The Terrence Higgins Trust, Elton John Aids Foundation and National Aids Trust have launched a campaign to ensure that when the Government publishes its long-awaited HIV Action Plan later this year, it takes the bold and ambitious steps necessary to end domestic cases of HIV within the decade. Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has announced his support for the campaign.

In December 2020, the independent HIV Commission published a report with a set of recommendations that would enable the government to meet the target of eliminating domestic cases of HIV by 2030.

The government agreed to use the report as the basis for its HIV Action Plan Policy, which it has promised to publish in 2021. The Terrence Higgins Trust, Elton John Aids Foundation and National Aids Trust are now calling for the government to meet its promise and include the recommendations of the HIV Commission in its policy.

Andrew Gwynne said: 

’80 new cases of HIV are detected every week in the UK, and it is vital that the recommendations of the HIV Commission are incorporated into the government’s action plan.

 

That’s why I support the Terrence Higgins Trust, Elton John Aids Foundation, and the National Aids Trust in their campaign to ensure that the government meets its promise and delivers a plan that proactively tackles the HIV epidemic.

 

There needs to be cross-party support for a plan that starts the process of ending new cases of HIV and supports those who live with HIV.’

For further information on the campaign visit hivcommision.org.uk

The post Gwynne supports bold HIV Action Plan appeared first on Andrew Gwynne MP.

As part on my ongoing work to represent residents in Newcastle Great Park, this week I again met with representatives of developers on Newcastle Great Park/Newcastle Great Park Consortium, Newcastle City Council and Northumbria Police to discuss concerns raised with me by constituents and receive an update on a number of issues. Below are some … Continue reading GREAT PARK UPDATE →

Yesterday I joined Rights for Residents at their virtual petition hand-in on Parliament Square. I spoke to campaigners about their experiences of being unable to visit their loved ones in care homes, and how it has impacted on their lives. Rights for Residents have been campaigning tirelessly for the rights of people living in care homes. They have now reached almost a quarter of a million signatures on their petition.

It has been over fourteen months since care homes closed their doors to visitors. This has not only caused them terrible anguish, but harmed the physical and mental health of care home residents too. Even though government guidance now allows care home residents to receive up to two visitors, some care homes are yet to implement this.

Alongside campaign groups including Rights for Residents, Labour are supporting the rights of care home residents to see family to be enshrined in law, and know that family members are not ‘just’ visitors – they provide essential care.

Rights for Residents are calling for the Government to:

• Pass emergency legislation that enshrines the right of an Essential Care Giver in law to provide emotional and well being support, regardless of outbreaks, tier restrictions, lockdowns or future variants.
• Mandate the Care Home Visiting Guidance with clear penalties for those that refuse to follow it.
• Remove the unnecessary 28 day quarantine period for care home residents following an outbreak – in line with the ten day requirement for the rest of the population.

Get involved and sign the Rights for Residents petition here.

The post Liz joins Rights for Residents campaigners appeared first on Liz Kendall.

Nottingham city centre is key for the local economy and its success relies on many different factors – people who live directly in the city, office and other workers who have normally commuted into the city, and a those who visit us for our wide range of leisure and shopping options.

Our vision has always been to make the city centre a great place to live, work and enjoy. We are the economic centre of a travel to work area that includes almost one million people and have the best public transport in the country. Although this is essential to maintaining our regional appeal, it’s also a vital way for Nottingham people to get to where they need to go in an affordable and timely way. 

We continue to support a wide range of world class cultural offers for visitors – yes, the Castle re-opening 21^st June 2021 will be a massive attraction and boost to the city centre economy, as we have already discussed this afternoon and about which I will go into more detail in answer to a later question, but also the Nottingham Playhouse, The Theatre Royal, Motorpoint Arena, National Justice Museum, Nottingham Contemporary Art Gallery, the Cineworld cinema in the corner house as well as the smaller but much loved Broadway cinema.

