“… Hammond is one of Parliament’s richest MPs with a net worth estimated at £8.2million in 2014.
He made much of his money after setting up housing and nursing home developer Castlemead in 1984.
He still benefits from a trust that controls the firm, alongside his £143,000 salary for being a minister and MP.
But he refused point-blank to publish his tax return – leaving it difficult to estimate what he’s worth now. …”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/who-philip-hammond-what-net-11560679
Another one of those Tory “funds” (this one supposedly £2.3 billion) that achieved NOTHING.
Question: Where DID the money go?
“A flagship government programme to deliver 200,000 discounted new homes to first-time buyers is yet to see a single one built.
The 2014 Starter Home initiative was touted as part of “a major push” to help people on the housing ladder, but officials admit delivering any properties under the scheme remains an “ambition”.
It promised to achieve its target by pushing councils and developers to bring forward unused land and build on old industrial sites, measures that Chancellor Philip Hammond will again pledge to carry out as he makes housing a key plank of his Budget on Wednesday.
The Starter Home initiative’s lack of concrete progress also comes as Labour claimed Conservative spending plans since 2010 have stripped some £20bn out of UK housebuilding projects, robbing the country of an extra 280,000 homes.
It was just before Christmas three years ago that David Cameron announced the Starter Home project, promising to build 100,000 properties and offer them to young people at a 20 per cent discount.
At the Autumn Statement in 2015, then-Chancellor George Osborne said a £2.3bn fund would help boost the number to 200,000, “in addition to those delivered through reform of the planning system”.
None have been built despite officials in 2014 saying work would begin on the homes the following year.”
“An apology from Ambulance staff to our families, friends and the community:
Have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes when you see an ambulance attending an incident what it might be like to work for the South Western Ambulance service?
Although we love what we do, behind the professional facade we portray to the public we are struggling to maintain a crumbling service deliberately being underfunded by the Government and made worse when those over pressured resources and stressed staff are then badly managed locally.
If you’re unfortunate enough to have to call us, please remember that although we will potentially often be the Deliverer of the First High Quality Care you receive in an accident or illness, we are not only not classified as an Emergency Service by the government but not appreciated or cared for by our employer.
We, as ambulance professionals, are trying to change that. Our Union, GMB, are trying to change that, but our employer and our Chief Executive are ignoring both our complaints and calls for change, so in order to explain to our families, friends and the public and even our employer SWAST we send out our heartfelt apologies:
TO THE PUBLIC:
We’re sorry for not getting to you or your loved ones quick enough because there are just not enough of us or we are called out to answer non-emergency calls.
We’re sorry for the patient and family members that have been left on the floor for hours as a consequence of not getting to you on time.
We’re sorry when you remain in the ambulance or in the hospital corridor for hours when we are stacked at A&E’s because we can’t complete our hand over.
We’re sorry that our employer is so poor in managing their resources that they are potentially putting your family at risk.
We’re sorry you sometimes feel the need to verbally abuse or physically threaten us while we treat your family and friends.
We’re sorry it appears that SWAST deployments and performance targets are more important than patient care.
We’re sorry if we arrive at your emergency at the end of a 12 hour shift and possible overrun if we are so tired we potentially fear making a wrong clinical decision.
TO OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS:
We’re sorry for not being able to be there when you as family and friends need us.
We’re sorry for missing yet another family occasion.
We’re sorry we are refused annual leave when we want it meaning no family holiday once again.
We’re sorry yet another overrun has meant we are late home again.
We’re sorry kids that we couldn’t tuck you in and read you a story at bedtime.
We’re sorry for being so tired or stressed when we do finally get home.
We’re sorry for the occasions you’ll see us angry, frustrated, unhappy and sad.
We’re sorry when we witness yet another colleague’s relationship fail.
TO SWAST:
We’re sorry for feeling unsupported by you, our employer.
We’re sorry when we are stretched ever more thinly across a greater area of deployment that we don’t hit your targets for reaching critically ill patients in time.
