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#365

8 March 2013 16:09

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In this edition:
Greg Hands M.P.s Diary Website of the Week: www.myearlscourt.com Update on the Governments economic plan Photo news: Hands addresses Hammersmith Conservatives Greg Hands welcomes BT Fibre Broadband expansion into Chelsea & Fulham Government triples Prompt Payment pledges in drive to support small businesses Sharing the key to low tax and better Council services, say H&F and K&C New era for social housing tenants in Hammersmith & Fulham New Free Schools and Academies prove hugely popular Royal Borough announces new programme to help end human trafficking Hands in the media: Tory MP: Its 'hard to shed a tear' for Chavez Hands in the media: Ed Balls dominates Labour party as supporters pack frontbench How to contact Greg Hands M.P.

Issue 365 Friday 8th March 2013

Since the last edition, Greg:

Attended a meeting of London Conservative MPs with London Mayor Boris Johnson. Greg raised issues with Boris including the Super Sewer, police reorganisation, the Wimbledon District Line, Crossrail 2 (Chelsea Hackney Line) and opposition to Labours homes tax (also called the Mansion Tax). Met the leading advocates and organisers of the Fulham Boys (Free) School to discuss ongoing work in finding a site for the school. Greg is strongly committed to the project and is looking forward to making progress towards establishing the new C of E boys secondary school. Addressed the annual dinner of the Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham Conservatives, held at the Wyndham Grand Hotel, Chelsea Harbour, with special guests Lord Julian Fellowes and Simon Heffer. Met representatives of CapCo, the developers behind the Earls Court and Seagrave Road developments. Greg supports the proposed large-sized regeneration, but has significant concerns about the massing of buildings on Seagrave Road, in an area which has not previously seen high rise development. Attended and addressed the annual general meeting of the Hammersmith Conservatives, held at Hammersmith Town Hall, together with London MEPs Dr Charles Tannock and Syed Kamall. Met International Development Secretary Rt Hon Justine Greening MP on behalf of Fulham-based company Eurotalk and its not-for-profit work in the developing world. Welcomed a Fulham constituent to the House of Commons to discuss his and Gregs concerns about the ongoing proliferation of subterranean excavation in the constituency. Had a full schedule of activity as a Governments Treasury Whip in and around the chamber of the House of Commons, including ministerial meetings and organising votes and standing committees.

Website of the Week:

www.myearlscourt.com
The website of the masterplan for the proposed Earls Court and Seagrave Road developments. Greg met the developers in the House of Commons this week.

Update on the Governments economic plan

The Prime Minister spoke today in West Yorkshire about the UK Governments approach to the economy. Heres what he had to say: "The challenges on the economy are huge and there is a long way to go. But I believe already there are signs that our plan is beginning to work. The biggest deficit in peace time history is already down by a quarter. Interest rates are at near record lows and exports are starting to turn around too. "Over the past three years our exported goods to the fastest growing parts of the world have been soaring Brazil, up by half; India, more than half; China, almost doubled; Russia, up by 133 per cent. "These increases in British exports mean British businesses getting new orders and that means jobs right here back at home. The number of people on out-of-work benefits has fallen and there are one million extra private-sector jobs over the last two and a half years. "There are also more people in work than ever before in our history. And today, we welcome the news from BT that theyre creating another thousand new jobs, including 400 apprenticeships, as part of their 2.5 billion investment in broadband where Britain has the fastest broadband roll-out scheme anywhere in the developed world. "Most importantly of all, our economy which was previously so badly unbalanced now has private-sector employment levels rising in every part of the country and they are rising fastest right here in the North of England. Within one year of this government, we had a faster rate of new business creation than at any time in our history. Today we have more than a quarter of a million new private-sector businesses, the biggest increase in private enterprises on record with more than three quarters of these new businesses created outside London. It is a new generated private sector that we need for our country. "These signs of progress are just the beginning of a long, hard road to a better Britain. But the very moment when were just getting some of those signs that we can turn our economy around and make our country a success is the very moment to hold fast to the path that we have set. And, yes, the path ahead is tough, but be in no doubt; the decision we make now will set the course of our economic future for years to come. And while some would falter and plunge us back into the abyss, we will stick to the course. "I know some people think it is somehow stubborn to stick to a plan, and that somehow this is just about making numbers add up without a care for what it means to people affected by the changes we make. As far as Im concerned, nothing could be further from the truth. "My motives, my beliefs, my passion for sticking to this plan are exactly about doing the right thing to help families and to help businesses up and down our country, because the truth is this: if we want good jobs for our children, we will not get them if we are burdened with debt and outcompeted by India and China. If we want good public services, we wont be able to afford them if our economy is weak and were spending half of the budget on debt interest. "If we want to look after people with dignity in their old age, we wont be able to do that if we are squandering billions of pounds on welfare for people who could work but dont. If we want to help people into work and if we want to break the cycle of poverty that affects too many families we've seen that ever-increasing working-age welfare is not the answer. If we want to help with the cost of living, then that means cutting spending to keep taxes down. "When I stood on the steps of Downing Street for the very first time, I said I believe the best days for Britain lie ahead of us, not behind us. I still believe that. And by sticking to the plan, we can prove it to be true. By sticking to the plan, we can together make Britain a great success story in this vital global race."