The city centre has a wide range of places to eat and drink which if they have outdoor areas are already busy, with others due to join the unlock as indoor eating spaces will be open in a few weeks time. Most recently we have supported this important food and drink and night time economy in the city centre with business grants – with some of the best operators in the country, all now competing to put out chairs and tables in the busiest bits of the city – Hockley, Sneinton Market, Angel Row, Canalside  and other sites – all of which are very busy now, having endured the past twelve months of Covid and restrictions.

Our events team and other event providers in the city, mean there is always something on – in the Old Market Square, but also Hockley Hustle, Sneinton Market events, music events at Rock City and other venues – many people come for these events from a distance. A lot of the events reflect the diverse nature of the city – Caribbean Carnival, Pride, Chinese New Year, International Food Markets. Our square is used for markets, but also for celebrations, for solemn occasions, for protest or for just sitting in the sun, it’s a wonderful asset at the heart of the city centre and is a great attraction to those living near and further afield.

The Southern Gateway has various projects which are complete or on the way to being complete, Broadmarsh Carpark, Nottingham College, Castle, Carrington Street heritage improvement, together with a number of new office and accommodation schemes have left the southern part of the city centre unrecognisable.

The Island Quarter development has started in the last few months; together with this and other schemes at the early stages of development, we have some impressive “cranes in the air” live projects that will make the city even more positive to visit – this includes work starting now on the Island Quarter event space and hotel, bringing areas long vacant back into productive use.

We can’t predict the effect that Covid will leave on our city centre, but we do know that people are already returning, and I am confident they will bring a much needed boost to the local economy.

The post Improving the City Centre to Create Jobs and Boost the Local Economy appeared first on Nottingham Labour.

The post Inquiry into the impact of Covid 19 across Kashmir appeared first on Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

This week we marked Earth Day – a chance to think about the damage that we are doing to our environment and the ways in which we can change our behaviour to make a difference. This year’s focus was on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems. We all need a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods, health & survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option — it is a necessity. There are so many things we can do personally in the UK – from ensuring we leave no rubbish in our environment or joining a clean-up crew; considering how we buy products, whether that’s the food we eat or the clothes we buy; or by thinking about how we get around, using public transport where we can, active travel options or car-pooling. These may only be small steps, but by encouraging this behaviour among the population, we can build the understanding that we need to develop within public life to encourage change on a greater scale. Find out more about how you can take action here.

On Monday I joined three APPG Zoom meetings. The first was the AGM of the APPG for Boxing. Chris Evans was re-elected chair, and I was very pleased to be elected as vice-chair. We spoke about our plan for meetings for 2021, which includes meeting the UK Government Schools Minister Nick Gibb to discuss the future of boxing in schools in May; a panel event in June to celebrate women in boxing; in July we shall be discussing concussion in boxing; and in September we shall discuss GB boxing performance at the Tokyo Olympics.

The second was the AGM and panel event of the APPG on Vegetarianism and Veganism. I was honoured to be re-elected chair of the APPG, very pleased that Vegetarian for Life and The Vegan Society are continuing as co-sponsors, and that The Vegan Society will continue to provide the secretariat. The panel discussion topic was “Out of the EU, can the UK now lead on more inclusive medicine developing and labelling”. Our guest speakers were: Sheetal Ladva a Medicines Information Pharmacist and member of the Plant Based Health Professional Group; Dr Hannah Short a GP and specialist in female hormonal health; and Hira Aslam a pharmacist and founder of Vegan Chemist start up. The guest speakers were addressing our APPG in a personal capacity as healthcare professionals, not representing their employers or organisations. Research published in the British Medical Journal found that 74 of 100 medications prescribed in UK primary care contain animal derived ingredients. Vegans and vegetarians, together with some religious groups whose beliefs involve excluding animal products, are affected by this. But there is no legal requirement for ingredients of animal origin to be specified on medicine labelling. This leaves patients with questions about their prescriptions and therefore lacking information to make an informed decision, and leaves healthcare professionals seeking answers. When information is available the lack of animal free alternatives to many common medicines leaves patients of having to compromise their beliefs to avoid risking their health. Our APPG looked at this in 2017, and contacted Jeremy Hunt MP, the then Secretary of State for Health, and requested that his department look into this matter, but with Brexit negotiations it was uncertain over future responsibility over medicine regulation. Now that Brexit negotiations have concluded, we are revisiting imperfect labelling’s impact on patients, and looking for practical solutions.

