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Issued
by: Ashley Lumsden, 5 Glasshouse
Walk, London SE11 5ES
Embargo:
Immediate, 9/12/99
Kramer and Davey launch cost of
living petition
Susan Kramer, Liberal
Democrat candidate for Mayor of London, is launching a
petition today with London Economics Spokesman Edward
Davey MP to call on the Government to introduce a cost of
living index for London.
The index will be used to guarantee that public sector
workers in London get a fair wage, to ensure that those
people such as teachers, nurses and police officers are
not penalised for living and working in London, and to
improve recruitment into the health service, London
schools and the Metropolitan police.
Liberal Democrats have undertaken research into the
public sector recruitment crisis in London. Pay and
conditions are so poor that people are turning their
backs on the public services in London, and the
Government is doing nothing to tackle the problem.
Susan Kramer said:
"We are faced
with a situation whereby hospitals are recruiting nurses
from overseas, where more and more supply teachers are
being employed from agencies to teach in our schools, and
where the Metropolitan Police is left with a budget
surplus from its staff allocation budget because it
cannot recruit enough people.
"Staff shortages are being bridged by the use of
agency staff at huge cost to the taxpayer. Something has
to be done.
"In 1982, the then Conservative Government abolished
the London Weighting Index and since then, no official
measure of the cost of living and working in London has
been collected and published. Because the Government
doesn't have any evidence, it is more difficult to find a
solution.
"We are calling for a new London cost of living
index to be established. That way we can identify the
problems and tackle them to stop the recruitment crisis.
"As an immediate measure, the Government should
identify the cost to taxpayers of agency and supply
staff, the extra cost of training and recruitment, and
the cost of high staff turnover. The money identified can
then be reallocated to increase the London Allowance for
public sector workers where appropriate."
ENDS
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Issued
by: Edward Davey
Embargo:
Immediate, 10/12/99
Davey backs CCTV bids for Hook
Parade and Cambridge Road Estate
Local MP, Edward Davey, has written to Jack Straw to back
a Kingston Council bid for funding towards new CCTV
equipment for the Hook Parade in Chessington and for the
Cambridge Road Estate in Kingston. In his letter, Edward
Davey argues that the "need for both these projects cannot be
stressed too highly".
Arguing for the CCTV bid on the Hook Parade, Mr. Davey
wrote how his constituency work had convinced him of the
urgent need for the project, to tackle the vandalism and
intimidation that residents often have to endure.
He told the Home Secretary that:
"There is a
real community resolve to tackle the problem, with local
councillors, local businesses and the police working
together, but they need external support.
"There is no doubt that CCTV will not only reduce
crime statistics, but it will reduce many more crimes
that aren’t reported. It will help reduce the fear
of crime, which is very genuinely felt especially by our
senior citizens, other young teenagers and women in this
area.
Arguing for the CCTV bid for the Cambridge Road Estate,
Mr. Davey wrote:
"For the first
time in years, a number of grassroots projects are
beginning to flower on the Estate. I think this CCTV
project could be one more ingredient to give the
residents greater confidence in their community, and play
a role in helping these other efforts really take off.
Commenting on this important campaign, Edward Davey said:
"Local people
are fed up of police cuts and fed up of seeing vandalism
and graffiti. If we can win these CCTV bids, they will
help local police, council and communities to start
fighting back. I will do all I can to back the Council in
this important initiative, and will follow up this letter
by raising it with Ministers face to face. This bid will
back up the work of the Safer Stations Initiative I
launched last year and the new CCTV cameras on train
platforms and in Kingston town centre. "
ENDS
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Issued
by: Edward Davey
Embargo:
Immediate, 12/1/2000
"Kingston's NHS short-changed
again!" - Davey
Local
MP launches the 'Kingston NHS Challenge'
Following the recent announcement of
next years budget for Kingston and Richmond Health
Authority, Kingston & Surbiton's MP has uncovered
that this is one of the lowest allocation rises in the
country. The final national rankings, put Kingston
at 86 out of a total of 100 local health
authorities. As a result, Edward Davey has launched
the 'Kingston NHS Challenge' calling for local residents'
help, in his efforts to convince the Secretary of State
for Health of the need for proper funding for Kingston's
health services.
Commenting on the allocation figures, Edward Davey said;
"This latest
insult to the Borough's residents comes unfortunately as
no surprise. Successive Governments have cut
Kingston's share of public funds for schools, the police
and the NHS. This abysmal Labour allocation just
compounds previous Tory cuts.
"Kingston's NHS desperately needs more funding. Even
the new accident and emergency department will be of no
use if we don't have the numbers of qualified staff
needed to run it.
"I am determined to change the way Ministers and
Whitehall see Kingston. We do have our own real problems,
so we shouldn't always be bottom of the pile.
"I hope local residents can help me change
Ministerial minds"
"If they write to me with their experience of the
consequences of NHS under funding then I will personally
make sure that their cases are placed on the Secretary of
State for Health's desk. If we create such a large
pile of cases for him to see, then it will become
impossible for him to deny the fact that Kingston's
health service needs further funding just to meet the
basic needs of its residents."
ENDS.
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