We’re sorry for being sick in an environment and workplace that doesn’t allow it.
We’re sorry for what must be our annoying constant requests for annual leave and you having to take the time to respond and refuse them.
We’re sorry for our claims of PTSD.
We’re sorry for appearing ungrateful that your recent rota review has in fact destroyed our work life balance even more beyond acceptable limits.
We’re sorry for the inconvenience when injuries at work happen.
We’re sorry if we appear concerned that we will not reach retirement age as a result of physical or psychological injury.
We’re sorry for not agreeing with the Chief Executive, and his teams ‘my way or the highway’ attitude towards us as staff.
And finally in closing:
We’re sorry for saying sorry, time and time again to all of you because nothing ever changes.
We’re sorry for having to write this.
We’re sorry for asking, but it’s time for everyone to support our call for the Chief Executive to stand down.”
… When you announce a fund of £1.7 billion and, in the same press release, announce that you have only agreed to spend £250 million!
“… The Transforming Cities fund aims to improve connectivity, reduce congestion and bring in new technology to create high-quality jobs and spread wealth around the country.
Some £250m has already been allocated to the West Midlands. …”
https://news.sky.com/story/theresa-may-reveals-16317bn-transport-boost-ahead-of-budget-11135211
”A report into Britain’s seaside towns says there are still perceptions of them as old-fashioned, closed in the winter and difficult to get to.
The conclusions come from the all-party Parliamentary Group for the Visitor Economy, chaired by St Austell and Newquay Conservative MP, Steve Double.
The group has been looking at how the seaside economy could continue to thrive if and when European funding is withdrawn once the UK has left the EU.
They’ve come up with a list or recommendations which include reducing VAT on tourist accommodation and attractions to 5%, introducing more frequent bus services, and reducing the aggressive behaviour of seagulls in some resorts which have been putting visitors off.
Mr Double said the British coastline was a national asset with great potential and which, with the right investment, could drive regeneration, economic growth and job creation.”
“Funding for public services in rural communities is “outdated and chronically unfair” when compared to towns and cities, the County Councils Network has stated.
The body, which represents county councils, has demanded the government address the ‘postcode lottery’ of government funding.
It says there are large disparities between resources allocated to rural public services and their urban counterparts.
Paul Carter, chair of the CCN, will tell the network’s annual conference today that 26 million countryside residents receive almost 50% less funding for their public services compared to their neighbours in England’s largest cities.
“Our services are threatened and under pressure like never before.
“Unless these inequalities are addressed, many of the highly valued services to our public will diminish or disappear,” he warned.
Carter highlighted that this year, collectively, England’s 37 county areas received £3.2bn less than the English average, including London and towns and cities outside rural areas.
He added: “This impacts on the daily lives on our residents, all whilst they unfairly subsidise services enjoyed in other parts of the country through higher council tax bills.
“This is outdated and chronically unfair.”
The inequality in the current system means that, on average, county councils received £650 per person for public services in 2017-18 however a city or metropolitan borough resident receives £825 for their services, whilst those in inner London enjoy £1,190 per person, the CCN said.
This gulf in funding received by different communities comes at a time when county authorities face a funding black hole of £2.54bn by 2021, caused by austerity and these funding inequalities between rural and urban areas, according to the CCN.
Carter is also expected to warn that the government’s review of local government finance will not resolve historical inequalities, and is likely to “fudge” the issue.
The CCN noted that these historical quirks mean a rural taxpayer in Leicestershire gets £428 per person for their public services, but those living, in some cases, less than a mile away in Leicester, a unitary city council, get £1,107 per person for their services – 61% more.
County leaders say they have little choice but to raise council tax to make sure the shortfall, meaning that their residents are unfairly subsidising the services enjoyed in other parts of the country.”
Our LEP has an open meeting on its “productivity strategy” tomorrow at 11 am at
Regency Suite, Devon Hotel
Exeter EX2 8XU
However, it may find itself in some difficulty as the way productivity is measured will change drastically next month when, instead of measuring productivity only in large firms, for the first time 600,000 businesses employing less than 100 people will be included. Our LEP has not based its strategy on these new measurements.
