Oliver Heald's Blog

Reforms to help children with Special Educational Needs

oliverheald — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:01:07 +0000

I have been interested in Special Educational Needs (SEN) for over 30 years and have been a school governor at two Special Schools.
The Government has just announced reforms designed to make things simpler for parents, giving them the power to control personal budgets for their children – meaning they can choose the expert support that is right for their child. The plans will require education, health and social care services to plan services together by law – so when their children are assessed, parents will be assured they will get full provision to address their children’s needs.
The main elements are:
• Replacing SEN statements and separate Learning Difficulty Assessments with a single, simpler assessment process and education plan from 2014. Parents with the plans would have the right to a personal budget for their support.
• Local authorities and health services will be required to link up services for disabled children and young people – so they are jointly planned and commissioned.
• Requiring local authorities to publish a local offer showing the support available to disabled children and young people and those with SEN, and their families.
• Introducing mediation for disputes.
• Children would have a new legal right to seek a place at state academies and Free Schools – currently it is limited to maintained mainstream and special schools. Local authorities would have to name the parent’s preferred school so long it was suitable for the child.
I am sure it will be much easier for parents to understand what is available and plan with their child’s interests in mind. This sounds like “joined up government”.
Christine Lenehan, Director of the Council for Disabled Children has welcomed the changes and said:
“We are delighted that the government continues to support disabled children and those with special educational needs. Tackling the battleground for families by ensuring joined up local services and clear local information is to be warmly welcomed.”
I wish the reforms success, because SEN has been difficult to navigate and parents deserve a better deal.

Department for Education website has more information.

Improving economic news

oliverheald — Wed, 23 May 2012 09:11:57 +0000

Last week saw a second monthly fall in unemployment and we had some more good economic news today. Inflation has fallen to three per cent – down by 0.5% and government borrowing fell even more than was thought last year, so that in two years the Coalition has reduced Britain’s deficit by more than a quarter.

Two years ago people were asking whether Britain would join the growing list of countries in crisis. Important institutions questioned whether the UK could deal with the huge debts that were built up in the boom times and then exposed as unsustainable in the bust. We had the worst deficit in the G20 – worse than Greece! That is no longer true. Our record low interest rates are a tangible sign that investors around the world once again believe in Britain. Our deficit is falling, inflation is falling, unemployment is falling and better times lie ahead.

The two most respected international organisations that look at the British economy have made their assessments this week: the International Monetary Fund’s Christine Lagarde, has come to town to deliver the IMF’s annual report card on the British economy; and this morning the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development published its Economic Outlook.

The IMF starts by stating that decisive action to tackle the record budget deficit that this Government inherited is “essential” and that “substantial progress” has been made. When asked this morning what might have happened if this Government had not acted to deal decisively with the deficit, Mme Lagarde’s answer was stark: “I shiver.”

Although there are many complaints from interest groups about cutbacks, the thing people have noticed in their daily lives is higher prices. That’s why this morning’s news that inflation has fallen is especially welcome. We are heading in the right direction.

The IMF notes recent falls in unemployment as a positive sign. Indeed, it notes that there have been “fewer employment losses than in the aftermath of previous major UK recessions”.

The current pace of deficit reduction is “appropriate” and the first line of defence against slower economic growth is further action on monetary policy and credit, not yet more government borrowing. The OECD takes a similar view: “the ambitious Government plan to restore fiscal sustainability remains on track and appropriate”.

The UK is putting finances in order and as I said in my last blog, we need the euro-zone to do the same. The IMF says that setbacks in the euro area are the “key risk to economic prospects and financial stability in the UK”.

The Eurozone Crisis…

oliverheald — Thu, 17 May 2012 15:59:30 +0000

The Eurozone crisis has shown up the very different economies which operate in certain parts of Europe. For a large country such as Germany, centrally located with a very skilled workforce, plenty of capital and modern efficient industries, the low exchange rate for the Euro gives huge trading advantages, the product of which we are seeing in Germany’s growth. However a moment’s thought shows that if the Deutschemark were still the German currency, its exchange rate would be sky high, making life difficult for German business.

For smaller countries such as Greece, life is not so easy. Normally a currency union succeeds where there are capital transfers from the wealthier parts to more disadvantaged areas, labour mobility follows and a united fiscal policy would exist. Looking at it on a micro scale, within the UK taxes are taken from Herts and spent in less fortunate parts of the country, people move to find jobs and all parts of the union have the same fiscal policy. However this is not true of the Eurozone and these structural issues need to be addressed. It is only when a sensible package is hammered out, that this Eurozone crisis will be resolved.

