Wyre Forest Liberal Democrats

£10m to boost literacy - Clegg

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced on Monday that there will be up to £10m additional support for Pupil Premium children who leave primary school without Level 4 literacy - the expected level.

In a keynote speech to teachers and school leaders, he said that the Education Endowment Foundation will be awarding the money to pilot projects to help disadvantaged pupils make the transition from primary to secondary school. The money will be targeted at struggling Year 7s from deprived homes.

"How can a child start secondary school unable to read with confidence?" declared Nick. "That is a basic building block of a good education and no child should begin the race so far behind the starting line. We need to do everything we can to help these children through this transition to get them up to speed.
"That is a responsibility the government takes extremely seriously. And I can confirm that the Education Endowment Foundation will shortly be inviting groups of local schools, in the areas that suffer most with this problem, to bid for extra funds for struggling Year 7s from deprived homes to help them get their reading and writing up to scratch. Extra 'catch up cash', if you like.
"We envisage that schools will want to use it for small catch up classes, or one-to-one tuition, or vouchers for literacy tuition that parents can spend. We will run a proper evaluation, sharing what works with all schools not just those areas taking part in these pilots. It's likely this kind of targeted support is the best way to crack this problem - next year we'll know.
"Of course, we hope as few pupils as possible need it, thanks to the Pupil Premium. And I know primary and secondary schools up and down the country are determined to make this work.
"Some are using the money for breakfast clubs; homework clubs; or to provide one-to-one-tuition. Some are funding counselling services, so troubled kids are in the right place, emotionally, to learn. Some are using it for educational visits to places like museums: the sort of experiences middle class children take for granted but poorer child might rarely enjoy."

Nick also announced that he wants to "strike a deal between the Coalition government and our schools and teachers. Teachers who help these children unlock the doors that otherwise hold them back ... they are the key to an open and fair society ... the key to the opportunity Britain I am determined we build."

The best teachers will be offered incentives to work in schools that have large numbers of disadvantaged pupils. The government will ask the School Teachers Review Body to look at giving other schools the same flexibility Academies currently have to use pay to hold on to the best teachers.

Also, from next year, there will be Pupil Premium Awards for the 50 schools that do the best to boost the performance of their poorest pupils and narrow the gap - with cash prizes of up to £10,000 for the best of the best.

Battery hen cages will have been eliminated from every EU country by the end of the year, EU Health Commissioner John Dalli has announced.

Speaking at a meeting of the European Agriculture Committee in Brussels this week, Dalli also said that 16 Member States are now expected to be compliant with the ban on sow stalls - small boxes where pigs can stand but barely move about - by the end of this year.

Commenting, Stephen Williams said:

"This is a very popular idea which would give the public something back for bailing out the banks.

"I welcome the Treasury Select Committee's review into what to do with the Government's holding in RBS and Lloyds and hope that it furthers the case for giving the public their share."

Long lasting reforms

Key Liberal Democrat initiatives were announced in the Queen's Speech on Wednesday including banking reform, a single tier pension, energy reform, strengthening shareholder power and House of Lords reform.

The Coalition government's next term will focus on helping families, supporting growth and jobs, and delivering long-standing reform to our banking sector. Long lasting reforms are proposed to put the UK on a stable footing and offer help and support to families, small businesses and communities, protect the environment, as well as reaffirming the commitment to helping the poorest nations.

The key themes from the 2012 Queen's Speech are economic growth, justice and constitutional reform.

Main Lib Dem initiatives include:

Using your mobile phone abroad will be cheaper from this summer after Euro MPs voted to cut roaming charges again.

The new legal limits set by the European Parliament in Brussels mean mobile phone calls from one EU country to another will cost no more than 28p per minute, while the cap on SMS charges is down to 8p per message.

