Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Wednesday November 24, 2010
The Morning Star
CAMPAIGNERS warned yesterday that the government's failure to ring-fence funding for teenage pregnancy services will reverse the success of recent years which has seen a downward trend in under-age conceptions.
Latest figures show that teenage pregnancy in England and Wales has dropped to its lowest level for more than a decade, with the number of pregnant under-16s reduced by 7.5 per cent year-on-year from 8,200 to 7,586.
Family planning campaigners hailed the figures - released by the Office for National Statistics on Tuesday - as evidence that the previous Labour government's teenage pregnancy strategy was working.
But Con-Dem ministers have decided not to renew funding for the strategy once its 10-year period expires next month.
The teenage pregnancy independent advisory group (TPIAG), which monitors local authorities' progress in addressing the issue, will also be abolished in December.
Instead councils will be given an early intervention grant made up of funds formerly allocated for tackling issues affecting children and young people.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Education insisted today that this would give councils "freedom" to spend the money as they see fit.
But TPIAG director chairwoman Gill Frances warned that councils facing budget cuts were already preparing to axe teenage pregnancy services.
She added that if councils "take their eye off the ball their teenage pregnancy rates will go up."
Family Planning Association director Natika Halil said a continued financial commitment by the government to the work of the teenage pregnancy strategy was "essential if we're to keep the numbers on a downward trend."
Despite the latest fall in teenage pregancies, Britain still has one of the highest rates in Europe.
Thousands join protests against tuition fee rises
Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday November 24, 2010
The Morning Star
Education protests: Demonstrations across the country today saw thousands of school pupils, students, lecturers and parents march on town halls and occupy buildings in anger over the proposed tuition fees rise.
As well as the national demonstration in central London, protests took place in cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Glasgow.
Around 3,000 protesters in Manchester congregated outside the town hall. Police blocked the entrance to the building as protesters sat down in front of them, chanting against education cuts and the coalition government.
The demonstration spilled onto Princess Street, causing traffic chaos in the city centre.
University of Manchester Student Union spokeswoman Sarah Wakefield said: "We've had a really peaceful protest."
More than 2,000 demonstrators from across Merseyside converged on Liverpool, chanting "No ifs, no buts, no to education cuts."
Hundreds staged sit-downs outside the town hall later and blocked three main city centre streets to traffic.
In Birmingham around 40 students occupied the University of Birmingham's Great Hall and unfurled a banner demanding that the university's vice-chancellor steps down.
Student Alan O'Connell told the BBC that the protesters had received messages of support from other students occupations around the country.
"I think direct action is the only way," he said.
Education Activist Network spokesman Mark Bergfeld said: "We have the right to protest, we have the right to civil disobedience, we have the right to occupy our lecture halls."
Protest organisers warned of "an unprecedented wave of student revolts" unfolding over the next few months to force a rethink of proposals to increase university fees to up to £9,000 a year.
School pupils and college students joined marches across the country, not only against higher tuition fees, but also in anger over Education Secretary Michael Gove's announcement today scrapping the £30 weekly education maintenance allowance for 16-19-year-olds.
More than 300 secondary school pupils marched on County Hall in Derbyshire against the maintenance cuts and rising tuition fees.
Lecturers' union ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said she understood why school students were joining the protests: "It's the prospect of debt that stops you going to university."
Wednesday November 24, 2010
The Morning Star
Education protests: Demonstrations across the country today saw thousands of school pupils, students, lecturers and parents march on town halls and occupy buildings in anger over the proposed tuition fees rise.
As well as the national demonstration in central London, protests took place in cities including Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Cambridge, Oxford and Glasgow.
Around 3,000 protesters in Manchester congregated outside the town hall. Police blocked the entrance to the building as protesters sat down in front of them, chanting against education cuts and the coalition government.
The demonstration spilled onto Princess Street, causing traffic chaos in the city centre.
