According to recently released statistics Redditch’s recycling rates are at 29%, a rate lower than the national average of 41.2% and more than half the rates of the top ten local authorities.

The Youth Contract will create over 400,000 new jobs and 250,000 new work experience placements to help young people across Britain to get into work.

Deputy Prime [...]]]> The Lib Dems in Government are taking real action to tackle youth unemployment. Every young person who wants it will be guaranteed a job, training or work placement.

The Youth Contract will create over 400,000 new jobs and 250,000 new work experience placements to help young people across Britain to get into work.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg MP said, “If people are out of work when they’re young they bear the scars for decades. If they have a false start, they might not ever fully catch up.

“This £1 billion investment will make sure our young people are earning and learning again, before long-term damage is done.”

The Liberal Democrats are determined to tackle youth unemployment – an issue that has been ignored for too long.

During Labour’s 13 years in power, youth unemployment rose by nearly 40%. There was a shocking 86% increase in the number of 18-24 year olds claiming Job Seekers Allowance.

Local Lib Dem campaigner Malcolm Hall added, “Our new plans will make sure every young person has a fair chance. Thanks to the Lib Dems in Government, 880 local learners took on an apprenticeship in the past year to gain key skills, and now the 22% of young people in our area on Job Seekers Allowance will get extra support to help them into work too.”

The £1 billion new investment to tackle youth unemployment includes:

• Over 400,000 new work places for 18 – 24 year olds over the next three years
• 250,000 extra work experience places for every 18 – 24 year old who wants one (after 3 months on Job Seekers Allowance) and 160,000 wage subsidies
• All 18 – 24 year olds to receive extra careers support from Job Seekers Plus (after 3 months on Job Seekers Allowance)
• More funding to support apprenticeships, including 20,000 more incentive payments to encourage employers to take on young apprentices
• A new programme to help the most disengaged 16 – 17 year olds get learning again or into a job with training

Liberal Democrats have long called for a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships to rebalance the economy and break down the barriers between academic and vocational learning.

Nationally, apprenticeships have increased by 50% to 440,000 since [...]]]> Redditch Liberal Democrats have welcomed Business Secretary Vince Cable’s announcement of new measures to help companies offering apprenticeships.

Liberal Democrats have long called for a significant increase in the number of apprenticeships to rebalance the economy and break down the barriers between academic and vocational learning.

Nationally, apprenticeships have increased by 50% to 440,000 since Dr Cable has taken control of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills. Redditch faired even better with apprenticeships doubling from 440 to 880 between 2009/10 and 2010/11.

The new measures include:

• Offering employers with up to 50 employees an incentive payment of £1,500 to take on apprentices aged 16-24. This will encourage small employers to take on up to 20,000 apprentices.
• Streamlining processes so that it takes just a month for an employer to advertise for an apprentice.
• Ensuring that the National Apprenticeship Service better supports the needs of small employers – through more effectively targeted advice and guidance and helping training providers work more effectively with local SMEs.

‘Apprenticeships give young people an opportunity to gain valuable skills and experience as well as earning money.

‘The financial crisis has shown that we need to rebalance the British economy, reducing our dependence on the City of London.

‘Apprenticeships in towns like Redditch with busy manufacturing centres have an important role to play if we are to have real, sustainable growth.’

‘The growth in apprenticeships to more than double the planned ambition, demonstrates our commitment to delivering the skills businesses need to grow and young people need to build productive careers.

‘We’re determined to do more to boost growth, rebalance the economy and extend opportunity. We’ll cut no corners on quality. Apprenticeships will remain the gold standard for excellence in vocational training – but where red tape serves no purpose, we’ll strip it away.

‘With every £1 of Government money delivering a return of some £40 to the wider economy, this is a sound investment in the country’s future.’

It builds upon the party’s achievement of extending free childcare to 15 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds.

Children’s minister Sarah Teather commented on the [...]]]> Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and children’s minister Sarah Teather have published their proposals to give 140,000 disadvantaged two year olds 15 hours of free early years education.

It builds upon the party’s achievement of extending free childcare to 15 hours a week for all three and four-year-olds.

Children’s minister Sarah Teather commented on the announcement saying:

“Our priority is to increase social mobility by helping children from the poorest backgrounds in their earliest years. High quality early education is the key to making a difference early on in a child’s life. It’s crucial for their healthy development and means they’re not falling behind before they have even started primary school.

“We want more children to be able to access their full early education entitlement. Too often, the most disadvantaged children don’t get what they are entitled to. It’s important we target early education at those who stand to benefit the most.

“We also want to make the entitlement more flexible, so that children don’t miss out on early education and parents can help balance their work and family life more easily.”

Redditch Borough Councillor for Winyates Malcolm Hall said:

“We know that there is a link between children’s backgrounds and their educational attainment. Early education is vital to cutting this link.

“I am delighted that the Liberal Democrats in government are pursuing this policy, putting social mobility front and centre after years of stagnation under Labour and Conservative governments.

“This will make a real difference to youngsters in Redditch”

The announcement is part of a consultation, published today, on changes to free early education. The proposals published in the consultation will:

Make the free entitlement to 15 hours per week of free early education more flexible. This means parents would be able to access it earlier and later in the day – between 7am and 7pm – and across two days instead of three days.