Following the very sad passing of Cheryl Gillan MP, a Zoom meeting of the APPG on Autism was convened, for which Cheryl has been the chair for many years. Huw Merriman MP has taken over as the chair, and I have been re-elected vice-chair. The meeting gave us an opportunity to pay tribute to Cheryl and her tireless work on behalf of autism. I paid tribute to her as someone who had become a friend. Cheryl asked me to take over as the chair of the APPG for Sepsis when she stood down as the chair after many years. I was so honoured that Cheryl thought that I could perform this role, and follow in her footsteps. Cheryl believed in working cross-party for causes that rise above politics, and she will be sorely missed.

Tuesday morning, I joined a Unite the Union briefing for MPs about the closure of GKN Automotive, Birmingham, putting 519 jobs at risk. This was announced on 28th January, with winding down taking place over the following 18 months. Corporate owner Melrose plan to offshore production to Poland and France. GKN supplies major UK car builders including Jaguar Land Rover and Toyota with driveline components which account for 15% of a vehicle. Unite shop stewards working with independent experts have tabled a two-stage plan; a productivity plan to improve the plant, followed by a transition to new products for electric vehicles. We are calling on the UK Government to back workers and intervene to stop the closure; support the UK auto industry supply chain; accept that the closure of GKN would jeopardise the UK’s ability to transition to electric vehicles ahead of the 2030 ban; and accept that closure makes a fiction of the UK Government’s levelling up agenda in a constituency facing chronic unemployment.

The APPG for T-Levels was constituted at its inaugural meeting, at which I was elected to serve as an officer. UK Government Secretary of State Gavin Williamson MP and Minister for Apprentices and Skills Gillian Keegan MP were guest speakers. As Chair of the APPG for Hairdressing, Barbering, and Cosmetology, I brought to the attention of the Minister that apprentices in our industry have not been able to fulfil their skills training and qualifications because salons have been closed for a large period of time since the first lockdown began in March 2020. These apprentices are over one year behind in gaining their qualifications and need to be supported by the UK Government to complete their awards. Furthermore, practitioners in our industry have received very little, if any, funding from the UK Government during lockdown and have fallen through the gaps in support. Practitioners have been unable to trade for large periods, therefore, the Minister should consider paying for apprentices’ wages, because salon employers are struggling. Salons depend on apprentices to help with clients in many ways, and trainees are indispensable to the success of a salon. I also asked the Minister to support the Hair Council, which is the statutory body under The Hairdressers (Registration) Act 1964, who has been campaigning for many years to amend the Act to include mandatory registration for all practitioners and amend it to include the beauty industry. Mandatory registration would enable the regulation of an industry that brings in over £6 billion per annum to the UK economy, but has some unscrupulous practitioners that practice without any recognised qualifications.

I joined the APPG End of Life virtual meeting chaired by Karin Smith MP and Andrew Mitchell MP, with guest speaker Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State Health and Social Care, and members of the public who have personal experience of the current law. The meeting discussed assisted dying and the current political landscape, in the UK and internationally. Since the start of the year there have been huge developments internationally. Tasmania has become the third Australian state to legalise assisted dying, following Victoria and Western Australia, and there has been an overwhelming referendum for support in New Zealand. Spain and Portugal have passed legislation on choice at the end of life and debates are ongoing in Ireland, France and Germany. In the UK individuals have continued to take desperate decisions to end their own lives, particularly given the increased difficulty of overseas travel to countries where choice at the end of life is available. The ONS found that one in seven suicides can be linked to individuals experiencing cancer, neurological, heart or lung disease. There is a need to understand more and gather more evidence about the experiences and choices that dying people experience in the UK who do not have the safeguarded choice at the end of life available to the millions of people in similar jurisdictions around the world.