“The Office for National Statistics is overhauling the way in which it measures the UK economy by including vast amounts of VAT data from small firms for the first time.
Previously, GDP estimates have been generated from a survey of the turnover at 45,000 companies – including all of the country’s largest businesses.
From December, information from a third of the UK’s 1.8m VAT returns will also be added to turnover data and included in official GDP figures.
This will dramatically change how the country’s economic growth is measured, providing far more insight into specific industries and locations. The greater proportion of VAT returns will also encompass more small companies, which make up 98pc of UK businesses.
For instance, in past GDP estimates, sectors such as restaurants and pubs were reported on, but only at a high level of “food and beverage service activities” based on 172 monthly surveys and 28,000 tax returns.
Having access to much more data will allow for a detailed view on the performance of pubs, takeaways and restaurants in different parts of the country, the ONS said.
For this first new estimate, only VAT returns from small and medium firms with headcounts of 100 or fewer will be included. Surveys of large firms will continue to be part of the ONS’s data gathering and reporting.
While smaller firms account for most of UK businesses, they only constitute 20pc of the economy. That means the data gathered and analysed by the ONS will be more detailed, but the impact on the GDP headline figure might not be altered by its inclusion, as larger company responses have greater sway.
Economist John Hawksworth of PwC said that it would be good if the ONS published “GDP estimates with and without use of the new VAT data”, so users could clearly see the difference made by its inclusion.
“It should also allow a more timely and detailed breakdown of economic activity by industry sub-sector and region to be produced than is possible at present,” Mr Hawksworth said.
Nick Vaughan, chief economist for the ONS, said the process of incorporating the additional data would be gradual.
“We are phasing these data in gradually and will ramp up the number of VAT returns we use over the coming years,” he said. He added that the new approach should lessen the administrative burden on small firms of completing surveys and help cut costs at the ONS.”
“The survey has been designed with input from a large number of people, including several healthcare professionals. Our aim is to gather as much data on the Care Closer to Home model as possible. We want to know how the model is working based on the real-life experiences of the people of Devon.
The survey can be completed as the patient or as the spouse/partner/relative/friend of the patient.”
Freedom of Information request to EDDC anyone? To include councillors spouses and children, of course!
…“In Torbay, 39% of councillors own multiple properties, including one who has received more than £63,000 in housing benefit payments for tenants in the last two years.
Three Conservative councillors in the south coast authority, including the mayor, own a combined 68 residential properties. In Bournemouth, 15 of the 37 councillors hold multiple property interests; in Labour-controlled Leeds, 26 of the 99 councillors own more than one property in the city.
Councils have the power to regulate private landlords with licensing schemes that enforce minimum levels of safety and habitability, particularly in the poorest areas with large numbers of rental homes. None of these three authorities, which have the largest proportions of landlord councillors, have introduced such schemes.
“It is worrying that towns and cities with high numbers of private renters are governed by a disproportionately high number of landlords, especially if it makes councils less inclined to regulate the local rental market properly,” said Dan Wilson Craw, director of the pressure group Generation Rent.
He said landlord licensing could make a significant difference. For example, the London borough of Newham’s licensing scheme accounts for 70% of all housing prosecutions in the capital.
Landlord councillors insist there is no conflict of interest and say a lack of resources and a belief that the schemes are not the most effective form of regulation influence the decisions. Others have said licensing is under consideration. …
… Torbay council has admitted that the age and quality of the housing stock “means that it is poorly insulated, generally inefficient, which leads to poor living conditions and fuel poverty”. It has also said it may consider licensing landlords in certain areas to increase control over the quality of private sector homes, but has yet to do so.