• Use the criteria which is used for free school meals to decide which disadvantaged two-year-olds should qualify for free early education.
• Include two-year-olds who are looked after by the state in the eligibility criteria for free early education.
• Slim down the guidance for local authorities from 100 pages to fewer than 20 pages.

The motion titled ‘Beyond the Ebac’ states that the WM Lib Dems believe that the new English Baccalaureate represents the government being excessively prescriptive of school curriculums, is far [...]]]> Redditch Liberal Democrats were present as the West Midlands party conference passed a motion highly critical of policies currently being pursued by education secretary, Michael Gove.

The motion titled ‘Beyond the Ebac’ states that the WM Lib Dems believe that the new English Baccalaureate represents the government being excessively prescriptive of school curriculums, is far too narrow, and undermines the value of vocational qualifications.

The motion also raises concerns regarding the government’s academies and free schools programme, affirming that WM Lib Dems believe that local authorities have a key role to play in the delivery of a quality education for young people.

Commenting Lib Dem Councillor Malcolm Hall, who is also a school governor said:

‘I’m delighted that the West Midlands conference has passed this motion.

‘I’ve long held a belief that local authorities play a key strategic role in education. Having worked alongside the local authority as a school governor I can say with confidence that their expertise has been of real value to schools in Redditch. They also offer a layer of local democratic accountability which is sadly missing in free schools and academies.

‘Conference is also quite correct the criticise the parameters of the new English Baccalaureate. I cannot believe that students will be as enthusiastic about studying more subjects through coercion; this may have a knock on effect on attainment.’

Wording of motion:

Beyond the Ebac- Choice & Opportunity in Education

Regional conference: welcomes the work of the regional policy committee on Beyond the Ebac – Choice and Opportunity in Education.*

welcomes the coalition government’s commitment to excellence in education whilst recognising that not all its policies are Liberal Democrat policies that would be

retained by a Liberal Democrat majority government;

supports a motion going to federal conference affirming the following princi- ples, previously set out in the party’s policy document Equity and Excellence:

i. the Liberal Democrat belief that narrowly defined targets do not drive excellence;

ii. that the government should not prescribe excessive amounts of the school curriculum;

iii. that there should be an entitlement for students to a minimum curriculum, guaranteeing the minimum skills needed in the modern age;

iv. That academic and vocational education should be fully integrated; v. That elected local authorities have a key strategic role in guaranteeing the

quality of education offered to young peple.

It further supports the principles set out in the draft regional policy document, Beyond the Ebac, that: a) choice and opportunity are inextricably linked for young people; b) that young people should be encouraged to develop their interests and

aptitudes; c) that young people should be enabled to leave school with a broad

knowledge of the world in which they live.

Conference wishes to see policies to address the following issues: 1. that the English Baccalaureate in its present form is not compatible with these principles; 2. that the significance and benefits of vocational choices appear to be down- graded through the emphasis on the “Ebac”; 3. that the residual role of local authorities in the government’s Education Bill is not strategic and removes the democratic local accountability that Liberals have espoused since the Education Act of 1870.

Liz, who has been the MEP for the West Midlands since 1999, announced her decision to the Liberal Democrats’ West Midlands Conference on Saturday (5th November).

She said

“I have decided to [...]]]> Liz Lynne, Liberal Democrat MEP for the West Midlands has announced that she is to stand down from the European Parliament in February.

Liz, who has been the MEP for the West Midlands since 1999, announced her decision to the Liberal Democrats’ West Midlands Conference on Saturday (5th November).

She said

“I have decided to stand down as MEP at the beginning of February. I have thought about this carefully and believe that the time is right. Although I still find the work stimulating and worthwhile, the relentless travelling particularly to and from Strasbourg is onerous to say the least.

“Stepping down now will also give my successor, Phil Bennion, enough time to bed down and make an effective contribution in the remaining two and and half years of this Parliament.

“The ongoing financial crisis across Europe means that the Liberal Democrat voice for reform and democracy will continue to be needed loud and clear.

“The third reason why it is the right time is that positions on the Parliament’s committees change midway through the mandate.

“I am proud to have served as First Vice President of the Employment and Social Affairs Committee. Giving up now however would give one of my Lib Dem MEP colleagues an opportunity to take a similar position for the rest of the mandate.

“I feel I have been able to achieve a lot over the last 12 and a half years as Euro MP for the West Midlands , fighting for equality and reform in the EU.

“Looking back, ensuring the Employment Directive outlawed workplace discrimination against disabled people or on grounds of age is particularly important to me.

“After Parliament backed my own initiative report on equal access to goods and services, the Commission agreed to bring in an Equal Treatment Directive to stop discrimination on all grounds including disability and age. It is still being held up by some countries but I hope it will go ahead.

“I am proud of my work in the healthcare field. I lobbied for many years to toughen safety laws to stop medical staff suffering a million needlestick injuries every year.

“Recently I won a long campaign to stop MRI scanners in hospitals from in effect being banned by the Electro Magnetic Fields Directive, completely unnecessarily. The Commission is now proposing to exempt MRI technology from the exposure limits.