Liz Twist MP, Chair of the APPG on Rare, Genetic and Undiagnosed Conditions, organised a webinar to discuss access to rare diseases medicines. Guest speakers included Kye Gbangbola, Sickle Cell Society; Kate Learoyd, National Society for Phenylketonuria; Lord Bethell, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Innovation); Emily Crossley, Duchenne UK; Jess Hobart, UK Mastocytosis Support Group; Roanna Maharaj, UK Thalassaemia Society; Meindert Boysen, Deputy Chief Executive and Director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation NICE ; and Nina Pinwell, Head of Commercial Operations, Commercial Medicines Directorate, NHS England and NHS Improvement. All speakers made passionate pleas to the Minister and to Mr Boysen and Ms Pinwell to make available and to fund medicines that are available to improve, and in some cases save, lives of people suffering from these rare diseases. As vice-chair of the APPG for PKU, I pointed out to the Minister and to NICE and NHS representatives, that Kuvan, the medicine that has been available since 2008, successfully trialled, but not recommended by NICE, therefore not funded by the NHS, would have allowed all PKU sufferers to eat a normal diet, instead of being restricted to a diet without protein. People with PKU, cannot process and digest PKU, which is toxic to them and results in lifestyle changes that are very difficult or impossible to manage.

After many years of campaigning by Kate Learoyd and her volunteers in NSPKU, last month, Kuvan was recommended in a NICE report for sufferers aged below 18 years of age, for cost effective reasons. The report went to public consultation and the PKU family and the APPG made submissions asking for Kuvan to be available for all ages. Whilst I welcome progress after such a long campaign, imagine what it would be like to be able to take Kuvan through childhood and adolescence, lead a near normal life, and to reach your 18th birthday and have to change diet overnight to not eating any protein. There are so many challenges at this age, without having to cope with such a drastic, cliff edge, lifestyle transformation. Needless to say, the answers were totally unsatisfactory and very demoralising.

This week we marked Earth Day – a chance to think about the damage that we are doing to our environment and the ways in which we can change our behaviour to make a difference. This year’s focus was on natural processes, emerging green technologies, and innovative thinking that can restore the world’s ecosystems. We all need a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods, health & survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option — it is a necessity. There are so many things we can do personally in the UK – from ensuring we leave no rubbish in our environment or joining a clean-up crew; considering how we buy products, whether that’s the food we eat or the clothes we buy; or by thinking about how we get around, using public transport where we can, active travel options or car-pooling. These may only be small steps, but by encouraging this behaviour among the population, we can build the understanding that we need to develop within public life to encourage change on a greater scale. Find out more about how you can take action here.

On Thursday I attended an EveryDoctor confidential briefing for MPs entitled “Is the NHS being privatised?”. EveryDoctor is a not-for-profit membership organisation representing 1700 UK doctors, receives feedback from NHS frontline staff daily via the 40,000 NHS staff in its network and advocates for the safety and well-being of every doctor, NHS worker and patient. EveryDoctor plans to set up an APPG about privatisation of the NHS which would start forming policy recommendations to ensure that the NHS stays in public hands for future generations.

As always, if you have any questions or issues and want to get in touch about matters that fall under my role as an MP, please do not hesitate to email on christina.rees.mp@parliament.uk or call on 01639 630152. My staff are working from home to comply with the social distancing measures, but as always, we are available should you need to get in contact with us. I hope you stay well, and remember – observe social distancing, wash your hands regularly and keep Wales safe.

Worker’s Memorial Day is always a poignant moment each year. It’s an opportunity to reflect on those workers who’ve lost their lives in the workplace. It’s a chance to pay tribute to the incredible campaigning efforts of our trade union and labour movement. And it’s a chance to recommit ourselves to the fight for a better, safer world of work.

Speaking about the proposed Greville Road layout changes, Karin Smyth, MP for Bristol South, said:

“I am aware of the considerable interest in the scheme and have been in open communication with residents and local road users alike. It is my sincere hope that as many people as possible took part in the consultation exercise undertaken by Bristol City Council.