The Queen’s Speech

oliverheald — Wed, 09 May 2012 14:23:06 +0000

The Queens Speech
The Government is taking the tough, long-term decisions to restore our country to strength, dealing with the deficit, rebalancing our economy and building a society that rewards people who work hard and do the right thing.
The Government took action at the Emergency Budget and has subsequently laid out a credible plan to get the record deficit left by Labour under control. The deficit reduction plan is supported by the IMF, the OECD, and the Governor of the Bank of England.
The deficit reduction plan has gained the confidence of the markets and has ensured interest rates on UK government debt have fallen to record lows, and even fell below Germany’s for the first time in years. Today the UK can borrow at 2.0 per cent, while France pays 2.8, Italy 5.4, Spain 5.7, and Greece over 22 per cent.
There are new measures in the Queen’s Speech
• Public Service Pensions Bill – will reform public service pensions in line with the recommendations of the report prepared by the Independent Public Service Pensions Commission. Not only does this offer guaranteed pensions that are still more generous than those in the private sector, it also saves tens of billions over the coming decades.

• Enterprise, Employment, Regulatory Reform and Repeals Bill – will promote enterprise and fair markets, including provisions on a Green Investment Bank, a new Competition and Markets Authority and reforming employment tribunals.

• Banking Reform Bill – As the Governor of the Bank of England said last week, we need to learn the lessons of what went wrong. We need proper regulation by the Bank of England. And we need banks made to hold enough capital to keep them safe. The Banking Reform Bill will put into law the ring-fencing of retail banking and its separation from investment banking. And it will begin to replace the current flawed system of financial regulation with a framework that promotes responsible and sustainable banking.

To help people who work hard and do the right thing
• Cutting income tax for 24 million people. The Government has increased the personal allowance from £6,475 in 2010 to £9,205 by April 2013. This is a tax cut for 24 million ordinary taxpayers, of up to £546. Two million people on the lowest incomes will be taken out of paying income tax altogether. And for people working full time on the minimum wage, their income tax bill will have been cut in half.

• Freezing council tax. Council tax has been cut in real terms this year, thanks to the second year of the Conservatives council tax freeze helping hardworking families and pensioners. This will save an average family up to £72 a year on a Band D home, on top of last year’s freeze. The compounded saving of both years’ freeze is worth up to £147.

• Revolutionising education. The first ever Free Schools – 24 of them – opened just 16 months after we came to power and there are now over 1,700 Academy schools open in England. The Education Act, which received Royal Assent in November 2011, will help teachers raise standards and gives them new legal powers to root out poor behaviour. This includes a power for schools to search pupils without consent for any dangerous or banned items and the removal of restrictions that prevent schools from issuing detentions to pupils without providing 24 hours notice.

• Cutting fuel duty, saving 10p per litre compared to Labour. Petrol duty is a full 10 pence lower than it would have been without our action in last year’s Budget and the Autumn Statement. Families will save £144 on filling up the average family car by the end of this year.

New measures in the Queen’s Speech
• Families and Children Bill – will improve the lives of children, young people and families, especially those coping with special educational needs. It will reform the assessment, planning and provision for children and young people with special educational needs and those who are disabled, reduce delay in the adoption system, introduce new arrangements for children of parents who apply to court and reform court processes for children in care so cases progress more rapidly. The Bill will also strengthen the role’ of the Children’s Commissioner, enable both mothers and fathers to take flexible parental leave to share early years parenting and make it possible for all employees to balance their work and family commitments.

• Pensions Bill – will reform the state pensions system, creating a fair, simple and sustainable foundation for private saving.

• Energy Bill – will reform the electricity market. This will include powers to establish long-term contracts for low-carbon energy generation and to guarantee generating capacity, as well as other measures which together will deliver affordable electricity for consumers and help meet security of supply and decarbonisation goals.

Ending the something for nothing culture. The Government are already
• Capping Benefits. The Welfare Reform Act caps the total amount a household can receive in benefits to the average of household earnings so no household can receive more than £26,000 a year, the equivalent to a pre-tax salary of £35,000 – a step which the Labour Party opposes.

• Controlling Immigration. Under Labour net migration reached more than 2.2 million people – more than twice the population of Birmingham. The Conservatives are getting to grips with Labour’s chaos. We are capping economic migration, cracking down on sham marriages, shutting bogus colleges and reforming Student Visas. Our action will reduce net migration down from the hundreds to the tens of thousands a year, back to the sustainable levels seen under the last Conservative government.