Photo news:

Hands addresses Hammersmith Conservatives

Greg Hands M.P. addressing a gathering of Hammersmith Conservatives this week.

Greg Hands welcomes BT Fibre Broadband expansion into Chelsea & Fulham
Greg Hands M.P. met this week senior representatives of British Telecom to see how the Government's priority for delivering SuperFast broadband in London is progressing. BT's new fibre broadband has the potential to transform the way we all use the internet and access consumer services and do business online. It provides broadband speeds ten times faster than current copper based broadband services. The good news is that Chelsea & Fulham is set to be well served by fibre broadband services, as part of BTs 2.5bn national commercial investment. And this network will enable any service provider to use it to sell services bringing consumer choice and helping to keep prices competitive. By coincidence, Greg has paid to upgrade to fibre broadband himself at home in Fulham this week. The installation took only about half an hour. Here is some information provided by BT about their work in Chelsea & Fulham: BT in CHELSEA and FULHAM Broadband There are four types of broadband that are available in Chelsea & Fulham for consumers, SMEs and larger businesses: 1. Copper (ADSL) at speeds of up to 8Mb 2. Enhanced copper to deliver higher speeds at speeds of up to 20Mb 3. Fibre at speeds of up to 80Mb 4. High capacity fibre leased lines, aimed pre-dominantly at larger businesses and some SMEs, are available throughout the constituency through products such as Ethernet Provision in Chelsea & Fulham: SFBB: Parsons Green accepting orders since Sept 2010, almost 19,000 premises to benefit, over 18,000 passed to date. SFBB: Chelsea service planned for 2014, over 11,000 premises to benefit SFBB: South Kensington service planned for the Autumn, over 9,500 premises to benefit, many of which are in the constituency SFBB: Sloane service planned for the Autumn, over 3,500 premises to benefit many of which are in the constituency ADSL2+ live at Parsons Green, Earls Court, Chelsea, South Kensington and Sloane exchanges

Government triples Prompt Payment pledges in drive to support small businesses

Greg Hands M.P. has welcomed the news that the number of FTSE 350 firms signed up to the Prompt Payment Code has tripled in just four months. Since November last year, 94 new firms have joined. Of the FTSE 100 companies, 64 have signed the Code and a further 12 are in the process of signing it. This is regarded as substantial progress by business groups, including the Federation of Small Businesses and the Forum of Private Business. Late payment is a problem experienced by three-quarters of FSB members. The Prompt Payment Code commits signatories to pay on time, to give clear guidance to suppliers and to encourage good practice. The surge in numbers follows the intervention of the Business Minister, Michael Fallon, who wrote to large firms in November urging them to sign up to the Prompt Payment Code or be named publicly. Commenting, Greg Hands M.P. said: This is great news for small businesses in Chelsea and Fulham. Small business owners constantly tell me how vital prompt payment is this committed drive from Conservatives in Government will deliver long-term benefits. The Business Minister, Michael Fallon M.P., added: Late payment is a real issue for businesses across the country. It is not fair poor cash flow can prevent small firms growing and even push them into insolvency. We need to improve the payment culture and I welcome the response of big businesses in signing up to the common sense principles in the Prompt Payment Code. But the work will not stop here. I will keep up pressure on firms to sign up and continue to ensure government leads by example in paying its suppliers on time. Central government has a good record. Now, I will be challenging other parts of the public sector to show their commitment to the principles of the Code.

