7/29/2019 News Bulletin from Greg Hands M.P. #364

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In this edition:

Greg Hands M.P.s DiaryWebsite of the Week:Department for InternationalDevelopmentHands welcomes properrecognition for WWII heroesPhoto news:Sierra LeoneNews from Greg HandsM.P.s surgeryHammersmith & Fulhamagree another 3% Counciltax cut

Kensington & Chelseaagree Council Tax freezeHeathrow RunwaySurfacing to last 9 monthsmeaning no night-timerunway alternationK&C Mayor's delight atthriving new Horizonscentre in ChelseaHands in the media:Parliament holds postelection seminar for MPs

and staff of ParliamentHow to contactGreg Hands M.P.

Issue 364 Sunday 3rd March 2013

Since the last edition, Greg:

Accompanied the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon

George Osborne, when he addressed Conservative MPs on

the background to this years coming Budget. The Budget will

be presented to the House of Commons on 20th March.

Visited Sierra Leone for two days though the Commonwealth

Parliamentary Association to train newly-elected Sierra Leonian

MPs in the workings ofparliamentary systems, how to organise

in parliament and how to hold the executive to account. For

more, see photos below.

Had a full schedule of activity as a Governments Treasury

Whip in and around the chamber of the House of Commons,including ministerial meetings and organising votes and

standing committees.

Held a weekly surgeryfor Chelsea and Fulham residents at

the Fulham Methodist Church, Fulham Broadway. Gregs

surgeries are held generally every Monday at Fulham

Methodist Church, or at Peter Jones, Sloane Square. To make

an appointment, email mail@greghands.com or call 020 7219

5448.

Website of the Week:

www.dfid.gov.uk

The website of the UKs Department for InternationalDevelopment. Greg was this week in Sierra Leone, whichreceives more UK aid per capita than any other country. Gregwas there to train up newly-elected Sierra Leonian MPs in how toorganise themselves in Parliament and to be effective legislatorsand constituency MPs.

Hands welcomes proper recognition for

WWII heroesGreg Hands M.P. has welcomed the announcement that those whoserved in the Arctic Convoys and in Bomber Command during theSecond World War are now eligible for recognition.HM The Queen has approved designs for the new awards, whichentered production this week. The design for the Arctic Star medal isbased on the other WWII Stars, while the Bomber Command Clasp

follows the design of the Battle of Britain Clasp.The Ministry of Defence has opened the application process and willbegin to issue the new awards from as early as March. The families ofveterans who have died will also be able to apply for the Arctic Starmedals and Bomber Command Clasps to be issued posthumously. Upto a quarter of a million veterans and families could be eligible.Winston Churchill famously singled the Arctic Convoys out as themost dangerous run of the war. Likewise, Bomber Command facedextremely high casualty rates, which saw the loss of 55,000 of the125,000 men who served.

Commenting, Greg Hands M.P. said: This is a fantasticannouncement which will truly recognise the bravery displayed bythose who fought for our freedom in the Second World War. I wouldencourage all eligible veterans and next of kin in Chelsea and Fulhamto apply for the new awards.Minister of State for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans, MarkFrancois added: All those who served our country in BomberCommand and on the Arctic Convoys deserve nothing but the utmostrespect and admiration from us. Thats why I am delighted that thesespecial individuals will in the next few weeks begin to receive theBomber Command clasp and Arctic Star that they have so long

deserved.I am also pleased to announce that the families of those no longeralive will also be able to apply for these awards in recognition of theirloved ones bravery.For further information on applying can be found here:http://www.veterans-uk.info/arctic_star_index.htm

Photo news:

Sierra Leone

Greg Hands M.P. with a large group of Sierra Leonian MPs duringhis training exercise in the Sierra Leonian Parliament this week.

Greg Hands M.P., David Hanson M.P., Commons Clerk EveSamson and the Clerk to the Sierra Leonian Parliament, Ibrahim

Sesay.

News from Greg Hands M.P.s surgeryThis week at Greg Handss surgery seven constituents discussed their

concerns about a number of issues, including housing and criminalrecords checks.Greg has raised concerns about the current rules governing theretention of cautions and minor offences on criminal records with theHome Office. A Chelsea resident who was keen to volunteer in thecommunity and assist in charitable work was dissuaded by therequirement for every offence, even minor ones dating back decades,to be disclosed in a CRB check until someone is one hundred yearsold. Greg has raised this case with the Home Secretary to make heraware of his constituents concerns and he awaits her comments.Greg aims to assist any constituent he can with their problems

involving local or central government as well as with privatecompanies. If you would like a surgery appointment you can contactGregs office by emailing mail@greghands.com or calling 0207 2195448.

