resources for initiatives to improve uptake of routine breast cancer screening from communities less likely to attend breast cancer screening; and if he will make a statement.

The Government responded with Will Quince who is the Health and Social Care Minister and his response was below. The question and answer items that take place have the option for people to say is the question yes or no and so far no one has responded on this one. It would be great for people to respond.

NHS England have advised that a national plan has been developed in collaboration with key stakeholders to improve uptake within the breast screening programme in 2023 and beyond, noting the 2028 Cancer Early Detection targets. The plan sets out the priorities, interventions and monitoring of impact and outcomes to improve uptake. Using the Core20PLUS5 principles, the plan outlines the use of evidence-based and evaluated interventions to address inequalities and barriers to accessing breast screening.

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Conservative Conference discussions impacting children

Posted on October 5, 2023 by ianchisnall

The CYP Now submitted a document yesterday that is entitled Conservative Party Conference 2023: Key discussions impacting children and young people and it was provided by Amrit Virdi and Fiona Simpson. The item can be obtained from here and they have focused on a number of themes and various Conservative MPs that have contributed. The initial few words were “The Conservative Party Conference is taking place in Manchester this week, with discussions around banning the use of mobile phones in schools, national living wage increases and university teaching set to affect the lives of children and young people.”

They focused on each of these themes in the document

Mobile phone ban in school – Education Secretary Gillian Keegan announced that the government will back headteachers in banning mobile phones in schools.

National living wage increase – Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt confirmed that the national living wage will rise to two thirds of average earnings, making it at least £11 an hour from April 2024.

Access to education – Gillian Keegan said the aim was “to get children into school and to stay in school, and we need to work together to make this happen”.

Changes to post-16 qualifications – Prime Minister Rishi Sunak used the conference to announce plans to introduce a Baccalaureate-style replacement for A-levels and T-levels.

University disruption – Gillian Keegan announced at the conference that the Government will launch a consultation on “minimum service levels” in universities “have the tools to make sure that students get the teaching they deserve”.

Cracking down on smoking – Rishi Sunak announced proposals to increase age restrictions on buying tobacco every year in a bid to stop sales entirely.

They provided a lot more content than I have included and they also include these contacts

CYP Now rounds up policy announcements that could have the greatest impact on the sector.

·        Government policy briefs for children and young people

·        Children’s Workforce Guide to Qualifications and Training 2023/24

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Birmingham to Manchester HS2 is getting scrapped

Posted on October 4, 2023 by ianchisnall

As we heard from the Conservative discussions this week in their Conference in Manchester, the HS2 is getting reduced. A couple of days ago on Monday the Institution of Engineering and Technology website, they have submitted the information which was written by Laura Edgar and Jack Loughran. The article is available here and here is the text they have supplied.

Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2 expected to be scrapped

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planning to scrap the Northern leg of HS2, which would have connected Birmingham with Manchester, reports suggest.

Sky News announced the rumour minutes before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt took to the stage at the Conservative Party Conference.

Speculation about the future of the project has been circulating for weeks, but both Hunt and Sunak have refused to comment on the future of this section of the high-speed rail link a number of times.

HS2 was given the go-ahead in 2020, despite a decade of sharply rising costs and repeated delays to the original project timeframe. The cost of completing the project has ballooned from £33bn a decade ago to an estimated £100bn today.

The Independent recently reported that ministers were considering shelving the northern phase amid concerns about increasing costs and severe delays. It said a cost estimate it had seen revealed that the government has already spent £2.3bn on stage two of the railway from Birmingham to Manchester. Scrapping this phase, though, could save up to £34bn.

There are no reports on whether the line from London to Birmingham will begin at Euston in central London or Old Oak Common, in West London.

Earlier this year, a revamp of Euston station was delayed by two years due to “wildly unrealistic” budgeting. HS2 trains were originally scheduled to run in 2026, but they are now not expected to run into Euston until 2041 at the earliest.

Former prime ministers Boris Johnson and Theresa May have appealed to the prime minister not to scrap the project.

According to Sky News’s understanding, the Department of Transport (DfT) has worked up a package of alternative projects, such as rail, bus, and road – which could be funded from the money saved by not proceeding with the Manchester to Birmingham leg of the project.

A government spokesperson told The Planner magazine: “The HS2 project is already well underway with spades in the ground, and our focus remains on delivering it.”

Last month, HS2 began assembling the project’s longest ‘green tunnel’, which will be covered by earth, trees and shrubs in a bid to help it blend in with the Northamptonshire countryside.

The 2.7km Greatworth Tunnel is being built using a ‘cut and cover’ process, which involves excavating a cutting, building the tunnel and then burying it.

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Arrangements to ensure Aspen card holding asylum?

