The Labour Party have acknowledged the importance of the early years and taken this step, another manifesto commitment completed.
Wendy Alexander kicked off the celebrations by switching on the Christmas lights after the obligatory countdown which the kids loved! After this Santa arrived in a vintage car to everyone's surprise!
The elves helped him distribute presents to the local kids. It was a great day and although I was only able to stick around for an hour or so I really enjoyed the day. Check out my dad's website for the whole story!
This would prove the investment in the NHS by the Government, and before any of the usual suspects start this is not the entire solution but it definately helps.
In Renfrewshire the Neighbourhood Wardens have been a major success story, the Seedhill ward which I represent has now had the wardens for just over two years now and I have received many compliments with regard to their work. The wardens are not an alternative to Police but you only have to look at the figures to see what a difference they can make!
•A collective reduction in the cost of vandalism to Council houses of 43.5% in pathfinder areas (Foxbar 38% reduction, Shortroods 82% reduction, West Johnstone 42% reduction and Ferguslie Park 12% reduction).
•Decreasing costs due to vandalism to school premises in Foxbar (49% reduction), Shortroods (77% reduction) and West Johnstone (66% reduction).
•An overall reduced number of reported acts of vandalism in the pathfinder areas, achieving an overall reduction in year one of 4.9%.
•The number of reported vehicle crimes has seen significant decreases compared to Renfrewshire’s 17% reduction, with a 37.8% reduction in Shortroods, 42.2% reduction in West Johnstone and a 25.4% reduction in Ferguslie Park. A small increase of 4.4 % occurred in Foxbar.
•Within the disorder category of crimes, with the exception of Foxbar, other areas are showing decreases against the overall percentage increases for Renfrewshire (5.2%) - a decrease of 12.3% in Shortroods, 21% decrease in West Johnstone and 6.2% decrease in Ferguslie Park.
figures taken from Annual Report 2003
If you look at the post that I put on previously (25th August 2006 Youth Unemployment) you will see what an achievement that this is, according to an old publication a friend gave me youth unemployment in Strathclyde was 60%!!! Now it is closer to 8% in Scotland. This is due to the higher level of investment in our schools, teachers and pupils than ever before!
This is an excellent achievement by the Labour Government, and locally the Labour Administration on Renfrewshire Council have been doing their part to increase recycling even further. Kerb side recycling has been extended to most of Renfrewshire, and we are currently working on an alternative to the blue and brown bins for those properties that they are not appropriate for.
Having spoken to the Deputy Convenor for Housing, Environment and Community Safety I can advise that the Local Authority is pleased with the amount that people are recycling in Renfrewshire and the quality of recycling, a lot of recycling materials from other areas gets to the recycling point and because of the quality has to go back to landfill, so keep recycling Renfrewshire, any questions about the recycling programme should go to the Envrionmental Services Department of Renfrewshrie Council 0141 842 500
Above is a work entitled Sadness to Sunshine by the Disability Resource Centre.
The above work is titled S.E.A.N. (Somebody, everybody,anybody, nobody) by the Star project and Renfrewshire Women's Association. This particular art work is interactive, on the way into the conference the delegates were given a sticker with the phrase ....
'I Pledge, Never to Commit, Condone or Remain Silent About Violence against Women.'
Each delegate then signed the pledge and attached it to Sean, it was an excellent idea and very well done.
This marked the biggest overhaul of domestic violence legislation for 30 years.
This Labour Gain fits in well with the start of the 16 days of action for the elimination of Domestic Violence against women. The Outrage conference in Renfrewshire on Wednesday was the hopefully the start of a Renfrewshire Wide consciousness on this issue. The Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act also covers domestic violence by women on men which is equally as serious, I was grateful to be invited on Wednesday and delighted to be there a big congratulations should go to all of the organisers for a very successful day.
The fact that when I was growing up in the 1980's Full Employment was seen as a myth in political and practical terms tell you a lot about the Tories and their policies, we now have it in our grasp thanks to a Labour Government in Westminster and Holyrood!
This brings to mind a conversation I had at the last election in Paisley Town Centre, with a couple of senior ladies, it went along the lines of the Monty Python 'What have the Roman's ever done for us?' sketch! When I pointed out the free TV licence the Winter Fuel Allowance, the increase in Basic Pension, the minimum income guarantee and the Pension and Savings Credits they got the point. Today's Seniors are demanding more and more and they have found their voice thanks to this Labour Government, they will continue to do well, why endanger this by voting SNP, Tory or anyone but Labour at the next elections?
Despite the claims of the Tories, SNP and others the fact that 84% of the NHS staff are DIRECTLY involved with patients shows the investment in the staff in the NHS. Again it is not perfect but it is an excellent start.
As promised this is my Labour Gain for today, the fact that workers now have more rights than ever before can only be a good thing, I am not suggesting that the present situation is perfect but at lot of work has been done.
Obviously this is just a fraction of the gains that the UK has benefited from under a Labour Government, we have a duty and a right to get the good news out there so start your day with one Labour Gain a day on your blog, try it for the next year! One a day keeps the Tories/SNP/SSP/Liberal Democrats at bay!