Sharing the key to low tax and better Council services, say H&F and K&C
Sharing management costs are leading to lower tax and better council services, according to three low tax London boroughs after figures revealed that local taxpayers have saved 10million in two years. The Tri-Borough councils of Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F), the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster City Council (WCC) are on track to save 40million a year by 2015/16, according to a report published today (March 4). While more than 40% of local authorities intend to increase council tax, according to a survey released by the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), WCC has the second lowest average council tax in Britain, H&F is third and the Royal Borough is fourth. In contrast 102, out of 250 authorities surveyed by CIPFA, plan to put up council tax in April typically by about 1% per cent. Cllr Nicholas Botterill, Leader of H&F Council, says: It is no surprise that our three councils are in Britains top four for having low tax. Personally, I think it is wrong for any council to consider increasing taxes before they have fully considered sharing services and management costs. He added: If there is such a thing as a silver bullet to deliver better council services and lower council tax, sharing some management structures is it. The three councils have achieved the savings by sharing childrens services, adult social care and library services across the three boroughs significantly reducing senior and middle management overheads. Tri-borough service improvements, delivered over the past two years, include: The one library card policy, giving residents, workers and students unprecedented access to more than one million library books and a range of specialist collections. Shared foster placements across the three boroughs, avoiding the additional cost of having to use independent agency placements and helping to find looked after children a loving home faster. The length of care proceedings has been halved from 52 to 26 weeks and reduced legal costs by approximately 1.9million. Cllr Philippa Roe, Leader of WCC, says: We have proven that this model for sharing services works. Not only is it going to save 40 million by 2016 - which is money effectively reimbursed to householders - but it is improving the way councils serve the public. We are cutting bureaucracy and making shared services like adoption and libraries work even better. The reforming momentum is with councils right now. We have asked central Government for permission to do things like borrow money against our housing stock to build more homes and introduce new measures to get young people into jobs. The Chancellor should use the budget to give local authorities a green light to be even more innovative. The three councils have also shown, through their whole-place Community Budget pilot, that within five years they could, with the cooperation of central government departments, create annual savings of about 80million across local public services in the area. If fully implemented, the plans developed through the recent pilot would help drive growth, reduce dependency, build homes, create jobs, lengthen lives and rehabilitate criminals, according to the councils. A Tri-borough approach will also be adopted for the three councils new public health function, when this responsibility returns to local government in April. A shared public health function, led by a single director of public health, will look to push innovation in the design of health and prevention services across the three boroughs. The Leader of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Sir Merrick Cockell, says: Two years ago our three councils took the bold step of sharing services so we could cope with the unprecedented cuts in government funding but still protect frontline services. Since we embarked on our Tri-borough journey we have proved to local authorities up and down the country that this new approach not only works but provides even better services. The three local authorities are keen to go further and continue working with colleagues across government to put local knowledge at the heart of Whitehall policy making. In particular, the councils are ambitious to see: A top-slicing of Whitehall budgets to provide sustainable funding for services that tackle complex issues, such as troubled families A City Deal style settlement for London to support joint working between boroughs and the GLA to create jobs for, and improve the skills of, young people

A Troubled Families Programme across the three boroughs will help 1,720 families with complex problems turn around their lives over the next three years.