Hammersmith & Fulham agree

another 3% Council tax cutHammersmith & Fulham is now the UKs low tax borough afteragreeing to cut council tax for the sixth year out of seven bucking atrend of council tax rises across the UK.While more than 40% of local authorities intend to increase counciltax, according to a survey released by the Chartered Institute of PublicFinance and Accountancy (CIPFA), tax in Hammersmith & Fulham(H&F) will be cut by 3% in April.The agreement means council tax in H&F will be 17% lower thanseven years ago - saving residents more than 45million in theprocess. This is in stark contrast to the 102 out of 250 authoritiessurveyed by CIPFA who plan to put up council tax in April, typically byabout 1% per cent.

The 3% cut, which was agreed at H&F's annual Budget Councilmeeting last night (Wednesday, February 27) means H&F taxpayerswill pay the third lowest council tax in Britain while resident satisfactionwith services is close to being at an all-time high.Cllr Nicholas Botterill, H&F Council Leader, said: Hammersmith &Fulham is the UKs low tax borough and that is now official. A radicalrevolution has seen the council transformed from a cumbersome andbureaucratic place into a lean and dynamic organisation. From a lowercost base, we are now able to respond rapidly to the needs of ourcustomers - just like the best companies in the private sector do.

The cumulative saving of six tax cuts of 3% or more, over the pastseven years is worth more than 45million or 667 per household. Incomparison, during the same period, the cumulative, year-on-yearcost of gas, electricity, petrol and food has risen by almost 5,000.H&F Council has been catapulted from one of the worst councils forvalue for money in 1999 (27th out of 32 in London) to the top 3 low taxboroughs in the country.The low tax borough says the secret of its low-tax/high-performingservices is mainly down to a relentless private sector ethos thatmeans the council is now more lean, agile and in tune with residentsconcerns than ever before. Senior management costs have been

significantly reduced, debt repayments to the banks halved and officeaccommodation costs have tumbled by more than a third.Cllr Nicholas Botterill continues: "While council tax is falling year afteryear, our parks have never been greener, our streets are cleaner, ourschools have never performed better and residents are noticing theimprovements.Our approach has catapulted us from relegation fodder in the leaguetable of low tax boroughs into the top 3 of the Premier League. Whileother household costs continue to rise and pile pressure on familieswe have strived to leave more of our residents hard-earned cash intheir pockets. In fact, we have saved our residents more than

45million in total.Other public bodies wanting to follow our lead need to know the topthree factors to improving front-line services while delivering savingsare to strip out duplicated layers of management, reduce debtrepayments to the banks and drive down accommodation costs andoverhead.From April 2013, the average band D council tax bill in H&F will fallby 23.44 - from 781.34 to 757.90. While reducing tax and debt,services have improved in a host of areas:

Secondary schools are amongst the best in the country,

according to Ofsted. H&F is one of only nine of the 151 local

authorities to have all its schools judged to be excellent or

outstanding. H&F has more sixth formers going to a top

university than any other authority, despite the fact that 36% of

pupils receive free school meals compared to 17% nationally

Crime is down six years out of seven, thanks in part to the

councils spend on extra town centre police. This year there

were 489 fewer crimes compared to the previous 12 months.

H&F is in Londons top five for the cleanest streets. A mobile

phone app was recently launched to make it easier than ever

for people to report fly-tips, graffiti and litter.Nine of H&Fs parks have been awarded the national Green

Flag accolade.

More vulnerable people are eligible for free homecare in H&F

that would be denied if they lived in 28 out of 32 other London

boroughs.In 2013/14 the council is planning to save 22million in total, of which

just over 5m is a result of sharing services with Westminster CityCouncil (WCC) and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea(RBKC). Just over 2m is being saved in debt repayments.

Senior management posts have been significantly reduced as a resultof sharing childrens, adults and library services with WCC and RBKC.H&F and RBKC also share environmental services and a chiefexecutive. The three councils are on course to save 40million a yearby 2015/16.H&F Council leader Nicholas Botterill said: It is of little surprise thatthese three councils have amongst the lowest tax bills in the country.In an age of austerity, councils sharing some services is a commonsense way of reducing cost without affecting frontline services.Greg Hands M.P. added: "I am proud of the Conservative Council,which is cutting its tax bill at a time when the price of other serviceslike energy and water are rising at a pace much higher than inflation.Thanks to Nick Botterill, his team of Conservative Councillors andtheir 3% Council tax cut, Hammersmith & Fulham residents havesome good news on their bills."