Six of its councillors rent out 19 properties in two of the most deprived wards. James O’Dwyer, who sits on several council committees, is also a property manager and landlord, and eight of the 44 houses and flats in which he and his family have an interest are located in two wards – Tormohun and Roundham with Hyde – that are ranked in the bottom 10% of living environments in England, according to the government’s indices of deprivation.
Since 2015, O’Dwyer has received more than £63,000 in housing benefit payments for his tenants, according to figures released to the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act.
O’Dwyer said budget cuts rather than the influence of councillor landlords was more likely to be the reason for the failure to introduce licensing schemes in his area.
“This lack of resources and the burden of bureaucracy is far more likely to be the cause of any stagnation of a licensing scheme than the Machiavellian cabal of landlords targeting Torbay,” he said.
O’Dwyer said he would support the right kind of scheme in Torbay and stressed that any conflicts of interest were dealt with under council rules.
His fellow councillor Ray Hill rents out five homes in Tormohun as part of a portfolio of 19 residential properties that he owns or leases. Hill said he and his wife were “responsible and attentive landlords”.
“All of the 19 flats owned by my wife and myself in Torquay and elsewhere are of a high standard, some furnished and some unfurnished,” he said.
A Torbay council spoke4sperson said the authority had invested in an enforcement team rather than licensing, which had resulted in prosecutions changing the behaviour of bad landlords.
“This has had an impact bay-wide rather than in a specific identified area,” they said.”
”Watchdog has ‘reasonable grounds to suspect offence was committed’ by Vote Leave, a student campaigner and another Eurosceptic group.
The watchdog will investigate whether Vote Leave, which was the officially designated Brexit campaign during the referendum, broke campaign finance rules.
Bob Posner, the commission’s director of political finance and regulation, said there were legitimate questions over the funding of campaigners which “risks causing harm to voters’ confidence in the referendum”.
The campaign, run by political strategist Matthew Elliott and former special adviser Dominic Cummings, will be investigated alongside Veterans for Britain and student activist Darren Grimes, now the deputy editor of the Brexit Central website, where Elliott is now editor-at-large.
The investigation has been opened after a review of previous assessments that the Electoral Commission conducted in February and March 2017, where it initially decided no further action was needed.
The commission said new information had since come to light which meant it had “reasonable grounds to suspect an offence may have been committed”.
Grimes and Veterans for Britain will be investigated as to whether he delivered an incorrect spending return in relation to a donation they received from Vote Leave and related campaign spending.
Vote Leave’s spending return will also be investigated, as well as whether the campaign breached its spending limit.
“There is significant public interest in being satisfied that the facts are known about Vote Leave’s spending on the campaign, particularly as it was a lead campaigner with a greater spending limit than any other campaigners on the ‘leave’ side,” Posner said.”
“… Hammond stated: “It is not acceptable to us [government] that so many fewer young Britons are able to own a home now than just 10 or 15 years ago. It is not acceptable to us that there are not enough properties to rent and that rents are sky high, and the answer is that we have to build more homes.” …”
http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2017/11/hammond-pledges-action-housebuilding
Conservatives have been in control of housebuilding since 2010 – seven of those “10-15 years” Hammond talks about.
One of the first acts of the coalition was to put the major housebuilders in charge of re-writing planning policies. Their wishes became law in the National Planning Policy Framework – which people dubbed a “Developers’ Charter’ – and that continues to be the policy.
They also created “Help to Buy” for houses up to £600,000 – effectively handing subsidies to those same developers.
“A broadband upgrade for 1.4 million rural homes is expected to be delayed by as much as three years with talks on a deal between the Government and BT’s network subsidiary Openreach close to collapse. …
… the Government will be forced to impose new regulations to give broadband customers a right to an upgrade. It means the work is likely to take much longer and that a Tory manifesto pledge to deliver the minimum standard to everyone by 2020 is under threat. …”
Source: Sunday Telegraph
The Department for Communities and Local Government Parliamentary Committee asked for evidence on local authority scrutiny.
