Older people are being forced to cut down on their energy usage as they face soaring fuel bills, a report warned today.

According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies pensioners have seen their gas bills rise by 55% in the two years to April 200, and electricity bills have also risen by 36%.

The average amount of money older households spend on fuel is said to have risen by about 22% during the same period, despite reducing their consumption by 10%.

Age Concern and Help the Aged, who commissioned the report, warned that further rises in energy prices seen during 2008 have increased the pressure on older people, forcing many of them cut back on heating or reduce spending on other items in order to afford their energy bills.

The group said some pensioners were even staying in bed to reduce the amount they spent on heating.

The research also uncovered the contrast in the lifestyles of the poorest and richest pensioners, and found that during 2007, the poorest 20% of pensioners spent almost40% of their income after housing costs on food and fuel, while the richest 20% spent just under 20% of their income on these things.

Pensioners have also seen an increasingly large proportion of their budget taken up by local taxes, such as council tax, which has risen by 84% between 1995 and 2007 to account for 7% of total expenditure, compared with 4% for non-retired households.

Andrew Harrop, head of public policy at Age Concern and Help the Aged, said:

“What’s most clear from this important new research is the significant differences in living standards between older people at different ends of the income scale.

“Shockingly, the report finds that while poorer pensioners are spending more of their available income on energy, they are at the same time reducing the amount of energy they buy.

“Not only does this demonstrate the problem of soaring energy costs in recent times, but is a warning to policy makers and others that vulnerable older people could be putting their health at risk in winter just to cut costs.”

Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman Steve Webb said:

“Pensioners have been hit by soaring fuel bills which have taken a growing chunk out of their meagre state pensions.

“Once again, we see the woeful inadequacy of the basic state pension, one of the worst in Europe.

“Forcing pensioners to rely on complex and poorly understood means-tested benefits is simply not the answer to pensioner poverty. It is time that the state pension was raised to a decent level.

“As a first step, the Government should restore the earnings link at once.”

Yesterday, I received a letter from Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, Greg Mulholland MP and Liberal Democrat Councillor and Chairman of the West Yorkshire Integrated Passenger Authority, Ryk Downes asking me for support for the ‘Fast Track to Yorkshire Campaign’ , which is a campaign that I fully support. 

I personally welcome the campaign to introduce a high speed rail network as an environmentally friendly alternative to domestic air travel and car journeys.

I believe the decision is biased and flawed and as pointed out in the letter that I received: “It is unacceptable that there is no place for Yorkshire in the Government’s planes.  The introduction of a high speed rail line on the east of the country would bring huge economic benefits to the whole region.”

Don’t forget that North East Lincolnshire would also gain massively from the benefits, but if the West Coast option went ahead we would completely lose out.

On 25 April this year Greg Mulholland wrote in the Yorkshire Post:

“High-speed rail delivers a benefit to cost ratio of around 2:1 and the potential benefits to Yorkshire will total billions of pounds.

”That equates to the combined economies of Leeds and Sheffield, the two economic “drivers” of the region, which in itself surely justifies a direct link to London, but the cost of missing out would also be huge.  A high-speed line on the other side of the country, without one to Yorkshire, would take away huge amounts of investment as people and companies relocated close to the new express route.  We cannot let this happen.

”We have long had a sense of not getting a fair deal for transport spending in Yorkshire. Figures for 2007-8 show that transport spending was a lowly £234 per head in Yorkshire compared with a UK average of £326 and a whopping £641 in London.

”Furthermore, vast amounts of taxpayers’ money continue to be ploughed into the West Coast main line.  In 2007-8, Virgin received a subsidy of £162m, or 3.8p per passenger kilometre. By contrast, National Express East Coast paid £32m in net terms as part of its franchise agreement, in effect a negative subsidy, equivalent to 2.4p per passenger kilometre.

”No one is saying that people and businesses in the North-West don’t deserve good transport links, but so do people in this region. The simple fact is that we are not getting a fair deal in Yorkshire and that must not be extended to high-speed rail.”

I urge everyone to support Greg Mulholland in his campaign, as a successful campaign wiould also brig enormous benefits to North East Lincolnshire and Humberside.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne has asked the Government to exempt local pubs, clubs and village halls from the need for a licence to play live music.

Chris Huhne  says:

“This licensing requirement is just bureaucracy gone mad. Why should anyone need Government permission to pick up a guitar and sing?”

Chris Huhne has co-sponsored a cross-party motion lending support to local pubs and venues that want to play live music.

Early Day Motion (EDM) 1948 calls on the Government to end restrictions that mean small local pubs and village halls have to apply for a licence to play live music.

Calling on the Government to scrap this unnecessary red tape

Chris Huhne said:

“Pubs, village halls, local schools and hospitals should all be able to enjoy the benefits of staging live music without having to jump through yet more Whitehall hoops.

“With pubs closing at a record rate across Hampshire during the recession, the Government should think again before making life even harder for these local businesses.”

The EDM is so far only signed by small number of MPs; as well as Chris Huhne there are a number of Liberal Democrats including Shadow Culture, Media and Sports Secretary, Don Foster

Don Foster, said:

“When the licensing laws changed in 2003 we were promised an explosion of live music, but in reality many small scale events have been stifled by bureaucracy.”

“It’s time that common sense prevailed, and small venues, hospitals and schools were allowed to host live music without having to cope with an expensive, bureaucratic nightmare.”

A date has been set to make a start on North East Lincs new £25-million university centre.

In spite of delays with the initial plans, the Grimsby Institute will now be able to start work on the centre in January 2010.

The original £140-million plans for a new campus at Nuns’ Corner were delayed when the Learning and Skills Council withdrew their part of funding last July, but approval has now been given for the £25-million centre to be built.

The new building will house lecture theatres, research facilities, clinical skills rooms, laboratories for science and sports physiology, computer suites, studios for television and radio as well as a full licensed bar and food outlets.

Gill Alton, vice principal in charge of higher education, said it would be an “iconic” building.

She added:

“There will be a strong message going out with the size it’s going to be.

“The new building will take up to 3,500 students, which is 1,300 more than our current intake.

“We already have a hundred higher education courses on offer, and we will be adding to those based on the local skill requirements.”

New projections published by the Government today show that the prison population in England and Wales could reach more than 93,000 by 2015. This could mean an extra cost to the taxpayer of over £380m.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Justice Spokesperson, Paul Holmes said:

“These projections highlight Labour’s incompetent handling of our prisons.
 
“The prison population has already grown by over 20,000 in the last twelve years. The prospect of it rising to over 90,000 is a shocking indictment of an approach which has failed to curb astronomical re-offending rates.
 
“These projections would see the taxpayer footing over £380m a year more without any measures to stop the revolving door of Britain’s prison system.
 
If the Government is serious about tackling crime and cutting our sky high re-offending rates they must focus on what works. This means moving prisoners with addiction and mental health problems into appropriate accommodation and investing in alternatives to custody.”

You can see the video from the recent FunHouse Summer Camp by clicking HERE

Over the six week Summer school holiday period:

• 118 young people went karting
• 127 young people from N E Lincs went on a four day camp
• FunHouse volunteers delivered 2,428 hours of work alongside the Community Wardens and Police Community Support Officers
• Holiday provided for £11.54 per day for each young person

At the same time it was business as usual for the FunHouse, which was open to the young people of Nunsthorpe and N E Lincolnshire every day with the full programme of events for young people and adults, with a combined attendance of  1500 every week

Well done to everyone at the FunHouse!

You can see a short video about some of the activities provided from the FunHouse at http://tinyurl.com/kqm76q

Students across North East Lincolnshire have been celebrating their successes in this year’s GCSE and A-level results.
Preliminary results indicate that proportion of young people in North East Lincolnshire schools succeeding at GCSE has continued to grow, far exceeding the expected rates of progress.

This year, some 70% of students achieved five or more passes at A* to C, which is a fantastic improvement from 2005 when the figure was just 42%.

The number of students achieving five such passes, including both English and mathematics, rose this year to 46%, up from last year’s figure of 39.7%.

Tollbar Business and Enterprise College has once again produced an outstanding set of achievements, with 99.7% of students gaining five or more higher grades. Of these, 86 per cent also achieved this level with English and maths included.

Healing and Humberston schools have also continued to demonstrate high levels of performance at GCSE with more than 60% of students achieving five or more A* to C grades including English and maths. In addition, most schools in North East Lincolnshire have shown significant improvement in achieving five passes at A* to C.

Results for A-level students were also impressive. At Franklin College, some 636 students achieved a collective 1,995 passes. This was an overall pass rate of 99%, with 68% achieving grades A to C.

Tollbar celebrated a 99% pass rate, and at the Grimsby Institute, 14 subject areas saw a 100%.

Roger Edwardson, the deputy director for learning, said:

“In the past five years the authority, by supporting local teachers and schools, has worked hard to improve the outcomes for children and young people within our borough.

“I’m proud of how far we’ve come and I’m certain we will see these improvements continue in coming years. I’d like to wish our students the best of luck for all of their future endeavours. Congratulations to you all.”

As the school curriculum broadens, a growing number of young people in North East Lincolnshire are now choosing to follow a vocational course that is equivalent to GCSE level and this contributes to the significant improvement to achieve an additional 11 per cent on last year.

Councillor Tony McCabe, Portfolio Holder for Children and Family Services, said:

“Congratulations to everyone who has received their results.

“I am extremely proud of all the young people in the borough.”

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg is asking people who work in the public sector where they think taxpayers’ money can be saved.

Nick Clegg is today visiting a hospital in Sheffield, as well as launching a website where people who work in the public sector can submit suggestions on how to cut waste.

The ‘Ask the People in the Know’ project recognises that serious savings will have to be made to bring public finances under control and seeks the expertise of those working in the public sector on how to cut out waste while protecting services.

Nick Clegg said:

“Hard-working nurses and teachers tell me how frustrated they are by the money which is being wasted on needless paperwork, administration and computer systems that don’t work.

“David Cameron and Gordon Brown are having a sterile debate about the size of the total Whitehall budget. But they’re asking the wrong question: we first need to find out if money is being spent on the right things.

“It can’t be right that billions of pounds are being spent on NHS computer systems which don’t work, yet basic help for people with serious mental health conditions is still lacking because of a shortage of money.

“The people who are best placed to tell us where money is not being well spent are the teachers, nurses, social workers and other public servants who work so hard day and night on our behalf.

“Politicians should stop talking over the heads of public servants. We need to listen to the people in the know on how we can better run public services, making sure that every penny of taxpayers’ money is well spent. That’s what ‘Asking People In The Know’ is all about.”

To find out more about this campaign, please visit this website.

The Government is set to cut up to 20% of the income of some of the country’s poorest people in April, consultation documents highlighted by the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

Government plans to alter the Local Housing Allowance could leave low-income families £780 worse off.  At the moment, families receiving Local Housing Allowance (LHA) are able to keep up to £15 a week if they choose a home with a rent below the Local Housing Allowance maximum for their area.  Ministers now propose removing this £15 a week payment with immediate effect in April.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Housing Minister, Sarah Teather said:

“£15 a week may be small change to ministers, but for families struggling to make ends meet it is incredibly important.

“The Government has a track record in secretly raising taxes for the poorest, most vulnerable people in our society.  Now they are planning to abruptly take away a vital source of their income.

“This is a scheme that probably won’t save any money, but will make an enormous difference to the families suddenly losing 20% of their income. 

“Gordon Brown has once again abandoned the people who need the most help.”

“It is time that the state pension was raised to a decent level,” said the Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

Commenting on today’s [Friday 28 August] report from the IFS which reveals higher energy prices between 2004 and 2007 coincided with substantially higher fuel spending and lower fuel consumption among pensioners, Steve Webb said:

“Pensioners have been hit by soaring fuel bills which have taken a growing chunk out of their meagre state pensions.  

“Once again we see the woeful inadequacy of the basic state pension, one of the worst in Europe.  

“Forcing pensioners to rely on complex and poorly understood means-tested benefits is simply not the answer to pensioner poverty.   It is time that the state pension was raised to a decent level.  As a first step, the Government should restore the earnings link at once.”