Posted on October 3, 2023 by ianchisnall

One of the contributions that took place in House of Lords just before Parliament closed down because of the Conferences came from Roger Roberts who is a Liberal Democrat politician who is based in Llandudno who is very significant. He submitted his written question which is “To ask His Majesty’s Government what arrangements they will put in place to ensure Aspen card holding asylum seekers can exchange a payment from their cards for any goods they require.” It can be obtained from here. The Government responded using Simon Murray who stated:

Arrangements are already in place to ensure destitute asylum seekers can buy goods that they require to meet their essential living needs. Asylum seekers who are assessed as destitute under Section 95 are provided with a weekly allowance which is loaded on to a debit card (ASPEN card). ASPEN cards can be used to pay for retail transactions at most shops displaying the Mastercard logo, up to the value of the available balance. They can also be used to check available balances at cash machines, to withdraw cash from cash machines and to get cash back when purchasing items at Mastercard participating shops. ASPEN cards cannot be used to make contactless, telephone or internet payments and the card cannot be used overseas.

Failed Asylum Seekers who are assessed as destitute under Section 4 will not be able use their card to withdraw cash from a machine or get cashback from shops.

As part of normal service, anyone experiencing issues in relation to their ASPEN payment card can report them to our Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) provider, Migrant Help, 24 hours a day on the freephone number.

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The Liberal Democrat Conference and impact in Sussex

Posted on October 2, 2023 by ianchisnall

This is the second day of the Conservative Conference in Manchester. It will be interesting if we can discover what, if any, contributions from our Sussex MPs that will come from it. It ends on Wednesday and will be closely followed by the Green Party Conference which takes place from Friday until Sunday here in Brighton. In Aberystwyth, in mid Wales, the Plaid Cymru Conference is on Friday and Saturday.

Last week the Liberal Democrat Conference went ahead over in Bournemouth. Although there are currently no Sussex Liberal Democrat MPs, in the past there were a few and indeed according to their projections there are several possible opportunities that could lead to future Sussex Liberal Democrat MPs. There are currently only fifteen Liberal Democrat MPs in the UK but they are significant across Parliament. There are no Party MPs in Wales or Northern Ireland but there are four in Scotland with the other eleven based in England. There are three in London, three in the South West and two in the South East, but both of them are in the North end of South East so there are none in our region. However at the next General Election that may change for us.

The two parts of Sussex that have included Liberal Democrat MPs in the last ten years were Lewes with Norman Baker who was the MP from 1997-2015 and in Eastbourne Stephen Lloyd was the MP from 2010-2015 and from 2017-2019. Interestingly the first piece I spotted during the Annual Conference was connected to the mid Sussex area. Alison Bennett who is currently a Councillor of the Liberal Democrat in the Mid Sussex Council representing Hurstpierpoint made some contributions and during the Conference period her comment was published

Mid Sussex is going to be a really close fight between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives at the next general election. Whilst this is only a projection, it gives hope to everyone here who wants to have a hand in showing this awful Conservative government the door. Every vote is going to count, and I will be doing all I can to build the trust and support of Mid Sussex residents.

The other statement that I noticed during the conference period came from the well known actor Steve Coogan who said

I’m not a member of the Lib Dems, and despite the beard and the fleece I generally vote Labour,” and he then said. “But where I live in Lewes, the candidate best placed to kick the Tories out is the Lib Dem candidate, so I vote for them.

Another theme during the Conference was published from several MPs who focused on FareShare on their X, formerly Twitter, accounts. One was the Bath MP Wera Hobhouse who stated

So proud of FareShare for their incredible work tackling food poverty in Bath. For those left behind by government during this cost of living crisis, services like FareShare are an absolute lifeline.

This was a very encouraging comment during their conference. It would be great if some of the Sussex MPs will refer to the work of FareShare in the other conferences as many of us would like FareShare to obtain more support from the Government. Another contribution during the session came from Sarah Waite the CEO of Get Further charity which supports education students. She was a member of the Labour party in the past.  At the conference she said

Ensuring all young people from disadvantaged backgrounds in schools and colleges can access high-quality tutoring is an essential part of the strategy to close the country’s attainment gap. With such a positive impact on confidence and skills, it is vital that tutoring policies are extended and scaled up beyond August 2024. It’s fantastic that the Liberal Democrats are announcing their commitment to embed access to tutoring for disadvantaged young people into the education system long-term.

Many other contributions came during the Conference and indeed Ed Davey who is the leader spoke several times which included this statement below. Along with him being the current Leader of the Liberal Democrat I was able to meet him many years ago when I was in the stakeholder group for the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA). A group of us met him when we were ensuring that our team would receive approval from the political clients. Ed Davey was very positive at that time and he has continued to be very effective in his role in Parliament. At the conference he said

Millions of people across the country are struggling to get a GP appointment when they need one, leaving them waiting in pain and distress. GPs should be the front door to the NHS, but that door has been slammed shut in people’s faces after years of Conservative broken promises and neglect. Far too many people are being left without the rapid care and treatment they need, piling more pressure onto our hospitals and other NHS services. Our rural communities are being particularly badly impacted by these painfully long GP waits, showing again how the Conservatives are taking them for granted. The Liberal Democrats will tackle this crisis by giving everyone the right to see a GP within a week, or 24 hours if it’s urgent. We will narrow the divide between rural and urban areas, ensuring everyone can see a GP when they need to and get the care they deserve.’