This interesting evidence was provided by BR4DS – a campaign group which is attempting to ensure that all parts of Devon and Somerset get fast broadband provision:
“Written evidence submitted by B4RDS Broadband for Rural Devon and Somerset [OSG 006]
1. Executive summary:
1.1 At the first public meeting of a newly appointed Devon County Council (DCC) Scrutiny Committee in June 2017, the newly appointed Chairman delegated scrutiny of the Connecting Devon & Somerset (CDS) superfast broadband programme to an ongoing/standing task group of four Councillors who take evidence from Council Officers, suppliers and others in private, behind closed doors, with press and public excluded and with no formal minutes taken. This follows two years during which the previous committee required CDS to provide a quarterly written report on progress and answer questions in public, in front of the Committee.
The Terms of Reference for the ongoing/standing Task Group allow for it to continue in operation for seven years and the only information that will be put in the public domain will be reports by the four Councillors on their scrutiny of this subject. This is a major reduction in openness and transparency for the taxpayers of Devon and is contrary to the Council’s own constitution, the Nolan Principles and the expectations of the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government as expressed at the 2017 Local Government Association Conference:
“If people are going to trust their elected representatives, they have to see them working in the harsh light of the public eye, not in comforting shadows behind closed doors. Not only must democracy exist; it must be seen to exist. It can’t be about decisions made in private meeting rooms.” – Rt Hon. Sajid Javid MP.”
The East Devon Alliance also provided information to this committee which can be found here:
Its executive summary states:
Written evidence submitted by East Devon Alliance [OSG 040]
Executive Summary
East Devon Alliance understands that encouraging economic development is a crucial task in local government. However, we are concerned that the increasing influence of unaccountable business interests on council decisions damages the health of local democracy, and can threaten the wider interests of local communities. The climate of unhealthy cynicism about politics, and a failure to engage in the democratic process, is reinforced whenever there is an apparent failure of scrutiny to make councils transparent and accountable.
Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) can too easily be rendered ineffectual by a dominant majority party in a cabinet-led-executive.
Government advice that members of a majority party should not chair O&S committees must be made mandatory.
Chief Executives must not be able to have inappropriate influence on O&S committees.
Scrutiny Officers need to be independent of influence and interference from senior officers or members of cabinet.
The scrutiny role needs to be strengthened to be able to call witnesses. It should be a legal requirement for officers and members of Council and associated bodies to cooperate.
With increasing privatisation, commercial confidentiality must not be used to shield public expenditure from scrutiny.
Scrutiny should “reflect the voice and concerns of the public” by giving local people more say in what issues are chosen for scrutiny.
There is no scrutiny mechanism of the new tier of local government created by the unelected and self-selecting Local Enterprise Partnerships who now control over £2 billion a year in England. Proposals made in 2013 by the Centre for Public Scrutiny could form the basis for scrutiny of such devolved bodies.”
“In Britain we put our elderly into living graveyards, put them in a home, arrange the chairs in a half circle, turn on the heating and leave them to watch tv.
We should be copying what is happening in Amsterdam, where they have care homes with extra accommodation for students. The students get a free place to live in return for 30 hours a month assisting around the home.
For elderly people, the best medicine is youth. It energises them – ask any grandparent, We could kill two birds with one stone here, easing student debt and massive social care costs”.
Source: Sunday Times, pay wall
“Philip Hammond has claimed “there are no unemployed people” in the UK in a major slip-up as the chancellor prepares to fight for his political life in this week’s budget.
Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Hammond made the gaffe as he argued there had been no need to worry about jobs disappearing due to technological advances such as computers in the past.
Downplaying worries about automation technologies including driverless cars, he said: “It’s a simple choice: either we embrace change or we try to hide from change and we allow ourselves to slip behind … I remember 20 years ago we were worried about what would happen to a million shorthand typists in Britain as the personal computer took over. Nobody has a shorthand typist these days. Where are all these unemployed people? There are no unemployed people. We have created 3.5m jobs since 2010. This economy has become a jobs factory.”
