Liberal Democrat MP for Bradford East David Ward has criticised the move to withdraw cheque guarantee facilities today as part of a deliberate effort by the banks to hasten the death of cheques.

The scheme, which allows people to guarantee that cheques are honoured by writing their card details on the back, will come to an end today. This comes ahead of the eventual abolition of cheques which the Payments Council – representing the major high street banks – aims to achieve by 2018.

Commenting David Ward, who has been leading the ‘Save Our Cheque’ campaign, said: “This is a story of death by 1000 cuts for cheques. The banks say they aim to withdraw cheques in 2018 if demand is low enough. Now they are seeking to make that a forgone conclusion by gradually withdrawing the services that make cheques a viable system for consumers and businesses. Allowing the banks to set their own criteria and their own target for the withdrawal of cheques makes this kind of behaviour inevitable.

“The banks shouldn’t be allowed to take this decision when they have such a vested interest in it. The importance of cheques to consumers and businesses means that it must be an impartial organisation which has the final say. And we must keep up the pressure on the banks to protect the quality of the cheque services available to their customers until genuine alternatives are available.”

Police will be able to prevent suspected domestic abusers from returning to a victim’s home, under a pilot scheme launched by the Home Office today.

Greater Manchester, West Mercia and Wiltshire police will run the 12 month trial of Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPOs), which officers can use to stop perpetrators from contacting victims or returning to their home for up to 28 days.

The scheme is designed to provide protection in the immediate aftermath of a domestic violence incident, before civil proceedings can be progressed. Domestic violence is a widespread problem and comprised 14 per cent of all violent incidences reported in the British Crime Survey last year.

Currently victims of domestic violence only receive immediate protection if the police arrest and charge a perpetrator, and appropriate bail conditions are set or a civil injunction is sought by the victim. If this does not happen, the only option for victims may be to escape to temporary accommodation.

Minister for Equalities Lynne Featherstone said:

“Domestic violence is an appalling crime which sees two people a week die at the hands of their partner or ex-partners, while millions more suffer years of abuse in their own homes.

“This pilot scheme is designed to protect victims in the short term and give them the breathing space to consider their next steps, including longer term protection through a civil injunction application.”

The DVPO pilot is just one of the ways in which the government is tackling the issue of domestic violence, as part of its overall Violence Against Women and Girls Action Plan.

As part of the Plan there is a commitment to provide more than £28 million of Home Office funding over the next four years for local specialist services to support victims. This includes £3.3 million of funding per year for local Independent Domestic Violence Advisers and Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conferences and £900,000 per year for national helplines to support victims of domestic violence.

Nicola Harwin CBE, CEO of Women’s Aid, the national domestic violence charity, said:

“Women’s Aid has been advocating for better legal protection and support for women and children who are victims of domestic abuse for nearly 40 years and we actively supported the introduction of DVPOs.

“These orders could be an important and useful tool in the police response toolkit to help improve options and safety for all victims of domestic abuse, as similar measures in Europe have shown. It is crucial that they form part of an effective multi-agency response that meets survivors’ needs, including the provision of advocacy and support from specialist domestic abuse services.”

Commenting on the announcement that the Government intends to accept undertakings from News Corporation’s merger with BSkyB, Co-Chair of the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Culture, Media and Sport Committee, Don Foster said: “Jeremy Hunt has assiduously followed the rules on media plurality laid down by the last Government. But those rules aren’t good enough and are failing to inspire public confidence.

“The last Labour Government originally didn’t even want general media plurality rules. Our current, watered down protections were only introduced after a long battle in the House of Lords.

“We need an independent commission to look at plurality and come up with protections that can be trusted.”

IF you commit fraud you will be caught. That was the message from North East Lincolnshire Council as the third annual fraud report was presented to the Audit Committee on Thursday (June 23).

The report highlighted the measures in place to seek out fraud and the actions the council takes when fraud or misconduct is identified.

Covering the period April 2010 to March 2011, the report sets out the implementation of the council’s policy on dealing with those who try to steal public money, both from inside and outside of the organisation.

One of the major issues to combat is benefit fraud. The council uses data matching and shares information with partner organisations to identify potential fraudsters. For example, the Audit Commission coordinates the National Fraud Initiative (NFI) to find anomalies between records. And as a result of the 2008/09 NFI programme a number of cases were taken further in 2010/11.

Four housing benefit cases, all involving undeclared student loans, were identified for legal action, the first resulted in a prosecution while the rest are currently being prepared. Five claimants with undeclared pensions are under review and there are two ongoing investigations into claimants with undeclared earnings.

In addition, the NFI exercise identified anomalies in single person council tax discounts. This prompted the council to arrange its own investigation which recouped £274,763 of extra revenue.

In January 2011 the Audit Commission issued its 2010/11 NFI data matches and these are now under review by the council. There were 14,884 referrals issued, although only 1,328 of these were described as high quality matches recommended for follow up. From this there are 94 cases currently being investigated.

In 2010/11 the benefit fraud team completed 460 investigations, with over £700,000 of benefit identified as being incorrectly paid, including benefits administered by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This is an increase of approximately £170,000 on 2009/10.