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Ask Indian government to protect Christian people

Posted on October 1, 2023 by ianchisnall

I have just spotted this e-petition that was submitted by a person called Nalini Thakur. It was created back on the 3rd August so it it is nearly 2 months old and yet sadly it only has 97 signatures so far. If it is to be identified by the Government it needs at least 10,000 signatures and ideally 100,000 but there is only 4 more months for that to be achieved.

Currently in Sussex there are only five of us who have signed it. There are three in Brighton, one in Hove and one in Worthing West which was the first Sussex location. However quite a few of Nalini’s colleagues are in North London and also in Salisbury that have signed it so far. The question is could we endorse it? Here is the text of the petition which is 641880 and it is available from here.

Urge the Indian government to better protect its Christian population

We want the Government of the United Kingdom to urge the Indian Government to do more to protect its persecuted Christian population. We must speak out for our human right to worship in freedom.

Christians have been killed, degraded, raped and murdered in India. We believe that if the world authorities speak up, it could put an end to this.

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Chichester Bishop asks Nursing Courses Reduction

Posted on September 30, 2023 by ianchisnall

Last Tuesday 19th September the Bishop of Chichester, Martin Warner took part in a discussion session at House of Lords under the headline Nursing Courses: Reduction in Applications which was opened by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath who is a Labour member Philip Hunt. That person raised the session with the call “To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the causes of a reduction of 16 per cent in applications to nursing courses in England compared to last year, according to UCAS data for the 2023 application cycle.” and the Minister who took part was Lord Markham who is Nick Markham. Later on Martin Warner asked the following question and Lord Markham responded to him. The whole of the discussion can be obtained from here and the question and response from the Bishop is here:

Bishop of Chichester: My Lords, following on from the noble Lord who spoke about his university, the University of Chichester—in the diocese where I serve—is now developing practice-focused nursing courses, including a new nursing associate apprenticeship scheme, even though the cost of living in the south-east is a disincentive to seeking to work in the healthcare sector. However, the university is finding that the current funding and availability of external placements are restricting the growth of these courses, despite the university’s capacity to take more students. What measures are the Government taking to support education and placement expansion at the pace requested by the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan?

Lord Markham: The whole long-term workforce plan is supported by a £2.4 billion investment to make sure that we hit our ambitious targets. It takes into account things like apprenticeships: we want to see the proportion of people coming through the apprenticeship route increase from 9% to 28%. On nursing associates—noble Lords will remember that this is a subject close to my heart, because for my mother, who had children when she was very young, nursing was a route for her to get back into the workforce, so this is something that I am glad to see us now picking up again—we have seen nursing associates increase from 1,000 to 10,000 over the last few years. These are all key routes, which we are backing up with investment behind them.

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Offer career breaks for parents with ill childrens

Posted on September 29, 2023 by ianchisnall

Back at the beginning of June an e-petition was published by Christina Harris which is very significant. It is with number 638449 and the title is “The Require employers to offer career breaks for parents with a seriously ill child”. During June it obtained 10,000 signatures, and then in July it added 16,000 signatures. In August it added 21,000 signatures and at the end of September it obtained another 32,000 signatures and so it had passed nearly 80,000 signatures by the end of September. By the middle of October it achieved another 20,000 so it reached 100,000 which now means it is significantly for potentially MPs that could potentially raise it to the Government. The petition is available from here and the text is

The Require employers to offer career breaks for parents with a seriously ill child

My daughter was diagnosed with Leukaemia. I became a full-time nurse overnight. My employer is unable to keep my job open so I have lost my job of 19 years. Employers should be required to grant special breaks for parents in this situation enabling them to return to their jobs afterwards.

Parents shouldn’t face losing their jobs on top of dealing with the possibility of losing their child. I feel this is the responsibility of the Government to protect the parents of seriously ill children, with no choice other than to drop everything to care for their children. Please, this needs to be addressed immediately. I have spoken to so many parents with caring responsibilities that are struggling financially, which then becomes a huge emotional burden and all this could be avoided if there was something in place to help desperate parents. This is URGENT!

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NHS app booking system for breast cancer screening?  

Posted on September 28, 2023 by ianchisnall

Last Tuesday at the end of Parliament for the next few weeks one of the MPs who submitted a written question was Caroline Ansell who is the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion. Her question included the question “NHS app booking system for breast cancer screening appointments”  The Minister who responded was Will Quince who is in the Health and Social Care section and he is also the Colchester MP. Here is the question and the response and they can also be obtained from here.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to deliver an online and NHS app booking system for breast cancer screening appointments as part of the Digital Transformation of Screening programme; and if he will make a statement.

Will Quince: The Government has approved an investment of £68 million in the digital transformation of screening (DToS) programme. The main focus of DToS, which is being led by NHS England, will be to develop digital products to support the invitation of and communication with the public.

The first two national screening programmes to receive these products will be the National Health Service breast screening programme and the diabetic eye screening programme. Subsequently the product will be adapted for use by other existing and new national screening programmes.

The products are planned to support online and app booking as well as call centre booking for those who do not wish to use digital products. DToS will also explore the extent to which the app can be used for other communications with individual members of the public related to their screening requirements.

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