“This year I was also delighted to win backing from both the Parliament and the Lib Dem conference for an EU wide code of conduct to stop the abuse of older people in long term care.”

“I am not retiring but want to focus my politics in ways which do not involve quite so much travelling. I will continue to support the Liberal Democrat party in any way I can, I remain a strong supporter of Nick Clegg’s leadership and his work in the coalition government.”

The council has proposed cuts to young people’s services of a massive 55%. This will see youth centres, including Redditch Youth House, under serious threat [...]]]> Worcestershire Liberal Democrats have hit out at the County’s Conservative administration, claiming that the proposed youth service cuts are making the next generation pay for the mistakes of this one.

The council has proposed cuts to young people’s services of a massive 55%. This will see youth centres, including Redditch Youth House, under serious threat of closure. It will also involve redundancies to youth workers and the scaling back of the young people’s advice service, Connexions.

Councillor Penelope Morgan, who speaks on young peoples issues for the Liberal Democrats at County Hall said:

‘We are letting our next generation down, the Prime Minister has said that we mustn’t allow the next generation to foot the bill for the debt of this one, I’m afraid that is exactly what these cuts are doing, asking young people to foot the bill today.

‘If there was any indicator that spelt out the need for investment it would be this. Among 19-24 year olds, almost 20% (19.1%) nationally are considered NEET (not in employment, education or training). One of the main vehicles to help these people, Connexions, are about to lose a third of their funding here in Worcestershire.

‘Whilst the County Council spends millions on communications and consultants, they’re cutting youth services in half. Communities can and should step in where possible, but it is not reasonable to ask a society to be “big” enough to meet such a massive shortfall.’

Lib Dem Councillor for Winyates Malcolm Hall added:

‘It is an absolute travesty that young people should bear such a heavy burden in these austere times.

‘Young people need support in finding employment, a sense of wellbeing and a decent standard of living. These cuts represent a gamble as the problems related to unemployment and destitution are far more costly than the entirety of the county’s youth service budget.

‘Its just another example of Worcestershire’s Conservatives being penny wise and pound foolish.’

The pupil premium will this year give schools an extra £430 per pupil who receives free school meals or has been [...]]]> Local Liberal Democrat campaigners have welcomed the announcement that Redditch has been allocated almost £1M as part of this years pupil premium, but insist that the fight for a fairer funding formula must continue.

The pupil premium will this year give schools an extra £430 per pupil who receives free school meals or has been in care for more than six months.

Former Redditch councillor Diane Thomas said:

‘Its great to see a Lib Dem manifesto commitment bringing such a large injection of money into schools & pupils in Redditch. I hope the money goes someway to addressing the shameful attainment gap between children from different backgrounds.

For Ms Thomas & the local Lib Dems there is a far more important issue, the shortfall in funding for Worcestershire schools, where the funding per pupil is some £760 less per year than in neighbouring Birmingham. Although this funding is currently in review, there is talk of any change taking several years to come into force:

‘Worcestershire is one of the lowest funded counties in the country for education per pupil, I want to see that change. Imagine the impact that equitable funding as well as the pupil premium could have on hard-pressed schools in our town.’

Ms Thomas added ‘This is an issue that I and many others have been campaigning on for many years, unfortunately on the deaf ears of previous Labour and Conservative governments. I urge this government to show that they value children in Redditch equally to those elsewhere by fast-tracking their proposed funding changes.’

Sign our petition for fairer funding:

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]]> http://redditchandinkberrowlibdems.org.uk/index.php/2011/10/13/lib-dem-campaigners-call-for-schools-funding-equity/feed/ 0 http://redditchandinkberrowlibdems.org.uk/index.php/2011/10/12/lib-dems-welcome-church-hill-regeneration/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lib-dems-welcome-church-hill-regeneration http://redditchandinkberrowlibdems.org.uk/index.php/2011/10/12/lib-dems-welcome-church-hill-regeneration/#comments Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:28:26 +0000 DC http://redditchandinkberrowlibdems.org.uk/?p=224 Redditch Lib Dems have welcomed the approval of ‘exciting’ plans to redevelop Church Hill’s district centre.

The plans are two phase, the first of which will see the new two story centre building take shape on what is currently a car park, the building will house a first floor medical centre, along with six ground [...]]]> Redditch Lib Dems have welcomed the approval of ‘exciting’ plans to redevelop Church Hill’s district centre.

The plans are two phase, the first of which will see the new two story centre building take shape on what is currently a car park, the building will house a first floor medical centre, along with six ground floor retail units.

Once complete the development will see the current district centre and public house buildings demolished and a new residential build taking its place, this ‘high street’, this will be accompanied by the development of a new access road linking Rickyard and Tanhouse Lanes.

Local Lib Dem campaigner Dale Cox said:

‘The redevelopment of Church Hill centre has been a long time coming. Time and time again we were let down by hollow promises, its great to finally have action.

‘I am particularly pleased that the development comes complete with social housing, something that Church Hill & Redditch is desperately in need of.

‘I look forward to seeing the development taking shape and hope it will cause a permanent upturn in the local economy.’