New era for social housing tenants in Hammersmith & Fulham

Lifetime social housing tenancies for new applicants are now a thing of the past in Hammersmith & Fulham. And from April, flagship Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council will also be tightening the rules to make it easier for local people, who have a five year connection to the borough, to access social housing. H&F Council is the first local authority in the country to bring in these radical changes simultaneously -with the Government now calling for other councils to follow H&F's lead and introduce local connection rules. From Tuesday 5th March 2013 the Council is only issuing fixed-term tenancies of five years for new social housing lettings. This will be reduced to two years in certain cases. Under the old system, housing tenants had the right to stay in their home for life unless the tenancy was brought to an end because of a breach. Once the tenant passed away, the right of succession passed onto a family member even if the housing need of the individual was less than other potential applicants. H&F Council believes that system was antiquated and unfair as it did not promote aspiration or provide tenants with any incentive to try to move into home-ownership. It also failed to take into account the fact that a household's need for social housing may be temporary. Existing tenants will be unaffected by this radical shift. New tenancies in sheltered accommodation and for those with special housing or health needs will still be on a lifetime basis. And from this April, the council will be giving greater priority to working households who have a five-year local connection to the borough when allocating social housing. The council will also be prioritising those making a significant contribution to the community, for example ex-service personnel and foster carers. At the same time, households earning above 40,200 will be prevented from accessing the housing register and instead directed towards low-cost home-ownership options. Cllr Andrew Johnson, cabinet member for housing said: "Today we are leading the way in ushering in a new era for social housing. We believe that the notion of a tenancy for life is out-dated and that it is wrong to expect to inherit a welfare benefit in the form of a heavily subsidised house irrespective of housing need. "We also think that it is patently unfair that people can move to this borough from other parts on the country or even further afield and access social housing ahead of hard-working local residents who have been living here for many years. "That is why From April, we will also be giving, local people on low to middle incomes, who make a positive contribution to their local communities, a better chance to access social housing. "The old, antiquated system has created disadvantaged communities by producing concentrations of people on benefits with disproportionately high levels of unemployment and sometimes social breakdown. "In its place, we want to create neighbourhoods where a broad mix of social households all live side-by-side." Two year tenancies will be issued for those with a history of antisocial behaviour and for those between the ages of 18 to 25. The council believes that young people tend to be less experienced than others in managing a tenancy and that the council should be able to review how things are going after a relatively short period and that particular incentives need to be in place to encourage tenants to manage their tenancies well. The council will also be encouraging younger people to look for housing in the private rented sector. The new system will give the council the opportunity to review whether the rationale for granting the tenancy in the first place is still there and will also encourage good behaviour and greater contributions to community life and the local economy. Anyone from any part of the country, and indeed overseas, could today apply to go onto the register under the old allocations system. That meant that the number of people on the register (10,300) did not reflect the number of local people in real housing need in the borough. In fact, one person has been on the waiting list in Hammersmith & Fulham for 36 years. In the meantime, almost 5,000 people have joined the council's register for low-cost home ownership. H&F Council recently set up its own housing company in order to meet the huge demand for low cost homes in the borough. This means that the council is now building its own homes for the first time in 30 years. This housing company, together with a joint venture with the private sector, will see 500 low cost homes built in the next ten years. The council is also on course to have helped 1,000 families into low cost homes through discounted market sale and intermediate rent schemes by the end of the year.