Kensington & Chelsea agree

Council Tax freeze

A budget entailing no increase in Council Tax and no significant lossof valued services to residents was set by the Cabinet, despite furtherreductions in local government funding.Government grant is set to fall by 8.5 million, or 6.7 per cent, in2013-14 as part of a reduction of over 30 per cent in grant to localauthorities across England between 2010-11 and 2014-15. Actualspending by the Council will have dropped by 14 per cent between2010-11 and 2013-14 after allowing for inflation.Even so, Council Tax will remain frozen at 2009-10 levels. And theRoyal Borough's Council Tax will continue as one of the very lowest inEngland. The Council also retains its AAA credit rating from Standard

& Poor's.Rather than rely on increases in local tax or sharp reductions inservices to plug the funding gap, the budget proposes instead to find10 million of savings through further service efficiencies.

A key element of that efficiency programme is the sharing of a rangeof major services with our Tri-borough partners, Westminster andHammersmith & Fulham. Sharing management, back office functionsand procurement across the three boroughs is on track to deliver atleast 13m worth of savings a year to Kensington and Chelsea by2014-15.

But other policies and initiatives would also contribute. The Council islowering costs by moving more transactions online. It is consolidatingstaff into fewer buildings to reduce overheads and so that the unusedcapacity can be released for sale or rent. In addition pay per officer isnow about 5.5 per cent lower than it was in 2008.These savings and efficiencies have enabled the Council to avoid anysignificant service reduction comparing 2012-13 and 2013-14.Despite the continuing financial pressures, strong reserves carefullybuilt up over many years will allow the Council to continue to beambitious for the Royal Borough in 2013. For example, work is

already underway on the new 60 million academy and leisure centrefor North Kensington; two thirds of which will be met directly from theCouncil's own coffers. There are also exciting plans for a new MiddleRow primary school, a new children's home at East Row and a majorregeneration scheme for the Westway area."Our strategy is seeing us through these difficult times whilemaintaining excellent local services,"said the Leader of the Council,Cllr Sir Merrick Cockell."We are proud of that and equally proud that we are still able to

pursue our ambitions to regenerate our borough and provide it withthe new schools, new homes and new community facilities that itneeds."Greg Hands M.P. added: "Council tax in Kensington & Chelsea willnow be higher than in Hammersmith & Fulham, but it will still be the

4th lowest in the UK, which, combined with its excellent local services,mean that residents are getting a very good deal from theirConservative Council."

Heathrow Runway Surfacing to last 9

months meaning no night-time runwayalternationResidents living under one of the main Heathrow flight paths are setfor more sleepless nights after airport bosses announced that they willbe resurfacing a two-mile long runway for the next eight months.Due to works to resurface the southern runway, all night flights will belanding on the northern runway with their flight paths bringing themin directly over Fulham for most of the year.This means that instead of the current night flight alternation patterns,

where Heathrow tries to land night time arrivals on one runway oneweek and the other runway the next week, many residents will nowget almost no let-up from the noise of aircraft landings at night.These changes, which haven't been consulted on, will come into place

from 3rd March 2013 and are expected to last until October 31.There are currently an average of 16 flights each night between11.30pm and 6am, and even more coming in from 6am to 7am,interrupting residents sleep and severely affecting peoples quality oflife.

Heathrow Airport Ltd said for five nights a week, from Sunday eveningto Friday morning, all arrivals will use the northern runway between10.30pm and 6am. For two nights a week, from Friday evening toSunday morning, runway alternation will operate as normal: southernrunway one week, northern the next week. Daytime flights are notaffected.Cllr Victoria Brocklebank-Fowler, H&F Council Cabinet Member forTransport and Technical Services, said: While the councilappreciates that runways need maintaining, it simply beggars beliefthat it will take eight months to resurface a runway that is a similarlength to Goldhawk Road.