West Midlands Lib Dem Euro MP Phil Bennion has spoken out against a call in a European Parliament report to ban budget airlines from offering low fares with strict limits on hand baggage allowance.
An 'own initiative' report by local Tory MEP Philip Bradbourn on regional airports and aviation was adopted by the European Parliament in Brussels this week.
Phil Bennion said he backed the report overall as it called for regional airports such as Birmingham to be developed to boost regional growth and jobs, but he was concerned by a compromise amendment added by the Transport Committee calling for a generous common upper limit for hand baggage for all flights.
If carried into law such a rule could see budget airlines like Ryanair and Easyjet having to drastically increase fares or even redesign the interiors of their planes at huge cost.
Phil Bennion said: "There is a lot of good stuff in the Bradbourn report and as it is not legislative I voted for it. Overall it strikes a good balance between the important role of regional aviation in boosting regional economic competitiveness while opposing proliferation of too many regional airports.
"However I don't agree with paragraph 13 which is a compromise amendment added by the Transport Committee, where I am a substitute member but did not have a vote.
"Encouraging people to travel light not only means lower fares but also makes good environmental sense as fares more closely reflect the carbon footprint of each passenger.
"If low hand baggage limits were banned, fares overall would go up.
"Airlines should be free to offer different types of fares, with or without limited baggage allowances. I don't think low hand baggage limits are a breach of competition law at all.
"The effect of this proposal would be to force budget airlines with smaller planes to offer the same hand baggage allowance as long distance jumbo jets. This would not only increase fares, it would be extremely difficult technically on a small regional jet where the lockers are not very deep. There simply is not enough space in a narrow fuselage."
Phil added that he was also concerned by the stress in the amended report on promoting commercial activities as a major income stream for airports.
"An airport should fundamentally be an airport, not be padded out with a huge shopping malls outside town centres subsidising landing charges which passengers are forced to walk through.
"This idea could lead to a vicious circle that favours the largest airports like Heathrow with huge retail centres attached. Regional airports could lose out.
"I support more long distance flights at Birmingham on a longer runway but not building a new Bull Ring at the site to keep up with pressure to subsidise landing charges."
Phil said that he also backed calls by the ALDE group of Lib Dem MEPs for more stress on better connections for air travellers with rail and bus transport.
ENDS

These reforms will help build a sustainable future for our country. The Coalition Government's plans will offer help and support to families, small businesses and communities, protect the environment, as well as reaffirming our commitment to helping the poorest nations.

In 2010, Liberal Democrats joined the Coalition Government to act in the long-term national interest. Our most urgent task was to tackle the record deficit left to us by Labour and we're continuing this work today.

We have already made some tough choices, and we will continue to make sure we keep spending down so, unlike the rest of Europe, families can benefit from low interest rates and Britain is protected from the global debt storm.

The key themes from the 2012 Queen's Speech are:

"It's been a disappointing and difficult night for the Liberal Democrats. I'm really sad that so many colleagues and friends, Liberal Democrat councillors, who've worked so hard, so tirelessly, for so many years, for communities and families in their local areas, have lost their seats. And I want to pay tribute to all the great work that they have done.

"I'm determined that we will continue to play our role in rescuing, repairing, and reforming the British economy. It's not an easy job and it can't be done overnight. But our duty is to boost jobs and investment and restore a sense of hope and optimism to our country.

"I believe that, over time, people will come to acknowledge our unique role, the Liberal Democrats, in this Government as the only party that combines responsibility on the economy with social fairness."

Tim Farron says 'Thank You'

The polling stations have yet to open as I'm writing this. I've spent the last few days reminding postal voters to send their ballots in, mostly using the Connect phone bank.

I've also been out with fellow campaigners delivering last minute messages to our supporters - reminding them of our track record of hard work and achievement.

Wherever I go on the campaign trail, I am struck by the passion and determination of Lib Dem candidates and their teams, and by their dedication to their communities. I haven't met a single Lib Dem candidate who doesn't objectively deserve to be elected. But of course, not everyone will have won by the time you read this.

Over the last few weeks, being out on the doorsteps with you - from Dundee to Dollis Hill and all parts in between - has been exhilarating. If I needed reminding why I am a Liberal Democrat, then being out with our activists, who live and breathe community politics would have done the job.

All of us know that for the good of the country we have put ourselves in the political firing line - and made life really hard electorally. We have been given a precious chance in appalling circumstances to make this country greener, fairer and more liberal - we were right to grasp that chance.

All the same, being in power at such a difficult time as this has not made us popular - many of those who identify themselves as Liberal Democrat supporters are confused or even angered by our role in government.

So in our communities we have a chance to make a difference on the ground - whether we were successful this week or not. I often tell the tale of my dear friend and mentor Neva Orrell who lost her seat in Leyland, Lancashire no less than three times. Each time she lost, the Liberal group on the council was down to zero, but each time she carried on campaigning and each time she won her seat back next time.

I hope that most of you reading this will have won in the elections, but if you didn't, can I just say that I am utterly proud of you. Take the weekend off, and then on Monday, get out there and do a Neva.