• Biggest ever increase in the Basic State Pension. The Government has introduced the triple lock guarantee which ensures that State Pensions will be up-rated by earnings, prices or 2.5 per cent – whichever is highest. This has brought an end to the paltry rises in the state pension under Labour, which one year amounted to 75 pence. In April this year, the basic state pension rose by £5.30 per week – the biggest cash rise ever.

• Making work pay. Under Labour too many people turned down offers of work because they were better off on benefits. From 2013, the new Universal Credit will simplify a range of benefits into one payment to make it easier for people to see they will be consistently and transparently better off for each hour they work and every pound they earn – making work pay.

New measures in the Queen’s Speech
• Crime and Courts Bill – will establish the National Crime Agency to tackle serious, organised and complex crime and strengthen border security. The Bill will also maintain the capability of intelligence and law enforcement agencies to acquire communications data to protect the public within a framework of strict safeguards. Measures will further reform and modernise the courts and tribunal service to increase efficiency, transparency and judicial diversity.

• Justice and Security Bill – will provide for strengthened oversight of the security and intelligence agencies; to provide for closed material procedures in certain civil proceedings; and to prevent disclosure contrary to the public interest of certain material in judicial proceedings, including material shared with us by our allies.

Reforming our politics. What is proposed
• Fixed-term Parliaments. The Coalition have legislated to introduce fixed-term Parliaments in the United Kingdom to remove the right of a Prime Minister to seek the Dissolution of Parliament for pure political gain

• Standing up for Britain in Europe. The European Union Act ensures that for the first time British people will have their say on any proposed transfer of powers from the UK to the EU. If in the future a change to an EU treaty is proposed that moves powers or areas of policy from the UK to the EU, the Government will have to get the British people’s consent in a national referendum before it can be agreed.
The Queens Speech will help Britain to move forward.

Latest unemployment figures show positive news…

oliverheald — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 15:46:46 +0000

It is a hopeful sign that unemployment figures have gone down, according to figures released yesterday by the Office of National Statistics. The figures show that the ILO measure of unemployment fell to 2.65 million in the period December – February 2012 which is a decrease of 35,000 from the last quarter[1] and locally in North East Hertfordshire constituency 25 lower than last month, February 2012 . David Cameron referred to the national drop in unemployment in Prime Minister’s Questions yesterday[2] and I think we should be pleased with this drop when unemployment had risen last month. Thankfully North East Herts still retains a high level of employment which is listed as 71.3% for the year end to September 2011[3]. The number of unemployed claimants in North East Hertfordshire constituency in March 2012 was 1,433. This represents a rate of 3.0% of the economically active population aged 16 to 64, one of the lowest rates in the UK.

Elsewhere, the construction sector output has experienced 6.1% growth month on month in February[4] which is equally as encouraging, especially when compared to the 12.0% month on month decline that the sector experienced last January. I do hope that other sectors enjoy similar levels of growth in the months going forward especially when the UK has so much to look forward to in other directions with the start of the Olympics, due in the summer.

[1] http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/april-2012/index.html
[2] http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201212/cmhansrd/cm120418/debtext/120418-0001.htm#12041847000008
[3] http://www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/RP12-17
[4] http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/construction/output-in-the-construction-industry/february-2012/sumconsoutfebruary2012.html

Keeping the NHS Promise to Royston

oliverheald — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:56:30 +0000

Royston residents were pleased to hear of major investment in the health and care infrastructure of the town with a brand new care home and a £1 million extension to the Health Centre, but this was on the basis that NHS intermediate care patients would continue to be treated in hospital or care home beds in Royston during the building of the new care home. There were also questions to be asked about ensuring that the future health needs of the town were met by the new building works.

However, immediately after the decision by NHS Hertfordshire we were told that the Hertfordshire Community NHS trust, which provides the nursing staff for the hospital, had intervened to say that they would no longer staff Royston and that Royston patients would actually be sent to Hitchin for an indefinite period. This is completely unacceptable and local County Councillors and I have written to the newspapers and made our postion clear to the NHS. We want the NHS to keep its promise to Royston. A further meeting is planned in the near future. The letters are below.

Letter to Local Papers:

Dear Sir,

We are writing about Royston Hospital and its services. We want to ensure the best possible outcome for Royston residents.

NHS Hertfordshire PCT currently owns and manages Royston Hospital, which has 12 beds usable for intermediate care for Stevenage and North Hertfordshire patients. Hitchin Hospital provides similar beds for the area too. The separate Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust are based at Royston Hospital providing the nursing care for the beds and District Nurse and Community Nursing services to local residents in their homes. There are about 30 outpatient clinics which operate from time to time, of which physiotherapy is the largest.