“It’s important that consultations of this type not only listen to the views requested, but also reach out to those who feel the language or supporting documentation is not sufficient. I am pursuing this very issue with the Council presently.

“Traffic management schemes, be them large or small, should hold the primary focus of reducing and not simply displacing vehicle movements. It makes very little sense if any plan increases congestion and pollution on alternate routes. Liveable Neighbourhoods are not just one road and decisions should be undertaken with that in mind.”

The post Statement on Greville Road layout proposals first appeared on Karin Smyth.

On May 6, alongside the London mayoral and assembly elections, there will be a referendum in Tower Hamlets on how the council is run.

As the vaccine rollout continues across Birmingham we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel after what has been a truly difficult year for all of us.

We all know someone whose health or employment has been affected by the events of the past 12 months, and as we look to the end of the covid restrictions I’m determined to see the government provide Birmingham with the support it needs to rebuild its healthcare and employment capacity.

While the numbers of covid patients is decreasing, our NHS will have a mountain to climb to provide care for those with other conditions whose treatment has been deferred. Recent figures show 300,000 patients now waiting a year or more to receive care as a result of the pandemic.

Please don’t hesitate to  contact me in the coming months if you have been affected by these issues and I can help in any way.

Birmingham Coronavirus Update

Following the first stage of the unlocking process, the following changes to the coronavirus restrictions came into effect on the 8th March:

• Wraparound childcare and other supervised children’s activities can resume where they enable parents to work, seek work, attend education, seek medical care or attend a support group
• Care home residents will be allowed one regular visitor provided they are tested and wear PPE
• The Stay at Home requirement will remain, but people can leave home for recreation outdoors such as a coffee or picnic with their household or support bubble, or with one person outside their household
• Some university students on practical courses will be able to return to face to face learning 

Call for an independent inquiry into the Government’s handling of the pandemic

Alongside my fellow Birmingham Labour MPs and Council leader Ian Ward, I have called for a full independent public inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.

Many residents have raised this issue with me, and want to know why the UK had the highest death rates in the world and whether these deaths were preventable. I believe we have a duty to those who have lost loved ones to ensure a full, independent, and transparent investigation into how our country has handled the pandemic.

“The pandemic has undoubtedly presented unprecedented challenges to governments around the world. There has not been a crisis like this is living memory and combatting this deadly virus was always going to be difficult. However, it must be acknowledged that the UK has seen one of the highest death tolls in the world and questions are now rightly being asked about what led us to this position.”

You can read the full letter here.

Support for a nurses pay rise

Over the past year our health workers have given everything while under historic pressure to save lives and cope with the huge number of extra patients in our hospitals. 

After all they’ve been through it cannot be right that the 12,289 nurses in Birmingham have been offered a real terms pay cut by the government. We must do better for them than that, after all they’ve done for the country there must be a fair pay settlement.

We’ve all been encouraged to show our appreciation throughout this crisis, but claps don’t pay the bills. I sincerely hope that the government will reconsider its recommended 1% pay increase. 

Celebrating St Patrick’s Day

This St Patrick’s Day was unlike any other in generations.

Coming from an Irish family, I saw the great solidarity and cohesion of the Irish community in Britain. It is heart-warming to witness this togetherness reaffirm itself during these challenging times.

I hope that all members of the Irish community in Hodge Hill found a way to mark the day, and that next year we will be able to come together as usual! 

Fighting to safeguard employment

Second only to the health impact of Coronavirus is its impact on the economy and employment. That is why I’ve written to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak calling for a £7.8 billion Budget ‘fair share funding’ boost for our area to tackle the jobs crisis.

Businesses need help to bounce back from the Covid crisis, and we must do every we can to support them by extending the furlough scheme in a targeted way, extending business interruption and bounce back loans, enabling interest free deferral of VAT, and extending targeted business rate relief.

Alongside help for existing business we must make sure big projects such as HS2 and the Commonwealth Games deliver jobs and long term benefits for local people.

You can currently apply for one of over 200 vacancies with HS2 and its partners at the following link: https://www.hs2.org.uk/careers/careers-with-our-supply-chain/jobs

The post March Roundup appeared first on Liam Byrne MP.