Long suffering Fulham residents deserve to be able to sleeppeacefully in bed at night without waiting for the next Jumbo Jet toroar overhead.Heathrow Airport should treat residents with more respect andcomplete this maintenance work in a far shorter period of time. If thisis an attempt to soften up residents into accepting more night flightsthrough the back door, it will not work.Greg Hands M.P. added: "I have been urging the abolition of all nightflights (prior to 6am) over London for some years now. This news willinflict further misery on the millions of people living below the flight

path. Local residents can and should respond to the currentconsultation on night flights."The news is a double whammy for Fulham residents who saw a hugeincrease in noise last year as a result of the airports OperationalFreedoms trial, which allowed the airport's operator to use runwayssimultaneously under certain circumstances.Find out more by visiting www.heathrow.com/noise . You can alsocall 0800 344844 or email noise_complaints@heathrow.com .

K&C Mayor's delight at thriving newHorizons centre in ChelseaThe Royal Borough's Mayor, Cllr Christopher Buckmaster, joinedsome old friends and made some new ones when he dropped in tothe New Horizons Centre on Cadogan Street, Chelsea, for a chatabout current affairs.The Mayor was guest speaker at historian Ivan Gibbon's regularTuesday class `In the News' where he spoke about his role as Mayorand first citizen of the Royal Borough.

While the role of Mayor is ceremonial it does keep the incumbentbusy. During the course of his Mayoral year, Cllr Buckmaster willattend over 700 events, chair Council meetings and run a campaign toraise money for his Mayoral Charity, the Brain Tumour ResearchCampaign, which he hopes will raise 250,000 to buy a SonoWand forCharing Cross Hospital and fund research into the causes of braintumours.This is Cllr Buckmaster's second term as Mayor of the Royal Boroughof Kensington and Chelsea. During his first term in 2003/4 he raisedover 130,000 for the New Horizons Centre which subsequentlyopened in 2007.

He said: "It is a great pleasure and privilege to be invited to speak atNew Horizons. When I was first Mayor of the Royal Borough in 2003 Ichose it as my Mayor's Charity and campaigned to raise funds to buildit, so I am very pleased to be here today and see it thriving with over1,000 members and so many activities on offer and enjoyed."The multi-activity centre is open to all aged 50 and over and aims topromote active lifestyles and independence.It currently runs more than 60 regular weekly activities at the centre.Previous guest speakers who took part in `In the News' include: JohnBercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, former Age Concern

director general Sally Greengross, Martin Wright from the Society ofRestorative Justice and Greg Hands, M.P. for Chelsea and Fulham.Upcoming speakers include Edward Garnier QC, former SolicitorGeneral in the government and Conservative backbencher and JulianBarrow, artist, who will talk about the artist colony in Tite Street,Chelsea.If you would like to join New Horizons phone 020 7590 8970 or go towww.new-horizons-chelsea.org.uk.For information about the Mayor's current charity and fundraising

events including the Easter Fair on 13 March phone 020 7361 3659,or email mayor@rbkc.gov.uk. To contribute to the charity go tohttp://www.wayahead-btrc.org.

Hands in the media:

Parliament holds post election seminar for

MPs and staff of ParliamentAwoko (Sierra Leone)

Friday 1

st

March 2013Parliament in collaboration with Commonwealth Parliamentary

Association on Monday February 25, organized a one-day trainingprogrammed on post-election programme for Parliamentarians andstaff of Parliament at Committee room No.1 at Parliament building inFreetown.In his opening remarks, the Clerk of Parliament appreciated thetimeliness of the workshop and noted that it will help the newly-electedMembers of Parliament to operate safely with the committee clerks inenhancing good working relations.

The Minority Leader of the House welcomed the initiatives for helpingin capacitating Parliament and Parliamentarians.Member of Parliament from the Westminster, Greg Hands, making hispresentations on the topic the roles and responsibilities ofParliamentarians, noted that MPs make laws, represent their peopleand oversight functions.Hon David Hanson MP from the British Parliament touched on holdingthe executive to account, while Eve Samson Clerk standards andPrivileges committees dealt on procedures in a democratic legislature.Parliamentarians from both sides of the House appreciated theseminar and urged the leadership of the House to provide moretraining for them in order to build their capacity.However, other topics discussed were the role of the officials inopposition in Parliament and working with civil society and the media.

5 ways to contact Greg Hands M.P.:

By Phone: 020 7219 5448

By email: mail@greghands.com

By post: Greg Hands M.P.House of CommonsLondon SW1A 0AA

In person: Click here for details of howto book an appointment atGreg Hands M.P.s weeklysurgery

www.greghands.com

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News Bulletin from Greg Hands M.P. #364

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