Tory education secretary Michael Gove is threatening to freeze grants to build nine new playgrounds in Liverpool, two of which are in Wavertree.
These playgrounds, designed by the local community and supported by the last Labour Government, would provide a great environment for children of all ages to play and exercise outdoors.
Liverpool council has already built 13 play schemes under the £235m project. I am disappointed that the Con-Dem coalition is choosing to cut funding for vital children’s projects, such as these.
Safe play areas are vital for encouraging children to be active and in combating childhood obesity.
There is a campaign to ‘save the playbuilder funding’ that is fighting to stop Michael Gove’s cuts to our playgrounds. You can add your voice to this campaign, by visiting http://www.savetheplayground.co.uk/
I recently visited the Barclays call centre in Wavertree Technology Park, and met some of the 1,000 staff employed at the centre, as well as the site’s Unite officials.
It is one of two ‘super-sites’ operated by Barclays in the UK, and has specialist teams that work on savings & investments and lending.
I saw the small-team based approach to work that aims to create a friendler working environment.
During my visit I found out about some of the great contributions to charity the staff make every year. This includes painting rooms in hospitals, helping out with Christmas parties at old people’s homes and supporting the Money-Skills programme. most recently the Barclays got talent event raised over £14,000.
I really enjoyed my visit, and I’d like to thank everyone at the centre for being so friendly and making me feel welcome.
I was delighted to take part in Liverpool’s first ever pride march on Saturday.
There was an excellent turnout and a fantastic atmosphere for the whole event, and I hope this marks the beginning of a new era of pride events in Liverpool.
Pride events are really important to promoting tolerance and awareness of LGBT issues, and I was proud to be a part of this one.
Thanks to everyone involved.
You can read my article about Liverpool Pride for Pink News here.
I visited Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and was excited to hear about their bid to build a new proton therap
y centre that will allow an even greater level of expertise to be offered in the treatment of tumours on children and adults. If the bid is successful, Alder Hey will be ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the world. It would be really excellent to have such a facility in Liverpool.
During my visit I had the opportunity to have an update on the hospital’s plans to create the first Children’s Health Park in the UK. Options are currently being explored to remodel large amounts of the hospital to create more space and a better environment for children to undergo their treatment in. These include the construction of state of the art hospital buildings and a park; the project is due for completion between 2018 and 2020.
I was pleased to be part of the delegation that met with education minister Lord Hill to discuss an alternative approach now that the government has scrapped the Building Schools for the Future project. The delegation included four Liverpool MP’s and City Council Leader Joe Anderson.
We all expressed our extreme disappointment at the demise of the BSF project, which would have seen 26 city secondary schools share £350m to be rebuilt or refurbished. Six of these schools would have been in Liverpool Wavertree.
It is so important that the government recognize the need for us to build schools fit for purpose for our city and provide the transformational education that our children need.
I will continue to press the government on the need for new school buildings and fight to get the investment that our schools so desperately need.
Yesterday I visited the NHS Direct Contact Centre in Old Swan to met Nicola Williams the North West Director of NHS Direct and the fantastic team who work there.
NHS Direct is a vital part of our health service; it provides an instant service for patients with serious medical problems, saves unnecessary trips to see GP’s or to the hospital and can be used to check out symptoms or for general health enquires.
NHS Direct saved Liverpool PCT £1.9m in efficiencies last year by reducing demand elsewhere in the NHS. It also saved Liverpool fifteen thousand inappropriate A&E and 999 attendances and 20 thousand avoidable GP visits.
I was shown how the call system worked by the lovely Marilyn, a call advisor. All the staff are trained nurses and calls are confidential.
If you are feeling unwell you can call NHS Direct on: 0845 4647 - they are open 24-hours a day.
You can also call them on this number if you have a non-urgent medical query, or would like information about another health related issue.
Their website NHS choices is also packed full of useful health advise and information. You can also use it to find your nearest NHS GP, hospital or dentist.
I have sponsored a backbench bill, launched by fellow MP Geraint Davies, to close dangerous loopholes in existing credit card laws.
Pre-paid credit cards are readily available from retailers without providing details of the name and address of the user so images of child abuse may be downloaded anonymously.
This bill would require proof of identity and address, such as passports, birth certificates or utility bills, in order to buy pre-paid cards.
I hope the coalition will see sense and join me in supporting it.
I visited a community health event in Williamson Square today – a big success; with massages, healthy food giveaways, dance, tai chi and health checks.
The National Asbestos Helpline in support of the British Lung Foundation brought their health check coach to the Square to promote healthy lungs and asbestos awareness.
The NHS Community Health Ambassador Team had a beach theme with a sun awareness event (with nurses checking freckles); plus blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol checks, dental health, alcohol and drug awareness. I chatted with Craig Howell, from the National Asbestos Helpline, and Dr Richard Jarvis from the Health Protection Authority, who are very passionate about their roles in public health.
Over 400 people asked for information on asbestos exposure and 120 people were checked for signs of skin cancer. Congratulations to all involved.
I challenged the Secretary of State for International Development to sign up to a road map to deliver education to 72 million children around the world by the next World cup
I asked Stephen O’Brien what support his Department has provided to the 1GOAL Education for All summit in South Africa.
He said “she is right to say that we need to maintain the momentum of the 1GOAL campaign, which we have been very pleased to support. The summit that is about to take place should help to boost that momentum and we shall do all we can to help to maintain it.”
Read/watch a video of the question I asked here. Visit 1GOAL here.
Today I challenged the Tory Education Secretary Michael Gove to justify his decision to reverse plans to modernise 26 schools in Liverpool. I asked him why some students in Wavertree should have to learn in portakabins.
Read my question and his response here.
Gove said that he would cut money needed for rebuilding schools in Wavertree because the ‘wave has not reached financial close’ – but in fact the scheme was approved in March as reported by BBC Merseyside.
This is the darkest day for education in Liverpool this century. I will fight alongside Liverpool’s MPs, the Council and local parents and businesses to take the message to the Lib Dems and Tories that Wavertree cannot afford to be without significant investment in its schools.
For more information on how I’ve been working with local schools read my earlier post on this.