In fact, there are about 1.42 million unemployed people in the UK and many more who are underemployed and would like more hours. .. “
So, the Conservatives get in because, although not enough people voted for them, they could bribe the DUP with £1 billion to prop them up.
They leave it to developers to decide housing policy and the developers get mega-rich while saying they are too poor to build affordable homes and even renting a home is now beyond many (working) people.
They cut public services such as the NHS, education – to the bone.
They privatise anything that can be privatised – including the NHS and education.
What they can’t privatise, they put under the control of unaccountable quangos such as “business led” Local Enterprise Partnerships, which make Walter Mitty claims that they will get “productivity” soaring (by making sure that government money gets funnelled into THEIR companies) and councils roll over for them (they are given no choice).
Public utilities – water, gas, electricity, railways – are now all mostly owned by foreign companies which repatriate profits to their own countries.
They cut benefits whilst allowing tax dodging by rich individuals and powerful companies on a truly breathtaking scale.
They get most of their funds from donors who benefit from privatisation and austerity and tax dodging.
They say they are returning “sovereignty” to the UK but strip MPs of their voting powers.
They refuse to accept that “green energy” is now cheaper than nuclear power and fossil fuels and instead commit to a nuclear white elephant that belongs to the French and Chinese (who are ceasing building massive nuclear power stations at home and investing instead in renewables)
We won’t mention the Brexit omni-omni-mega-no-words-good-enough-for-it shambles. Except that we can, they say, rely on the United States to see us right.
Yet, come the time when it looks like their “leader” is on her last legs and a snap election may be on the horizon they tell people they are going to do “something” about housing and the NHS – as if the mess they are in is not their fault. Perhaps a commission, perhaps a policy paper, perhaps a “consultation” … perhaps.
A little money will be shaken from the magic money tree (soon to be swallowed up by not-so-magic higher prices).
And thousands of people will say “Good enough for me – I’ll vote for them again”.
Truly we live in strange and frightening times.
Press Release.
“Following the lack of progress over the last 30 months to fund and install agreed road safety measures in Wilmington, the village action group recently held a meeting with local MP Mr Neil Parish and representatives from Highways England, Devon County Council, East Devon District Council and Widworthy Parish Council to discuss the current position and the way forward.
Highways England has undergone some major staff and structural changes and these changes account for the lack of progress over recent months. However, everyone attending this meeting agreed that Wilmington’s traffic problems are severe and immediate action is required.
Over the past 12 months Wilmington has been operating what has proved to be a very successful Community Speed Watch Scheme. Whilst this has been effective in helping to reduce excess traffic speeds, crossing the road is still hazardous, especially for school children catching buses an there are many roadsides without pavement.
Over the past 30 months or so, Highways England has been examining measures to not only improve the safety of pedestrians in Wilmington, but also to calm the very high volume of traffic that flows through the village. Among the proposals being considered by Highways England are the installation of two pedestrian crossings, an extension of the 30mph speed limit, and the construction of a pavement to the eastern end of the village.
Wilmington is blighted by air pollution, noise pollution, high volumes of speeding vehicles and a lack of pavements to enable residents to negotiate the village without imperilling their lives. The short lengths of pavement that do exist are totally inadequate and in places do not meet with modern standards. The A35 also has to contend with severe flooding every winter or whenever torrential rain is experienced.
In the longer term, The Wilmington A35 Action Group believes that the only real solution would be the construction of a by-pass, to re-route the A35 around the village as was planned nearly 20 years ago. The group also plans to talk to other villages along the A35 with similar problems such as Chideock, Morecombelake, Raymonds Hill and Kilmington.”
Tony Phillips,
On behalf of the Wilmington A35 Action Group.
01404 831360
e.mail: rap24081963sp@hotmail.co.uk
“The chancellor, Philip Hammond, will announce in next week’s budget a “call for evidence” on how taxes or other charges on single-use plastics such as takeaway cartons and packaging could reduce the impact of discarded waste on marine and bird life, the Treasury has said. …”