Click here to read my March 2021 Newsletter

In my newsletter, you will find information about the work I’ve been doing this month as Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kiburn and Labour’s Shadow Minister for Children and Early Years:

• Helping with the vaccine roll out
• US firm takeover of GP surgeries
• Tackle the climate and ecological emergency
• Now is the time to Free Nazanin
• International Women’s Day
• Campaigning as Shadow Children’s Minister
• Standing up for the early years sector
• Vaccinations for education workers
• World Book Day

Judith, alongside Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of the council and Tracy Brabin, candidate for West Yorkshire Mayor, has called for the Government to ensure there is a Northern Powerhouse Rail stop in the city centre.

Representing all three of Bradford’s Labour MPs, Judith said: “There is a world out there that would open up with an NPR stop here in Bradford city centre.

“It would increase our opportunities for job search, it would mean our businesses thrive.

“It’s a massive deal for Bradford, I can’t think of anything bigger at the moment.”

You can read the full article on the Telegraph & Argus website by clicking here

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The post Steve Reed calls on Council to work with residents to save South Norwood Library appeared first on Steve Reed MP.

I recently coordinated a cross party letter with Robert Halfon MP which gathered almost 100 signatures across both Houses in support of my School Breakfast Bill.

As a result of the reduced parliamentary calendar during lockdown, my Bill has been indefinitely postponed. However, with child food insecurity rising and the educational attainment gap growing, there is now an urgency for this Bill.

I am deeply concerned that the Government’s National School Breakfast Programme reaches just 7% of the schools meeting the government’s own eligibility criteria and that funding will end altogether in July 2021. This will leave thousands of children without access to the free school breakfast they have come to rely on.

The proposed School Breakfast Bill would address this issue. The Bill proposed scaling up school breakfast funding to all the 8,700 schools with high levels of disadvantage in England. The Bill also proposed making support to schools permanent at a cost of just over £300m annually. This could be funded by the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL) which continues to raise approximately £340m each year. In addition to this, research from Sustain has found more than £700m raised from the Levy since 2018 is unaccounted for. The unspent SDIL revenue can be allocated towards scaling up school breakfast provision.  

I really hope the Government accepts our proposals in the School Breakfast Bill so that every child at risk of hunger can have a free, nutritious school breakfast and be ready to start their day of learning.

I wanted to take a moment to explain my reasoning behind abstaining from the vote in Parliament on Wednesday (30/12) as the Governments’ Brexit deal returned to the House of Commons.

From the outset, I have sought to respect the decision of the referendum in 2016 and have been happy to work with colleagues in Parliament to deliver a compromise between those 16 million people who voted to remain in the EU, and the 17 million who voted to leave with the myriad of different options that would entail. It has become clear to me over the last 4 years that many people who voted to leave the EU in Gateshead, did so for very different reasons and with very different expectations of our future relationship ranging from close alignment like Norway, to what has now been termed a hard Brexit, essentially no formal trading relationship with the European Union, operating on basic WTO rules instead. I was re-elected to represent Gateshead at the last General Election on the pledge to respect the result of the referendum and to negotiate a deal that would meet the 6 key tests.

It would seem that successive Conservative Prime Ministers have seem set on rail-roading their respective deals through Parliament without proper scrutiny our accountability, and this week is no different. It appears to be the case that the Government may have sought to hold out for demands within the negotiations that they knew could not be agreed, around fishing quotas as an example, knowing that once these demands were dropped a deal could be agreed between both sides. They have then sought to drop these demands as Parliament goes into recess for the Christmas period, and bring back a deal of some 1200 pages for 5 hours of debate at 3 working days’ notice; 48 hours before the UK would end the transition period with no deal if this was not agreed.

The deal itself does not satisfy the 6 key tests I was elected on, and the way in which the Government appear to have manipulated the Parliamentary calendar to force MP’s into a vote quite literally between this deal or no deal, brings great shame on any type of Parliamentary Sovereignty. What we now have in the UK is Government sovereignty without proper input or scrutiny from democratically elected Members of Parliament.

