Commenting on today’s Standards and Privileges Committee report into the Derek Conway affair, Liberal Democrat Shadow Leader of the House, David Heath said: “Both the Parliamentary Commissioner and the Standard and Privileges Committee have gone out of their way to be fair and understanding to Mr Conway.”

“He should now accept these findings and immediately pay back the public money which he has been judged to have used improperly.

“This has clearly been a bad week for the reputation of Parliament. We need to completely reform the way politics is done in this country.

“That is why on Monday the Liberal Democrats will be using our Opposition Day to push for urgent reform of the political system.”

Commenting on Gordon Brown’s promise to help councils build more social housing ‘in the coming months’, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Sarah Teather said: “For years, Labour and the Tories have blocked councils’ attempts to build social housing and created the housing crisis we are faced with today.”

“Now Gordon Brown has announced yet more months of delay, instead of helping the 1.77m families waiting for social housing now and kickstarting the struggling construction industry.

“Instead of more dithering, the Government must inject serious funds into social housing right away to buy up land and unsold properties while the market is low.

“We need radical reform of how council housing is funded, so that tenants no longer pay an additional Tenant Tax to the Treasury and councils have the freedom to invest in new housing.”

Commenting on today’s Nationwide Building Society figures, which show that house prices have fallen for the 15th month in a row, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Sarah Teather said: “House prices remain in freefall with little promise of recovery until the freeze on bank lending begins to melt.”

“Until then, the Government’s claim of seeing the ‘green shoots’ of recovery is nothing more than fantasy. More and more homeowners are facing negative equity and potential first time buyers are still unable to access affordable mortgages.”

Commenting on the recommendation of Paul Dacre’s review to reduce the ‘30-year rule’ on Government information to 15 years, Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg said: “The Liberal Democrats have always believed that information should be as free as possible, and that the people have a right to know what their Government is doing.”

“Today’s recommendation to reduce the 30-year rule to 15 years is a significant and welcome step in the fight for further transparency.”

Commenting on today’s advice from the chief medical officer that children under 15 should never be given alcohol, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said: “The scale of the alcohol problem in this country is very worrying.”

“Binge drinking is causing massive damage to teenagers’ health, with levels of liver disease amongst young people increasing alarmingly.

“We have to focus on getting the message across about the potential health risks of excessive alcohol consumption. However, we must be careful to support parents who are giving sound advice to their children and not undermine their judgement.”

Commenting on today’s [Thursday] HM Inspectorate of Prisons Annual Report, Liberal Democrat Shadow Justice Secretary, David Howarth said: “Anne Owers has once again hit the nail on the head with her searing critique of the Government’s mismanagement of the prison system.”

“Population pressures and indeterminate sentences have created a system that is not only failing to rehabilitate but is downright dangerous.

“Ministers must realise that building more prisons is throwing good money after bad. They should take immediate action to stabilise and reduce the long-term prison population.

“That means fewer short-term sentences, less posturing on punishments in the press and treating drug addicts and the mentally ill more appropriately.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg revealed research showing a significant increase in the number of council tenants who are in rent arrears.

Ahead of the Government’s inflation-busting 6% rise in council housing rent in England due in April, Nick Clegg will this morning meet families in Brent who are already struggling to pay their social housing rent.

Research obtained through freedom of information requests by the Liberal Democrats to local authorities in England shows:

More than one third of tenants are in arrears, a larger proportion than any of the previous five years
The number of council tenants who have fallen behind in their rent has risen to over 330,000, representing a rise of 7% compared to this time last year for the average local authority
Over 37,000 tenants have been threatened with eviction since October last year.

Commenting, Nick Clegg said:

“The recession is hitting family finances hard, leading to more and more households falling behind on their rent.

“As the financial crisis worsens thousands of families could face homelessness as they struggle to pay the bills.

“Advice services like those I will be visiting today are critical as the recession deepens.

“Families across the country are struggling to pay their bills. The Government needs to take action now to help low paid working families by introducing big, permanent and fair tax cuts.”

T A oungsters’ advisory group has been formedto help shape council services.

A NEW advisory group of local young people will help North East Lincolnshire Council make decisions which affect children and youngsters in the borough.

The group, comprising ten young representatives, was created by a joint initiative between the participation team and the Young People’s Service. It will work with the help of training from the National Youth Agency, taking on board information, ideas and views collected from local youngsters over the past year.

The panel will work to identify the most important issues faced by children and young people, and which communities these issues are affecting. Two workshops, in February and March, will focus on the way services are delivered in the borough.

Outcomes and recommendations will then be documented to help formulate future service provision. The ‘targeted youth support strategy’ will help providers to determine how impartial advice and guidance can be offered to local young people.

Marcus Isman-Egal, of the Young People’s Service, said: “This is a great opportunity for us. It really is important for the voices of local young people to be heard. After all, they know better than anyone the issues that affect their lives. With the help of our new advisory group, we can ensure that the needs of our children and young people are adequately tackled.”

Tony Blair promised in 1999 that the Government would reduce the number of children in Britain who live in poverty by half from 3.4million to 1.7million by 2010, and then remove the all children from poverty in the following ten years up to 2020.

This aim is far from being achieved as it has beens estimated that 3 million children are still living in poverty, and over the last two years this number has actually increased.

The Government has given up on the first target and changed the second one as part of a new drive to improve the life chances of Britain’s poorest children.

A recent consultation document on proposed legislation makes no reference to the 2010 target of halving child poverty, although it claims 600,000 children have been lifted out of poverty so far.

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Steve Webb, said:
“It is inexcusable that 3.9m children are living in poverty in this country, the fifth largest economy in the world. “The tax system in Britain is grossly unfair and Labour ministers have failed to change it so that it helps struggling families.

“We need big, permanent and fair tax cuts and increased access to free child care to help hard pressed families.

“Labour is failing on child poverty and a new law will not change that.”

Responding to reports that developer Lend Lease is set to earn up to £30m in management fees from the Olympic village, regardless of its ability to find further funding to pay for the construction, Liberal Democrat Shadow Olympics Minister, Tom Brake said: “It seems that the London Olympics is Lend Lease’s cash cow. The firm is guaranteed its fees regardless of how much it invests in the Olympic Village.”

“It is complete madness to sign deals that give developers incentives not to live up to their commitments.
 
“Lend Lease executives will be laughing all the way to the bank unless this one-sided contract can be changed.”