Last year, NHS Hertfordshire decided to place its intermediate care patients closer to their homes and beds are to be provided through the NHS in care homes. So, Stevenage patients will be in beds in Stevenage and Baldock patients in Baldock and so on. Hitchin Hospital is to close. Royston area patients in beds in Royston Hospital usually number about 5.

Last November, NHS Hertfordshire started a consultation on the future for Royston Hospital services. This was widely covered in our local papers and Oliver Heald put out a Press Statement asking local residents to read the proposals and take part.

They are planning to knock down the existing Hospital, because it is worn out and build a brand new care home, which will also provide our Royston NHS beds for intermediate care. The Herts County Council Social Services will lead on the building project and the land is likely to be sold to the care home developer, because care homes in Hertfordshire are in the independent sector.

There were choices to be made about whether the outpatients and Community Nursing services would be better provided at the new care home on the existing site or in the town centre. NHS Hertfordshire suggested an option of putting the outpatients and clinics at the Health Centre in a first storey extension. This would also provide a lift and give much needed additional space for Dr Brownrigg’s practice. This would cost almost £1 million.

A meeting “Conversation Cafe” was advertised and took place at the Golf Club with a good turnout and it was clear that there were mixed views in the town. We have met the Friends of Royston Hospital, NHS representatives and a number of GPs and other councillors and heard views from many local people. Some people would like the outpatients and clinics to be at the existing Hospital site for the future as part of the new care home. Some prefer the Health Centre extension option long term and some would like a brand new Health Centre on a site yet to be identified.

NHS Hertfordshire have now announced their decision that they are going to allow Herts County Council to build the care home on the Hospital site and that the Health Centre will have the extension built.

The consultation was on the basis that Royston’s intermediate care patients would always be in beds in the Royston area, either at the Hospital or in local care homes, while the new care home is built. However, shortly after NHS Hertfordshire’s decision, the Community NHS Trust suddenly said it was no longer able to staff the beds at Royston Hospital and that patients from Royston would have to go to Hitchin Hospital for an indefinite period. This is unacceptable. The Community NHS Trust must comply with the clear basis of the consultation and ensure Royston patients remain in Royston area. We are taking this up with them urgently.

We are asking NHS Hertfordshire about the medium term, as Royston is expanding and will need more health facilities. We are also asking about the proceeds of sale of the site and whether money will be available as a legacy to provide for future health facilities in Royston. It is important that plans for the new building take account of and allow for future town expansion and future health needs.

We are arranging a further meeting with NHS Hertfordshire. The outpatients and Community Nursing services will be based at Royston Hospital, until the new Health Centre extension is completed.

It is welcome that the extension to the Health Centre is going ahead and a brand new care home is being built. This is a major investment in Royston’s health and care infrastructure. However, we are concerned that Royston patients should be treated in Royston and to see the full picture for the future and are therefore pressing for answers to the points above.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Heald MP
County Councillor Fiona Hill
County Councillor Tony Hunter

Letter to Hertfordshire NHS Community Trust :

David Law, Chief Executive,
Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust,
Unit 1A Howard Court,
14 Tewin Road,
Welwyn Garden City,
Hertfordshire AL7 1BW. 16 April 2012

Dear Mr Law,

Royston Hospital

The recent consultation regarding the future of Royston Hospital was on the basis that Royston’s intermediate care patients would always be in beds in the Royston area, either at the Hospital or in local care homes, while the new care home is built. Responses were made on that basis and so was the decision. However, shortly after NHS Hertfordshire’s decision, the Community NHS Trust suddenly said it was no longer able to staff the beds at Royston Hospital and that patients from Royston would have to go to Hitchin Hospital for an indefinite period. This is unacceptable.

It is my firm belief that the Community NHS Trust must comply with the clear basis of the consultation and ensure Royston patients remain in Royston area. I would be grateful for your urgent assurance that the NHS promise to Royston will be kept either by reopening the necessary beds at Royston Hospital or contracting for these services from care homes locally.