To this end, I found that while a deal, even this deal, is better than a no deal, I could not in good conscience vote in favour of a deal which did not satisfy the key tests in the manifesto on which I was elected, and in essence to vote to help the Government extricate themselves from a mess entirely of their own making. It is the Government who have sought to negotiate this deal alone, it is they who have forced the timetable for approval and who have removed any Parliamentary Sovereignty and scrutiny from the timetable and it is the Government who must be judged on the success or failure of this deal.

As a local resident of Gateshead for over 40 years, I absolutely hope that this deal goes far enough to safeguard jobs and livelihoods of families across the North East. I also hope that this does not lead to shortage of supplies or price increases. This affects us all, and in many ways I do not wish the Government deal to fail to protect us from any negative consequences of it. However, with the way the whole process has been manipulated to force MP’s into a corner, and with the deal not meeting the 6 key tests set out in the manifesto on which I was elected, I could not see fit to vote in favour.

This is the Conservative Government’s deal, their deliberate mismanagement has brought it to Parliament, on a timetable manufactured by them, with no time for appropriate scrutiny, it’s their deal and they should own it!

I hope this sets out my reasoning, as ever please do get in touch should you have any further questions.

Easy level: information courses. The main goal is to inform employees and tell how to use the acquired knowledge in work. For example, to get acquainted with a new product of the company. There may not be a hero and a plot. Therefore, in the scenario it is enough to describe on which slide what to tell: for example, on the first – about the main characteristics of the product, on the second – about the advantages over competitors.

Intermediate level: motivational courses. The main goal is to motivate employees to change their approach to work or attitude to something. For example, staff do not follow fire safety rules in the workplace, and you need to motivate employees.

In such courses, the character works well – involves in training. In the material about fire safety, a fire instructor will look logical. He will tell you what the neglect of the rules leads to and how to avoid an emergency. It is also important to add more practical assignments.

Difficult level: training course. The main goal is to pump up an old skill or develop a new one. There must be a history. Here it is important to think about the plot, the conflict, the place and time of the action, the main character and more.

Below I will tell you how to write a script for a training course. If you take this height, it is easy to handle tasks easier.

The results of the step: you have determined what type of course will best solve the tasks.

The post How to write a script for an e-course appeared first on Berger.

The post Very proud day today – the law change I fought for to protect pensioners comes into force appeared first on Mark Tami.

A&E @ the Glam – Strength in Unity

I have said from the very beginning that if we are to ensure a 24 hour A&E Service at RGH then we need to forget about Party Politics, and come together to work cross-party.

We need you to play your part too, by signing the below letter. If you wish to do so then please let me know by filling in the form at the bottom of this page:

 

The configuration of Emergency NHS services across Cwm Taf Morgannwg has changed over the years – and will continue to change along with medical advances and changes in the local population. We welcome, for instance, the development of the new Major Trauma Centre at UHW, which will almost certainly save lives and we recognise that for some specialist forms of care it will be necessary to travel to a regional centre of excellence such as the Burns Unit at Morriston. We also understand that there is a UK-wide shortage of Emergency Consultants. and that Cwm Taf Morgannwg is not in a unique position with the recruitment challenges it faces,but would note that 5 of the 7 LHBs in Wales have substantially increased emergency consultant numbers over the last 6 years whereas Cwm Taf Morgannwg has not. We would argue that the uncertainty created over the future of the hospital due to the South Wales Programme has itself created a self-fulfilling prophecy about recruitment problems.

Our starting point, however, is that all NHS services should be safe, efficient and delivered as close to people’s homes as is medically and logistically feasible. Time-critical medical interventions can make the difference between life and death in many emergency situations and we are concerned that if the A&E were permanently to close at any one of the three hospitals, significant numbers of patients in some of the most deprived communities would not be able to get to an Emergency Department in time. A&E cannot be seen in isolation from other services such as GP surgeries, local minor injuries units and out-of-hours support. Additional capacity in these services would almost certainly lighten the load in the Emergency Departments, but this must be put in place before any changes to the configuration of Emergency Care is considered, let alone implemented, with evidence that they have substantially reduced the load on Emergency departments required before any changes. Changes to A&E provision at any one of the hospitals would have serious implications for other services within the hospital, including ITU and theatre and might harm the recruitment of other specialists.

