In Your Area - The South West
In the last year we have had Ministers from a range of departments come to discuss policy issues and their effects on the South West and I work closely with the South West Trade Unions to discuss areas of concern or for mutual action.
In Parliament the topics we have covered have been many and varied - affordable housing has featured prominently both rural and urban; rail services have been the subject of more than one debate and we continue to have major challenges here; the water industry and beach safety. Defence sector issues have also been high on the South West's agenda. The impact on jobs of the decison on Airbus and the potential job losses if the naval base at Plymouth is downsized cannot be underestimated for the region.
I will continue to fight for users of rail, health services and water and highlight below some of the achievements of the Government for the South West. (These figures were taken from Official Sources and last updated December 2006).
Welfare to work: The Government has introduced measures to make work pay and help people from welfare to work.
In the South West:
Employment has risen by almost 4% since the comparable period in 1997-98 (Dec-Feb 1998 to Dec-Feb 2006)
Claimant unemployment has fallen by over 47% since 1997
Long-term unemployment has fallen by nearly 75% since 1997
The New Deal for 18 to 24-year-olds has helped to cut long-term youth unemployment by almost two-thirds since 1997
396,300 families in the South West are receiving Working Tax Credits and/or Child Tax Credits (April 2006)
Education: The government's education strategy is based around raising standards, better discipline and increasing choice.
Average funding per pupil (aged 3 to 19) in the South West has increased in real terms by £1,040 since 1997/98
Standards are improving. Since 1997/98, in the South West the number of 11-year-olds achieving the required standard in English has risen from 66% to 80%, and gone up from 59% to 76% in Maths
There are 4,300 more teachers in the South West than in 1997
The number of 15-year-old pupils in maintained schools achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grades A* to C (or equivalent) has risen from 49% to 58% since 1997/98
Large-scale PFI projects worth over £243m have provided new and replacement schools across the region.
Health
Funding for the former Health Authorities across the South West increased from £3,557m to £3,931m between 2001/02 and 2002/03. This is part of a £1,839m increase overall between 1997/98 and 2002/03
Primary Care Trust funding for the South West region is rising from £4,269m to £5,082m between 2003/04 and 2005/06.
The £39m Plateau Project at Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, jointly funded by the National Heart Team, South West Peninsula SHA, Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust and The Peninsula Medical School, will build a new and expanded Cardiothoracic Centre increasing the number of heart operations from 1,100 to 1,850 a year. The centre will also house a general critical care unit, research and development unit, and seminar and training rooms for the Medical School. The facility is due to open in Summer 2006
There are 6,615 more nurses and 402 more GPs in the South West Strategic Health Authority area than in 1997
In the South West, the number of people waiting for in-patient treatment has gone down by over 23% since 2003 (from 102,100 to 78,300 in September 2006)
In the South West, the number of people waiting over 13 weeks for out-patient treatment has gone down by nearly 100% since 2002 (from 21,740 to 10 in September 2006).
Crime The government's aim is to drive down crime, and create safer streets and stronger communities.
Recorded crime for six key offences in the South West fell by nearly 8% between 2003/04 and 2005/06
There are 1,154 more police officers in the South West forces than in 1997
To tackle and prevent crime in the South West:
In 2004/05, the region's Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) are receiving over £7.5m from the Building Safer Communities Fund to tackle crime and drugs in their communities in partnership with Drugs Action Teams (DATs)
The region is also receiving almost £3.8m in Basic Command Unit Funding in 2004/05 to help deliver crime and disorder reduction locally, and promote partnership working
Transport improvements to tackle the problems of congestion, increase safety and deliver a better environment.
Resources for Local Transport Plans (LTPs) have increased from £58m in 2000/1 to £175m in 2006/07Two major LHA road schemes in the South West:
Communities: The Government is committed to ensuring every community shares in the country's rising prosperity. Investing over £38m from 2001-06, and £16m from 2006-08 to fight crime and tackle the deep-rooted problems faced by the most disadvantaged communities in the region, under the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund
Committing more than £156m since 1997 for projects under the Single Regeneration Budget, to reduce the gap between the South West's deprived areas and the rest of the country and improve the quality of life for local people
Allocating £3.6m over three years for two Neighbourhood Management Pathfinders in Bournemouth and Gloucester, to bring residents and agencies together to work to improve residents' quality of life, and ensure more effective public service delivery
£2.4m over seven years for a further Neighbourhood Management Pathfinder in North Devon
As part of the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund, four areas in the South West will also receive Neighbourhood Element Funding from April 2006. These include Bristol, Plymouth, North Somerset and Penwith. Each area will get approximately £1.6m over 4 years, with Bristol getting £3.2m. In addition to this, Bristol, Plymouth and North Somerset will receive funds of £2.1m over two years to help them achieve outcomes around the Cleaner, Safer & Greener agenda.
Nearly 1,100,000 pensioners have seen the biggest rise in basic state pension for a generation.
Nearly 360,000 pensioners aged 75 or over are eligible for free TV licences (one per household)
Nearly 1,200,000 pensioners got the winter fuel payment last winter worth £200 per household.
Europe: Our membership of the European Union, with its 455 million consumers, is one of the main attractions for inward investment in the UK.
In the South West:
Inward investment into the South West in 2005/06 helped create and safeguard nearly 4,000 jobs
The South West also benefits from European Union funding programmes. Examples include:
As a European Objective 1 area, over £354m in European grants is available to Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, and total investment could be around £1.2bn if match funding for projects is included
744 projects have accepted grant offers worth nearly £320m in total. Currently under appraisal are projects totalling just over £23m. This will further increase local sourcing of ingredients and create additional employment.
£130m available through the South West European Objective 2 programme launched March 2001. Additionally, areas covered by old programmes will benefit from transitional funding worth around £10m over six years. So far, over £113m has been offered to more than 169 projects, including:
£4.8m to Devon County Council for the Broadband4Devon project, providing SMEs and Micro-businesses in Devon with broadband capability and full support packages to enable them to utilise ICT to its fullest advantage
Over £1.7m to help complete the region's National Cycle Network, from the south coast to the north coast of Devon
The European Objective 3 programme in the region has an overall allocation of £149m for 2000-06. To date, 447 projects have been approved. Examples include:
Over £411,000 to Devon County Council's 'Options' Project, an innovative partnership between Opportunities, Jigsaw and Pathfinder, offering a progressive pathway into employment though support, guidance, training, voluntary work and work experience for people with enduring Mental Health issues in Devon, Dorset and Somerset, unemployed for a minimum of six months
Over £425,000 for Business Link Somerset to support the South West Enterprise and Skills Alliance (SWESA). The project employs a small team to support SWESA help partner organisations to more effectively respond to the productivity challenges of the regions economy, as well as the needs of employers and learners
Almost £110,000 has recently been awarded to the University of Bath to identify, analyse and evaluate the engineering sector's Level 4 skills and training needs within the northern half of the South West region. The project L4 Engineering Skills Shortage will establish and co-ordinate engineering employer focus groups to develop and deliver appropriate level 4 provision
Almost £800,000 towards The Prince's Trust's Youth Enterprise Scheme (YES) to help over 1,700 disaffected young people from across the region to overcome barriers to employment and move forward in their lives. It will provide needs assessment, skills training and financial assistance, and aims to set up over 1,300 new enterprises.
Official Source - last updated December 2006