Yours sincerely,

Oliver Heald MP

Budget boost for most workers

oliverheald — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:39:36 +0000

Amid all the talk of pasties, grannies and cutting rich people’s tax reliefs, the central message of the Budget was a major tax cut for most working people and low income workers particularly. In North East Hertfordshire, people will be up to £220 better off next year thanks to the largest ever increase in the personal allowance announced by George Osborne in the Budget. The income tax personal allowance will be increased from April 2013 by an additional £1,100 to £9,205. This increase will give 35,925 local taxpayers a much needed boost every month. This means nationally that income tax has been cut by up to £546 for basic rate taxpayers since the Government came to power and 2 million of the lowest earners will have been taken out of tax altogether. But it really benefits our area too. 1225 more people in my constituency will be taken out of paying income tax. This means that 2988 will have been lifted out of income tax altogether by this Government.

The Budget was also about boosting growth, with cuts in Corporation Tax and regulations for business and a major increase in training and apprenticeships. The investment tax relief for businesses will also help locally.

Of course, many people love their pasties, but grannies have not lost cash in the Budget, simply their personal allowance differential with lower paid workers and it is right to try to reduce rich people’s tax reliefs, whilst balancing this against the interests of charities. But if all rich people only paid to causes they liked, the medium and lower income taxpayers would be left holding the bill for vital basic services. We should all have to pay our taxes.

Down on the Farm

oliverheald — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:18:02 +0000

I went recently to meet local farmers and the NFU to hear about farming concerns and to see what I could do to help with these. We met at the home of Ben and Fiona Cannon at Hyde Hall Farm, Buckland and we were given a tour of the farm outbuildings and office space there. About 12 other local farmers and NFU officials came. The farm is an impressive example of the ways in which farmers can successfully diversify in this age in which the agricultural machine has long superseded manual labour but the need for farmers to generate an income is still as important. It is also a beautiful landscape and recent moves by farmers such as wider field margins are seeing improvements to flora and fauna.
Hyde Hall is the centre of a number of enterprises and we were shown several initiatives which have begun as a result of government business and environmental initiatives. These included a smart cow shed and a converted barn -now office space. The office space was a sympathetic conversion in keeping with the other surrounding barns and it is now home to a small local company. Together with this office space, the farm has other industrial units which are let out and collectively these must be an enormous boost to rural employment. I am very much in favour of such schemes.
When we came to discuss farming concerns, there was significant reference to the EU Common Agricultural Policy in particular and I appreciate that a “one-system –fits-all” approach is not always a viable approach for all farmers within the EU. I am keen we should ensure our farmers are fairly treated and have raised their concerns with Farming Minister Jim Paice MP. We also touched upon the Localism Bill and the way this will deal with new developments. The whole of the group present recognised the need for greater energy efficiencies and this is what the Government’s Green Deal is intended to address. I was very pleased to meet local farmers again and discuss matters they wished to touch upon and I know that they felt it was a productive meeting.

The Welfare Reform Act

oliverheald — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 14:55:51 +0000

The news this morning that the Welfare Reform Bill has now made it onto the statute books is extremely welcome. David Cameron is correct when he said that “today marks an historic step in the biggest welfare revolution in over 60 years.” By introducing and passing the Welfare Reform Bill, the Government has sought to ensure that lives will change for the better, giving people the help they need, while backing individual responsibility so that people can escape poverty, not be trapped in it. For too long the welfare system has hindered rather than promoted individual responsibility and the time has come at last after many years, when this will be reversed. The introduction of the “Benefits Cap” and “Universal Credit,” within the terms of the Act, actively encourages those with an option to do so, to go to work. Equally such measures will hopefully not only address the soaring benefit bill which the Coalition government inherited from the previous government but with any luck it will improve social well being too. Those who have long sought the sanctuary of the benefits system will be provided with an opportunity for self-betterment and a chance to improve their lives and I applaud the Government for taking this positive action.

Renewable Energy…

oliverheald — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 15:53:39 +0000

I am a long standing supporter of both energy efficiency and renewable energy -particularly solar energy. In his recent announcement on 9 February, Greg Barker the Minister pledged a target of three and a half times the amount of Solar PV by 2020 than the scheme originally planned [1] and I welcome these moves made by the government as well as their “Green Deal” policy on energy efficiency.

In a newly released briefing, Friends of the Earth highlight the importance of community and social housing energy tariffs too. As Friends of the Earth say “a community energy tariff is needed to give uplift to community energy schemes, including social housing” [2]. The Government are consulting on social housing schemes and whether a higher tariff might apply there. I would also like more thought given to community schemes more generally. The aim should be to empower individuals and communities to be energy efficient and to generate their own power. In this way we can give people the chance to make a difference themselves.

[1] www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn12_010/pn12_010.aspx
[2] Briefing for MPs -Feed-in Tariff Review Friends of the Earth (February 2012)