New Free Schools and Academies prove hugely popular

According to figures released today, West London Free School is the most popular school in Hammersmith & Fulham, with 1,179 applications for places this September, of which 296 were first preference applications. The Catholic boys school, London Oratory, retains its popularity with 793 applications (293 first preferences,) with two academies, Burlington Danes and Hammersmith Academy receiving 778 and 714 applications respectively. Sacred Heart Girls School received 314 first preference applications, more than any other school, and received 675 applications overall. These latest figures for applications to our schools show that our newest schools are proving extremely popular with local families and that our Schools of Choice strategy to expand the options for H&F parents, is working, says Cllr Helen Binmore, Cabinet Member for childrens services. Standards in all our schools are increasing dramatically and they continue to go from strength to strength. Our new free schools and academies have added new choices, without undermining other local schools. Instead they are encouraging families to opt for local state schools rather than choosing schools outside the borough or independent schools. The number of applications for secondary school places rose by 216 on last year, to 5,860. The proportion of students getting into their top choice school rose to 56.7% from 54.5% last year and the number securing a place in one of their top three choices rose to 81% from 78% last year. Hammersmith & Fulham Council launched its Schools of Choice strategy in 2006 is response to high numbers of families either moving out of the borough when their children reached secondary school age or choosing schools in the private sector or in other boroughs. In 2006, only 38% of local children went to local state schools. That number is now well over 60%, although the final figure for this year will not be known until families decide whether to take up the offers they have received. Part of the strategy included encouraging free schools and new academies into the borough, a move that some critics suggested would exclude local people from less affluent backgrounds, or destabilse other schools. "It is now clear that the significant extension in the range of options now available has been hugely popular with parents and has helped drive up school standards across the board, adds Cllr Binmore. The West London Free School came under particular attack in its early days, but it is now clear that it takes a large proportion of local families including many children from less affluent backgrounds and it is performing extremely well. Greg Hands M.P. added: "Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea are at the heart of the free schools and academies revolution, and I strongly support these moves. I am delighted to now see Fulham Cross and Henry Compton schools becoming academies. The next stage will be the creation of the new Fulham Boys School, where I am actively helping in the search for a site."

Royal Borough announces new programme to help end human trafficking

A two-year programme to help stamp out human trafficking both here in the capital and abroad, has been announced by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The initiative is being formally launched this week. The Council has successfully bid for a European Commission grant of 317,693 and is also contributing 52,000 from its Community Safety Partnership funds towards the scheme. The Royal Borough is the lead organisation for the initiative which will see the funding distributed to the Metropolitan Police's trafficking unit and partner agencies operating in Kensington and Chelsea, City of Westminster, Perugia (Italy) and Kaunas (Lithuania). These specialists will raise awareness and skills for resisting traffickers amongst vulnerable groups and also provide victim support services to prevent re-trafficking. Data from the UK Human Trafficking Centre found that in 2011 there were 2,077 potential victims of human trafficking in the UK. In 2012 the Metropolitan Police Trafficked Victims Unit dealt with 147 victims and undertook 91 operations. A recent investigation into a Russian and European-based organised criminal network resulted in the rescue of thirteen young, vulnerable Eastern European victims from premises in Kensington, Chelsea and Queensway. Lithuania has been identified by the police as a source location for trafficked victims in the United Kingdom. Many vulnerable young women from care institutions are tricked, coerced or forced to leave to work in the sex industry. Italy is both a destination country for trafficking victims and a transit country for co-ordination and onward trafficking of victims from Eastern Europe and Africa. As human trafficking is a transnational issue, the project will also work with all EU embassies located within Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster in order to improve consular support to victims and prevent the re-trafficking of repatriated victims back to the UK or elsewhere in the EU. Councillor Rock Feilding-Mellen, the Royal Borough's Cabinet Member for Civil Society, said: "Human trafficking is a terrible and complex crime so resources need to be given to help those agencies that have proven experience of tackling the issue. "This two-year programme funds specialist anti-trafficking police officers and charities to tackle this issue at source and equip those vulnerable of being trafficked with the skills to resist, as well as giving victims the support they need to escape this cycle of abuse." Westminster City Council's Cabinet Member for Community Protection and Premises, Councillor Nickie Aiken, said: "The trafficking of vulnerable people across Europe is a repugnant crime that too often goes undetected in large cities. This programme aims to get to the root of the matter and harness expert officers to stamp out the practice, while also offering much-needed support to survivors of trafficking." Bex Keer, Team Manager for Stop the Traffik, stated: "Stop the Traffik is committed to exploring a pioneering multi-agency approach to tackling trafficking through this initiative. It is rare to have the opportunity to invest in a 360 degree response that includes prevention, intervention and aftercare of survivors." This project began in January 2013 and will run for 24 months.