University of Manchester Student Union spokeswoman Sarah Wakefield said: "We've had a really peaceful protest."
More than 2,000 demonstrators from across Merseyside converged on Liverpool, chanting "No ifs, no buts, no to education cuts."
Hundreds staged sit-downs outside the town hall later and blocked three main city centre streets to traffic.
In Birmingham around 40 students occupied the University of Birmingham's Great Hall and unfurled a banner demanding that the university's vice-chancellor steps down.
Student Alan O'Connell told the BBC that the protesters had received messages of support from other students occupations around the country.
"I think direct action is the only way," he said.
Education Activist Network spokesman Mark Bergfeld said: "We have the right to protest, we have the right to civil disobedience, we have the right to occupy our lecture halls."
Protest organisers warned of "an unprecedented wave of student revolts" unfolding over the next few months to force a rethink of proposals to increase university fees to up to £9,000 a year.
School pupils and college students joined marches across the country, not only against higher tuition fees, but also in anger over Education Secretary Michael Gove's announcement today scrapping the £30 weekly education maintenance allowance for 16-19-year-olds.
More than 300 secondary school pupils marched on County Hall in Derbyshire against the maintenance cuts and rising tuition fees.
Lecturers' union ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said she understood why school students were joining the protests: "It's the prospect of debt that stops you going to university."
Coalition scraps extra midwives
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Wednesday November 17, 2010
The Morning Star
The coalition government has reneged on its pre-election pledge to recruit thousands more midwives despite maternity services across England being at a "cracking point," health workers warned today.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said that, despite repeated requests, Prime Minister David Cameron, his deputy Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley had all failed to honour their commitment to hiring 3,000 extra midwives.
"The silence from the government is deafening," RCM's general secretary Cathy Warwick told delegates at its annual conference in Manchester.
She pointed to a recent RCM report which showed that maternity units face budget cuts and redundancies despite dealing with a high birth rate and more complex deliveries.
The birthrate has risen by 19 per cent over the past decade but the number of midwives has increased by just 12.1 per cent.
Ms Warwick called for least 3,500 extra midwives, adding: "I fear for the future of maternity services, that the quality of care will fall and that safety could be compromised.
"I think it's getting to the point where it really is at cracking point."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said it was "a disgrace" that the lives of mothers and babies were being compromised in this way.
He warned that the situation could get worse as the NHS scrambled to make so-called efficiency savings of £20 billion through hiring freezes and redundancies.
Despite stark evidence of a shortage of midwives, a Conservative Party spokesman said: "The commitment to 3,000 midwives made in opposition ... was not in the coalition agreement because predictions now suggest the birth rate will be stable over the next few years."
louise@peoples-press.com
Wednesday November 17, 2010
The Morning Star
The coalition government has reneged on its pre-election pledge to recruit thousands more midwives despite maternity services across England being at a "cracking point," health workers warned today.
The Royal College of Midwives (RCM) said that, despite repeated requests, Prime Minister David Cameron, his deputy Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley had all failed to honour their commitment to hiring 3,000 extra midwives.
"The silence from the government is deafening," RCM's general secretary Cathy Warwick told delegates at its annual conference in Manchester.
She pointed to a recent RCM report which showed that maternity units face budget cuts and redundancies despite dealing with a high birth rate and more complex deliveries.
The birthrate has risen by 19 per cent over the past decade but the number of midwives has increased by just 12.1 per cent.
Ms Warwick called for least 3,500 extra midwives, adding: "I fear for the future of maternity services, that the quality of care will fall and that safety could be compromised.
"I think it's getting to the point where it really is at cracking point."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said it was "a disgrace" that the lives of mothers and babies were being compromised in this way.
He warned that the situation could get worse as the NHS scrambled to make so-called efficiency savings of £20 billion through hiring freezes and redundancies.
