August 2011

Update: Bombardier

Submitted by Heather on 16 August 2011 - 1:46pm

I am sure many of my readers have recently heard and read about a situation with Bombardier. The firm failed in its bid for the £1.4 billion Thameslink contract to German company Siemens, leaving many workers from South Derbyshire left questioning whether their jobs will be maintained. This was following an earlier government contract in 2009 when they lost out to Hitachi. I have been working hard to find out why Bombardier lost out on this government contract to Siemens including two meetings with Philip Hammond, Transport Secretary and a meeting with the Prime Minister to discuss options for Bombardier.

Below I have attached below a sample of the correspondence I have either sent or received regarding Bombardier. This is only a small element of the work I have been undertaking on this issue, particularly my personal contacts direct with Bombardier. Be assured I will continue to work hard to ensure that Bombardier and its employee’s interests are well represented in Westminster.

I will update this blog section as the months unfold.

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AXA is offering a generous £40,000 mentoring package to five talented 11-18 year olds

Submitted by Heather on 11 August 2011 - 4:38pm

I am delighted to support the Ambition AXA Awards initiative. This biennial programme is an open invitation to all 11 – 18 year olds with extreme talent to nominate themselves for a generous mentoring package worth up to £40,000.

There are five categories for entry: Sports, Arts, Science, Community and Enterprise and there will be a winner for each category, which means 5 young people will have an opportunity to further their ambition. Full information can be found at www.ambitionaxaawards.com, together with details on how to enter.

Entries will be judged by a panel of experts and celebrities including: Camila Batmanghelidjh the founder of Kids Company, Karen Brady of Apprentice fame, Alex James of Blur, Jason Bradbury from Channel 5’s The Gadget Show, and Amy Williams the Olympic Gold Medallist.

I am told there will be an awards ceremony in London later this year where the celebrities will present the Awards to 5 lucky young people. I believe that this is a very positive scheme and a good opportunity to encourage young people in our area to showcase their talents. I strongly encourage those who fit the requirements to get involved. The cut-off date for entry is the 14^th of October 2011.

Cutting Waste in Government Spending

Submitted by Heather on 8 August 2011 - 2:43pm

£3.75 Billion of savings made by Government in just 10 months

I welcome the news that Government has made £3.75 billion of cash savings in just the ten months from May 2010 to March 2011. Last year Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude promised to leave ‘no stone unturned’ in the hunt for savings from central Government spending. The Government has done just that to save billions of pounds of taxpayer money.

The money saved includes:

£870 million saved by cutting spending on consultants

Nearly £500 million by spending less on temporary agency staff

£800 million saved by negotiating better deals with suppliers

£300 million saved from IT projects

£90 million saved by better monitoring the properties Government rents

£400 million saved from marketing.

These savings in taxpayer’s money have been made by slashing the waste that had occurred under the last Government, including renting unnecessary buildings, scrapping wasteful IT projects, negotiating better deals from suppliers and reducing spending on advertising and consultants.

The amount saved in just 10 months equals more than £225 of taxes for every working household in South Derbyshire. I’m sure I am not the only one to be shocked that so much money was being so unnecessarily wasted. It is always right that money should be spent where it’s needed rather than simply frittered away, so I’m both pleased and relieved that these important savings have occurred, marking the beginning of a new ethos in Whitehall.

Derbyshire County P.C.T to increase its spending by 3.1%

Submitted by Heather on 8 August 2011 - 2:17pm

Although there has been much talk about the Government reducing NHS funding, I would like to reassure my readers that this is not true.

The Government is deeply committed to the NHS, so much so that it plans to increase spending in real terms every year of this Parliament. Indeed, the lowest any area will see its spending increase by in 2011-12 is 2.5 per cent – and this is Kingston-upon-Thames – with the average increase across the country being 3 per cent.

In our area we are seeing an above average increase of 3.1%, which will certainly go towards providing better care and services in our community.

I welcome the Government’s decision to increase NHS funding. If we had stuck to the previous Government’s proposals NHS spending would have actually fallen across the country.

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Heather Portrait

Welcome to my Parliamentary Website, particularly for those of you visiting for the first time, I hope you drop in regularly in the future. I hope this website allows you to see how I am representing your interests locally and nationally, working to improve South Derbyshire. This would not have been possible without your support and I thank the people of SD for electing me.