There would be significant knock-on effects if the A&E at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital were to be downgraded to a Minor Injuries Unit, as the hospital would almost certainly lose its Intensive Care Unit and operating theatre. This could jeopardise the long-term future of the hospital. The RGH’s Emergency Department is the most used in the area, with roughly 65,000 attendances a year, and ranked the best in terms of viable outcomes.  We fear the two other Emergency Departments would find it impossible to cope with the additional workload and that many patients will travel instead to UHW, which is also already over-stretched. We are also concerned that extra A&E admissions to PCH and POW would put additional pressure on not just their respective A&E depts but onwards and throughout the hospital system. We are determined to work with people of all political parties and trades unions (and none) to get the best possible outcome for the communities we represent. We believe the eventual decision should be informed by clinical best practice and local experience on the ground – and not by any partisan consideration.

We are calling on the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to do the following:
1) Rule out the closure of A&E at the RGH or changing it to a 24-hour Minor Injuries Unit.
2) Reinstate the option of maintaining a full consultant-led A&E at all three hospitals. This would require a serious new attempt at recruiting Emergency Consultants who would have secure full-time permanent posts working across all three hospitals. It would also require at least a ten-year commitment to RGH so that potential staff can apply with confidence.
3) Bring forward proposals to extend the opening hours of the Minor Injuries Unit at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda and Ysbyty Cwm Cynon and make these units more readily accessible for walk-in patients.
4) Bring forward other proposals for community health services, including improvements in the out-of-hours GP service, that might alleviate the pressure on all three A&E departments
and bring services closer to local communities.

In addition, we are calling on the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to publish the following:
1) A socioeconomic and equality impact assessment of any proposed changes.
2) Detailed analyses of travel-to-hospital times, average ambulance response times and levels of car ownership, for all electoral wards in the area. that analyses such times during periods of poor weather.
3) Detailed statistics for levels of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, stroke and infant and adult mortality for all electoral wards in the area. and how they compare with the Welsh averages/wealthier wards in Wales.
4) An assessment of how many patients from each electoral ward would be affected by a proposal to move to an 8 to 8, and 8 to 10 and an 8 to midnight Emergency Department.
5) An assessment of capacity in the Emergency Departments at POW, PCH, and UHW and how they would cope with additional patients.
6) Statistics for the number of patients who are admitted on towards at each hospital from A&E.
7) An assessment of the impact to the Welsh Ambulance Service, Ambulance response times, handover response times, in terms of waiting times at hospitals, blue light trauma travel times
and non-emergency transport between hospitals.

The post A&E at The Royal Glam appeared first on Chris Bryant.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has sent such kind messages to me after last night’s result in Birmingham Northfield. Even though I never took this election – or any election – for granted, it is still a big blow to lose the seat I have represented for 27 years and which is […]

Labour has pledged compensation packages for millions of women hit by state pension age rises imposed by the Tories.

Pay-outs of up to £31,000 will be made, with an average payment of £15,000.

The scheme will be delivered within Labour's first full five year term of government.

Payments will go to women born in the 1950s who had their state pension age hiked.

David Cameron's coalition government presided over a change in the law that increased the women's state pension age to 65 in November 2018 - followed by 66 in October 2020.

Labour will introduce a compensation scheme as rapidly as possible for the 3.7million women hit by the changes, which Cameron's Tory-Lib Dem government imposed in 2011.

It comes after Boris Johnson u-turned on his pledge to help those affected.

He dismissed the concerns of a woman who has lost out on her pension, telling her it’s “not possible” to right the huge wrong she and so many others have suffered.

The next Labour government will compensate women who were unfairly hit by the rise in the state pension age and give them the respect they deserve.

They were not able to prepare and have had to suffer serious financial consequences as a result.

We have a historic debt of honour to them.