Sport England last month announced a Community Sport Activation fund supported by the National Lottery designed to develop grassroots sports in a flexible manner. This could massively boost local sports groups. A website detailing the scheme and how to apply is at http://www.sportengland.org/funding/csaf.aspx.
Figures released by the County Council in January 2013 have revealed that there are just 1200 pre-school places across the entire county, despite a target requirement of 4000 by September 2014. Failure to recruit organisations to provide the places has already lead to the criteria having to be amended. This Tory failure is letting down parents trying to get back to work.
Hertfordshire Council's hugely expensive and inappropriate "Spin Machine" has spun out of control again. Leader of the Opposition on Hertfordshire County Council, Councillor Stephen Giles-Medhurst has made further complaints, this time regarding press releases issued by the Council that are inaccurate and misleading.
County Councillor Ron Tindall (Hemel Hempstead St Pauls) has today called for action from Herts County Council following the news that Shelter Hertfordshire is to close.
A recent report to the Education and Skills Cabinet Panel on the Standards and Quality in Hertfordshire Schools shows that at Key Stages 2 and 4 children with free schools meals are achieving far lower results than their fellow pupils. The figures are damning. At key stage 2 , 24% fewer children with free school meals made the expected progress in English and Mathematics, 7% worse than the national average and significantly worse when compared with similar authorities. At Key stage 4 it's the same story. Only one third of pupils with free school meals achieved the expected progress from Key Stage 2 to 4, 11% worse than the national average. Last year Hertfordshire Schools received £16 million pounds of additional Pupil Premium funding specifically to improve the education of disadvantaged children.
Last October and November Liberal Democrats campaigned strongly against the "unwise" plan by the Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner. County Councillor Nick Hollinghurst who spoke twice at Council meetings at County Hall said "Apart from G4S's lamentable performance with Olympic Games security, we have to remember they are a large multi-national corporation. They run prisons, courts, police administration, prisoner transport and support services. It is unwise to hand over yet another part of Britain's criminal justice system to an international private business with, some say, already too great an influence in UK policing."
Senior Directors of Ringway had to answer a storm of criticism at a packed meeting in Hertfordshire's County Hall last Tuesday (5th February, 2013). With 37 councillors and council officers in attendance, the contracting company was left in no doubt about widespread dissatisfaction with their failure to deliver an adequate service since taking over most of the County's highways work on 1st Oct last year.
But not just equality and fairness. We have also built in a triple lock to ensure pensions will rise by inflation or average earnings or 2.5% WHICHEVER IS THE HIGHEST
Rickmansworth Waterways Trust
How to contact the New Police & Crime Commissioner.
With London Underground's 150th Anniversary coming up next month a whole series of infrastructure improvements are set to benefit South West Hertfordshire. Served by the West Coast Main Line in the north, with commuter services provided by London Overground and London Midland, the constituency is also served by Transport for London's Metropolitan Line in the south.
Commenting on the rise in the personal allowances against Income Tax announced in the Autumn Budget Statement, Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesperson, Stephen Williams said:
