Humberside firefighter Carl Hunt has been awarded the MBE in the Queens New Years Honours list,in recognition of his dedication to the fire and rescue service and his commitment to supporting local and national charities.

Carl is currently a technical fire safety officer based in Grimsby and has nearly 20 years service.A dedicated member of the fire service Carl has been instrumental in the development of community safety initiatives which included the design and publication of a childrens colouring book with a fire safety theme that gained national recognition.

During his career he has served at fire stations across North East Lincolnshire and has been an active member of the fire fighters charity.

Apart from fighting fires ,Carl has devoted his time in recent years to various charity activities that include the “Wish upon a Star” charity that involved school children from the town of Chernobyl visiting Peaks Lane fire station in Grimsby, and visits to local schools and orphanages to give out valuable fire safety advice.

Carl regularly organises the shipment of second hand equipment to schools and homes in Romania,but one of his greatest achievements came during “Operation Florian” in 2008.The operation involved the transportation of a second hand fire appliance from the Isle of Man across Europe to Romania.

Frank Duffield Chief Fire Officer of Humberside Fire and Rescue Service said :

“I am delighted that Carl has been awarded the MBE in the Queens New Years Honours list.The fire service has seen some radical changes in recent years as we move to become a modern,forward thinking organisation,and he has played a key part in this work.This award is a great honour for Carl,his family and Humberside Fire and rescue Service ,and is just reward for his work and dedication.He particularly deserves recognition for his efforts in raising the profile of local and national charities”

The MBE is awarded for:

Achievement or service in and to the community of a responsible kind which is outstanding in its field or a very local “hands-on” service which stands out as an example to others.        

Justice Secretary Jack Straw has infuriated many police officerswhen he told the BBC on Radio 4′s Today programme that he is “sceptical” about claims by some police that they are overworked and spend hours filling in forms.

He said that some officers “quite enjoy” being in the station “in the warm” and that some forces perform better than others, saying that in his opinion the difference was not due to resources, but to the “discipline and culture” within the force.

The Police Federation, which represents police officers, said Mr Straw’s remarks were “irresponsible and inflammatory”

Mr Straw, who was the home secretary between 1997 and 2001, was questioned about “overworked” police forces asking people to register minor crimes online, and he replied:

 ”I’m afraid I’m rather sceptical about the excuse that a public service, in this case the police, is overworked and therefore can’t change.

“With a given level of resources, some police forces, or some parts of police forces do very much better than others, and it is the ones who are the less efficient and who have the wrong approach to the public who fall back on this ‘Oh, I’m overworked’ [argument].”

He commented that while some officers would claim it takes four hours to fill in forms, “good police officers will take an hour to fill in the same forms because they want to get out and catch criminals”.

He continued:

“Some police officers, whatever they say, actually quite enjoy being in the police station in the warm.  We are dealing with human beings, but we are also dealing with the kind of discipline and culture in the police service.”

Around the country, while some police forces were “up for it, getting crime down and really motoring” neighbouring forces had still “not got it together”, he said.

“It is not about money, it is about leadership, organisation and culture.”

Simon Reed, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said Mr Straw’s remarks were “irresponsible and inflammatory”.

“It wasn’t police officers who brought in 3,000 new laws, it wasn’t police officers who brought in a 30-page prosecution file and it wasn’t police officers who brought in multiple forms and authorities to use a pair of binoculars,” he said.

“This was all done by politicians. Police officers are not the architects of bureaucracy, they and the public are the victims of it.”

Last month Jan Berry, a former chairman of the Police Federation who is now a advising the Government on how to reduce police bureaucracy, said her impression is that officers are spending no more time on the beat now than they were two years ago.

The latest Home Office figures show that officers spend fewer than six hours a week patrolling the streets. The percentage of time spent on paperwork has risen from 18.4% of all officer time in 2005 to 19.7% in 2007.
Meanwhile, the time spent on patrol is down from 15.3% to 13.6%.

Ms Berry blamed the failure to increase the number of hours an officer spends on the beat on a fixation with targets, saying there was a culture of “what gets counted, gets done”, rather than what mattered to the public.

I think that Mr Straw has just lost his party the support of police officers throughout the country unless they all left the service following former Home Office Minister, Jacqui Smith’s decision not to accept the ‘binding’ arbitration decision on police pay in 2007

“Arial”>Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“It is a cheap shot to blame individual police officers for the failings of their forces. 

“Police forces vary enormously in their effectiveness even though they face the same unnecessary bureaucracy, and the way to improve laggard forces is through strong local accountability with elected police authorities.”

New plans to regenerate of Freeman Street in a scheme that rivals the Grimsby Top town Masterplan will be revealed in a few days.

The 15 year plan for Freeman Street will include housing and commercial opportunities which will bring investment into the East Marsh and complement the existing projects that are already beginning to develop in the area.

As reported recently, the Salvation Army has already been given the go-ahead for their £4-million new hostel on Eleanor Street which will provide accommodation for up to 35 residents.

There are also plans to revamp the Freeman Street Market in 2010.

North East Lincolnshire Council portfolio holder for regeneration, Councillor Geoff Lowis said the report by development consultants EC Harris will be released in January.

Councillor Lowis said:

“It is a partnership with Shoreline and we have already set aside money in our capital budget.

“It is a question of site assembly, so we can get on with the 15-year plan.”

He said the first steps had been taken with designation of conservation area status for parts of the area and planning approval for the Salvation Army Hostel and training workshops was given by North East Lincolnshire Council Planning Committee in November.

Freeman Street Market traders are designing new areas of the market for craft stalls.

East Marsh Ward Councillor and portfolio holder for community safety and public protection, Steve Beasant told the Grimsby Telegraph:

“The report will be out early in the New Year, and it’s been eagerly awaited by all three Ward Councillors who will hopefully welcome the report once we have seen it. It should not only good news for the residents of the East Marsh, but the whole of North East Lincolnshire who really want to see something done with the street.

“The Council is now showing commitment to this scheme by including a considerable amount of money from the Capital Progamme, we have applied to other funders but so far no money is forthcoming – we are fully committed to this scheme. Now, hopefully Yorkshire Forward and the Homes and Communities Agency will come on board.”

The Conservatives, recently highlighted the high cost of agency staff within the NHS, and a Norfolk hospital was singled out for paying some of the highest wages in the country to agency staff to cover shift work.

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Kings Lynn paid £375 an hour for an agency doctor in August this year because it was short of staff.

Hospital bosses have now hit back saying that the payments were made in August when they were trying to recruit more permanent staff.

North Norfolk MP and Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said:

“Whatever the reason it is very hard to justify such high expenditure on agency staff. The fact that the QEH is the highest in the country is a cause for real concern.

“As we face a period of very tough public spending decisions it is vital that every penny is spent wisely.”

The figures are particularly concerning because the NHS is expected to face a financial crisis next year with no extra government spending on health.

All trusts are trying to make savings, including NHS Norfolk which faces a £6m deficit by the end of the financial year if it continues with the same spending pattern.

Nationally £1.3bn a year is spent on agency staff which is up 60pc in two years.

Figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats in a written Commons answer show that more than half of the new armoured vehicles sent to Afghanistan are out of service.

The figures obtained from the MoD show that only 134 of the 271 Mastiffs, the heaviest and most protective of the Army’s armoured vehicles in Afghanistan, are “fit for purpose”.

The same poor service history is also affecting the new Ridgeback vehicles which are being used for the first time by 11 Light Brigade in Afghanistan. The Liberal Democrats were told that nearly 40% of Ridgebacks were not operational at present.

The Mastiff and Ridgeback are examples of the new type of heavily armoured, mine-resistant, wheeled patrol vehicles used by the Army on operations in Afghanistan.

They provide much greater protection to personnel than the lightly armoured Snatch Land Rover which has proved so vulnerable to roadside bombs.

The number of people being admitted into hospital with serious dog attack injuries, is on the increase according to figures produced by the Liberal Democrats.

According to the statistics St Helens and Knowsley is the fourth highest for dog attack injuries behind East Grinstead, in West Sussex, Newcastle and Leeds.

The Royal Liverpool Children’s NHS Trust has the second highest number of children (20) being admitted with dog attack injuries, between 2007-2008, placing them just behind Manchester, along with 38 adults admitted to that trust.

Twenty-four people were admitted to the Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospital and 22 to Aintree University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust over the two year period.

This latest informationcomes after two high profile tragic deaths from dog attacks on young children in the Liverpool area, in recent years.

The Liberal Democrats show that nationally dog attack incidents have risen by nearly half (43.3%) in the last eight years.

Nearly 25,000 people, including nearly 6,000 children under 10, have required hospital treatment after a dog attack.

Of these, 9,323 were children aged under 18 and 5,954 were under 10

Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said:

“It is astonishing that thousands of people are undergoing hospital treatment every year after violent dog attacks.

“The Dangerous Dogs Act is one of most ineffective pieces of legislation of recent years.

“The huge rise in attacks is undoubtedly due to the worrying trend of dangerous dogs being used as fashion accessories or, worse, as weapons.

“Irresponsible owners are more likely to make a dog ‘dangerous’ than it being born a particular breed. Police need to be able to get tough with reckless owners of out-of-control dogs, regardless of the breed.”

Over 500 prosecutions went ahead for offences under the Dangerous Dog Act and 340 dogs were destroyed.

Also banned in the UK, along with pitbulls, are Japanese tosas, dogo Argentinos and fila Brasileiros

I read an interesting article earlier today in the Daily Telegraph, entitled “David Cameron’s campaign suggests a belief in nothing but money ” which made me think about the general election.

Conservative leader, David Cameron was wrong to try ‘court’  Liberal Democrat voters by saying that there are few points of disagreement between the two parties.  It is wrong, and it’s not how the Liberal Democrats see it either, and whether Mr Cameron admits it or not, the idea that his party may have to adopt some of the  Liberal  Democrat ideals in order to stay in power must annoys many of his party members.

Simon Heffer’s next reservation is over cost of the campaign at a time of public austerity, he says: 

“Not the frightening morass of our public finances, which the Conservatives still show no sign of grasping, but the funding of the Conservative Party itself.

I have been told that the Conservative party’s budget for the election campaign has been agreed at £18 million.  What does a country in gripped by austeritythink of that?  What does it suggest about the party’s understanding of the value of money?  What if a second campaign had to be funded later in 2010?  Given the circumstances, would a little more restraint not have been in order?  Considering the mess that the Government has made of the country, is it really going to take £18 million to put the Conservative message across?”

He then goes on to express concern about Cameron’s relationship with Lord Ashcroft: 

“Aside from the size of this public-relations budget, the desire for money to fund it has already put Mr Cameron and his party in what could be a difficult position.  He feels beholden to Lord Ashcroft, a businessman whose money has not always been welcomed by the party in the past, and a figure of controversy not least because he will not confirm where he pays taxes.”

Lord Ashcroft is effectively trying to buy power for the Tories.  His influence, is seen all over the country  – just take a look at your next Conservative leaflet that drops through your door, you will probably read somewhere on the it that it is “Delivered and paid for by local Conservatives” – well, I don’t think Lord Ashcroft lives in every constituency where the Conservatives are delivering leaflets as though the election is under way. 

I thought that Lord Ashcroft was a non-dom, and on 14th December the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman, Lord Oakeshott wrote to him asking him to clarify his tax status.

The letter can be viewed:       >>>>>>HERE<<<<<<

Commenting, Lord Oakeshott said:

“Time and time again, senior Tories have failed to clarify Lord Ashcroft’s tax status.

“If it’s wrong for non-doms to sit in the Lords after the election, it’s equally wrong for them to sit in it now.”

Today the Conservatives promised to give £1million of taxpayers’ money as a cash prize to the person or team who manages to “harness the wisdom of the crowd” by producing an online platform to solve “common problems”.

The Conservatives claim that they want to harness ‘the collective wisdom of the British people’, but the idea as already come in for criticism from Labour and the Liberal Democrats

The Conservatives say that the winning product must deliver an effective and available site for the public to post their ideas on, as well as a truly beneficial outcome for it to be win the £1million payout, which the party says would be the biggest prize offered by a British government in the modern era.

Ideas “to get the ball rolling” suggested by the Tories include: identifying and rooting out wasteful government spending, designing credit card bills that anyone can understand; rating the quality of schools and hospitals; making government information clear and simple; and – they say – picking the England squad for the 2010 World Cup.

Jeremy Hunt, the shadow culture secretary, said the party would “only give this money away… if there is a solution”, but he said:

“Conservatives believe that the collective wisdom of the British people is much greater than that of a bunch of politicians or so-called experts.”

“There are currently no technological platforms that enable in-depth online collaboration on the scale required by government – this prize is a good and cost-effective way of getting one.”

Liberal Democrat Shadow Cabinet Office Minister, Jenny Willott

“This prize is clearly a publicity stunt and a total waste of taxpayers’ money. There are already a multitude of ways to communicate with large numbers of people online, from Facebook to discussion groups.

“Maybe the Tories are so out of touch they don’t know what’s out there, but they shouldn’t waste £1m of public money reinventing the wheel.

This is obviously a misjudged gimmick and I hope they see sense and drop it immediately.”

Tessa Jowell, the Cabinet Office minister, predicted the idea would be quietly dropped by the Conservatives in the new year.

“Families want serious, thought-through policies that meet their aspirations, not short-term public relations stunts.”

 A survey of the probation service in England and Wales published today by Napo, the probation union, has revealed numerous examples where tradesmen have spent hours travelling to do simple repairs or maintenance work, such as the  plumber who drove from Birmingham to Norwich to repair a toilet seat, or the electrician who travelled for three hours from Devon to Cheshire to change a lightbulb.

These are two examples of waste that were reported in a survey of probation service areas in England and Wales published today by Napo, the probation union, which says they result from a 2008 Home Office contract that banned maintenance work being done locally.

Napo’s assistant general secretary, Harry Fletcher said:

“Five years ago the Home Office decided to centralise and privatise the maintenance of the probation estate

“Previously local probation services had sought local solutions to local problems. The Home Office takeover has changed matters dramatically.”

Non-urgent repair jobs are now reported to the Home Office property group and then forwarded to a facilities management company who decide whether to do the work themselves or to employ contractors.

Probation staff surveyed in 26 out of the 42 service areas said this had also meant an electrician from London was sent to change strip lighting in Winchester and window cleaners from Preston travelled to Leicester to work at a hostel and stayed overnight before travelling to Lincoln for their next job.

The survey also claims that in 2008-09 the Ministry of Justice spent £54million on consultants for the probation service. Harry Fletcher said:

“It is quite clear that millions are being wasted by the national offender management service on incompetent maintenance contracts and the overuse of consultants.”

Government departments spent nearly £35m on first class rail travel for their officials last year, research by the Liberal Democrats has found.

The figures, compiled from Parliamentary answers, show:

• The 11 departments that supplied figures spent £34,760,255 on first class rail travel in 2008/09. This is equivalent to £94,000 a day or £65 every minute
• The biggest spender was the Department for Work and Pensions, which spent more than £13m last year
• Nine departments supplied figures for 2007/08, spending a combined £22million
• Eight departments supplied figures for 2006/07, spending just under £23million

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Chief Whip, Paul Burstow said:

“The public will find it hard to see how it is possible to justify spending so much on first class rail travel, especially as more and more people are being laid off or told to accept pay freezes or cuts.

“With the pressure on public finances, this is surely an area ripe for the severest of pruning.

“It is disturbing how many departments don’t seem to keep a proper record of this type of expenditure, so how are they able to control it?”