Hands in the media:

Tory MP: Its 'hard to shed a tear' for Chavez

MSN News Wednesday 6th March 2013 UK MPs have offered very different assessments via Twitter of the Venezuelan president after his death. As in life, Hugo Chavez is as equally controversial in death if tweets from British MPs are anything to go by. Conservative MP Greg Hands, an assistant whip, who said it was hard to shed a tear for Chavez on his Twitter account. He offered his view about the dead Venezuelan president in a series of tweets, describing how he was caught up in an attempted coup in 1992.

But Respect MP George Galloway bid Comandante Chavez farewell in a tweet that hailed the deceased leader as a modern day Spartacus.

Jon Trickett, Labour's shadow minister for the cabinet office, was fulsome in his praise of Chavez via Twitter describing the South American leader, who he met in London, as a titan of a man. Labours shadow public health minister Diane Abbott offered her commiserations to his family and the people of Venezuela, tweeting it was a tragedy for Latin America and the Caribbean. But Chris Bryant, a former Europe minister in the last Labour government, offered a mixed assessment of the South Americans leaders record in a tweet.

Hands in the media:

Ed Balls dominates Labour party as supporters pack frontbench

Wintour and Watt Blog, www.guardian.co.uk Tuesday 5th March 2013 Tories warn that a 'Brownite cabal' now runs the Labour party as supporters of David Miliband are sidelined It has not been a glorious month for Ed Balls. Gordon Brown's biographer, Anthony Seldon, told him in an open letter in the New Statesman last month to take a sabbatical until 2017 to ensure Ed Miliband's breath no longer has the "smell of a toxic brand". And then Balls struggled to capitalise on George Osborne's difficulty when Moody's deprived Britain of its Triple A credit rating, as Benedict Brogan noted in the Daily Telegraph. But Balls can take comfort. Research by the Tory whip Greg Hands has found that the shadow chancellor maintains quite a grip on the Labour frontbench. Hands has trawled through the list which shows how every Labour MP voted in the 2010 leadership contest. This shows Balls has the best record of ensuring that his supporters have been rewarded with and have since maintained places on the frontbench. Hands calculates that, on the basis of first preference votes, 51% of those who supported Balls sit on the frontbench compared with 45% of Ed Miliband's supporters, 38% of David Miliband's supporters, 13% of Andy Burnham's supporters and 0% of Diane Abbott's supporters. Hands says: The Brownite cabal at the top of Labour is prospering, and the easing out of David Miliband supporters illustrates Labour's dangerous lurch to the left. These figures show the continuing takeover at the top of the Labour party by the Brownites at the expense of the Blairites, as supporters of the Two Eds win out over supporters of David Miliband. Remarkably, to prosper personally in today's Labour party, you're best off having voted in 2010 for the candidate who came 3rd - Ed Balls, and if you voted for the candidate who came 1st amongst MPs - David Miliband - you're probably toast. Ed Miliband's supporters are likely to dismiss the idea of a Balls takeover on the grounds that the Labour leader received more than twice the number of votes as the shadow chancellor in the MPs and MEPs section. Miliband won 84 first preference votes in this section compared with 40 for Balls. This meant it was more difficult for Ed Miliband to reward all his supporters. The leadership will also say that David Miliband's two joint campaign managers Douglas Alexander and Jim Murphy have prospered. They are, respectively, shadow foreign secretary and shadow defence secretary. But the research by Hands highlights one characteristic of Balls which he shares with his mentor, Gordon Brown. The shadow chancellor, whose long standing ally David Watts was elected last year as chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party, goes to great length to look after his supporters.

5 ways to contact Greg Hands M.P.:

By Phone: By email: By post: In person: 020 7219 5448 mail@greghands.com Greg Hands M.P. House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Click here for details of how to book an appointment at Greg Hands M.P.s weekly surgery

www.greghands.com

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Greg Hands M.P. a strong voice for Chelsea & Fulham

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