Despite stark evidence of a shortage of midwives, a Conservative Party spokesman said: "The commitment to 3,000 midwives made in opposition ... was not in the coalition agreement because predictions now suggest the birth rate will be stable over the next few years."
louise@peoples-press.com
May takes axe to Equalities Act
Louise Nousratpour, Equalities Reporter
Wednesday November 17, 2010
The Morning Star
Theresa May was accused today of reducing accountability and snatching power away from the powerless after she scrapped a vital clause in the Equality Act.
The Home Secretary, who is also the equalities minister, said: "We are scrapping the socio-economic duty for good. It would have been just another bureaucratic box to be ticked."
The measure, introduced by Labour's equalities minister Harriet Harman, was intended to force public authorities to reduce inequality by taking into account disadvantage and poverty when making decisions about policies.
The clause would also have applied to job centres, where officers would have had to assess whether an unemployed person would be worse off if their benefits were cut as a result of the government's new welfare policies.
By scrapping the clause, Ms May has removed the possibility of properly monitoring the impact of the government's welfare overhaul on the poorest.
Disability Alliance director of policy Neil Coyle warned that Ms May risked plunging many more vulnerable people into poverty.
He said: "We believe that certain aspects of the welfare changes will risk impoverishing thousands of people.
"The socio-economic duty would have monitored and prevented the implementation of any proposals that would have led to more poverty among disadvantaged people."
Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said: "Far from being a box-ticking exercise, the duty would have given power to the powerless, making sure the voices of the most disadvantaged have a say in how government makes decisions.
"The message now is that government and public bodies can ignore the powerless and dispossessed and the bureaucrats can carry on regardless."
GMB's equalities officer Kamaljeet Jandu warned Ms May's announcement was "a dangerous sign of things to come."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis added: "This watering down of the Equality Act is yet another example of the Tories hitting the poorest hardest."
Campaigners are also concerned that the government may scrap another part of the Act which requires private-sector employers to disclose whether they pay women as much as men.
The government's failure to implement the Act in full "undermines every speech coalition ministers ever gave endorsing the notion of a fairer Britain," women's group The Fawcett Society said.
louise@peoples-press.com
Wednesday November 17, 2010
The Morning Star
Theresa May was accused today of reducing accountability and snatching power away from the powerless after she scrapped a vital clause in the Equality Act.
The Home Secretary, who is also the equalities minister, said: "We are scrapping the socio-economic duty for good. It would have been just another bureaucratic box to be ticked."
The measure, introduced by Labour's equalities minister Harriet Harman, was intended to force public authorities to reduce inequality by taking into account disadvantage and poverty when making decisions about policies.
The clause would also have applied to job centres, where officers would have had to assess whether an unemployed person would be worse off if their benefits were cut as a result of the government's new welfare policies.
By scrapping the clause, Ms May has removed the possibility of properly monitoring the impact of the government's welfare overhaul on the poorest.
Disability Alliance director of policy Neil Coyle warned that Ms May risked plunging many more vulnerable people into poverty.
He said: "We believe that certain aspects of the welfare changes will risk impoverishing thousands of people.
"The socio-economic duty would have monitored and prevented the implementation of any proposals that would have led to more poverty among disadvantaged people."
Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham said: "Far from being a box-ticking exercise, the duty would have given power to the powerless, making sure the voices of the most disadvantaged have a say in how government makes decisions.
"The message now is that government and public bodies can ignore the powerless and dispossessed and the bureaucrats can carry on regardless."
GMB's equalities officer Kamaljeet Jandu warned Ms May's announcement was "a dangerous sign of things to come."
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis added: "This watering down of the Equality Act is yet another example of the Tories hitting the poorest hardest."
Campaigners are also concerned that the government may scrap another part of the Act which requires private-sector employers to disclose whether they pay women as much as men.
The government's failure to implement the Act in full "undermines every speech coalition ministers ever gave endorsing the notion of a fairer Britain," women's group The Fawcett Society said.
louise@peoples-press.com
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