If you suspect someone is committing benefit or council tax fraud, call the hotline on (01472) 323334. Callers do not have to leave their name and all information received is treated in confidence. In 2010/11 there were 215 referrals to the hotline.

The Annual Fraud report also highlighted proactive reviews by internal audit into in-house council operations, which are susceptible to fraud. This included telephone usage by council officers, spot checks on portable equipment and the use of petty cash.

During these checks misuse of telephones was identified. While the average usage charges were low, there were some relatively high cost phones and these were reviewed. This led to the repayment of call charges and warnings to the staff concerned. Employees have since been reminded of the corporate policy in relation to the private use of council phones.

Human resources investigations carried out in 2010/11 resulted in four dismissals, four actions short of dismissal, two final written warnings, one written warning, four standard setting and the others are ongoing.

The Government’s Coalition Programme states our intention to increase households’ control over their energy costs by ensuring that energy bills provide information on how to move to the cheapest tariff offered by their supplier, and how each household’s energy usage compares to similar households. Consumers need extra help to control their energy costs and the time has come for us to provide it.

As you know these measures are to increase consumers’ understanding of their energy bills, help them control their energy costs and encourage energy efficiency. Many consumers miss out on the best deals because they do not know how much money they might save changing their tariff or payment method – or they think it will be difficult to identify a better tariff. I am particularly concerned that vulnerable households do not know how much extra they might be paying. By telling consumers if they are not on the cheapest tariff, and explaining how these can be accessed, we can help consumers search for a better deal and cut their energy costs. By providing a comparison with a similar household, consumers will be able to judge whether they are able to make efficiencies and save on costs.

I am keen to work with you to achieve these goals, and to do so quickly by the end of the summer. While I know helpful discussions have been ongoing since the election, in order to ensure a swift resolution this summer I hope you will take personal charge of the issue.

Notwithstanding the powers being taken in the Energy Bill to introduce such measures, I think it would be vastly preferable, less burdensome and speedier if we could reach agreement on a voluntary approach that builds on the research commissioned by DECC and the consumer tests that you have done on different approaches.

As a retail company, you know your customers well and I would be interested in your ideas on how you could provide information on your bills to consumers on how to switch to your cheapest tariff and on how their consumption compares to similar households ahead of the meeting between ministers and the Energy Retail Association on 14 July.

I therefore look forward to hearing your proposals for providing the information to consumers within the next fortnight, to the opening of formal negotiations, to a swift agreement and for additional helpful information on consumer bills at the earliest opportunity.

Regards, Chris Huhne

The following article was written by Julian Huppert MP and published today on the Liberal Democrat Voice Website.

Labour’s approach to dealing with the threat of terrorism was illiberal and ineffective. The regime they built was topped off by control orders, which remain one of the most odious elements of their legacy. These orders totally bypassed due legal process, establishing a bewildering clandestine world of secret evidence, special advocates and draconian restrictions that would have made Kafka blush.

The irony was that all this authoritarian paraphernalia, which did great damage to civil liberties many of us had previously taken for granted, failed utterly to achieve its intended purpose. Not a single person subject to a control order has ever been successfully prosecuted. In addition, seven of the 48 people supposedly held by these measures have absconded. So we lost track of 15% of people who were apparently the most dangerous in the country.

So, in opposition, we opposed control orders both because they were totally illiberal, and because they were simply not working as a tool for tackling terrorism. The Conservatives also opposed control orders, although their voting record, as with so many other proposals from Labour Home Secretaries, told a different story.

Now in government, after a long battle over substance, both parties in Coalition have brought forward proposals to scrap control orders and replace them with technocratic-sounding ‘Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures’ – or TPIMs for short. Sadly, these proposals are far from what we would have introduced on our own; for example, Lord Macdonald’s review of counter-terrorist legislation made recommendations which, unsurprisingly, would have been far more palatable for Liberal Democrats.

I have been appointed to the Bill Committee, and so it falls to me to help improve the government’s proposals. Labour have kept up their illiberal approach on this Committee, asking for control orders to be restored, and even greater powers. The shadow Minister even said, “there are times when people have to be outside the legal framework.”

To try to improve things, and with considerable help from Liberty, the human rights organisation, I brought around 80 amendments aimed at ensuring the security and liberty of our society. They would have achieved this by creating a system where the Home Secretary could apply to the High Court for a TPIMs notice, which, if granted, would remove the bar on police bail for suspected terror offences in individual cases. A Chief Constable would then be able to apply bail conditions as necessary (including all of those proposed under TPIMs) to ensure our security was protected. This would restore due legal process and support prosecution.

Unfortunately, the Committee didn’t seem inclined to listen to my proposals, let alone accept them. But the important thing is the principle: I did not want to miss the opportunity both to restore liberty and to ensure our nation’s security. Only by prosecuting terrorist suspects can we obtain the public safety we desire, and only by following due legal process and the rule of law can we retain or restore essential freedoms.

We can have due legal process, security and liberty. We must avoid the trap of sacrificing one for the sake of the others.

Julian Huppert is the MP for Cambridge & a member of the Home Affairs Select Committee.

The council’s library service will be holding events during Dementia Awareness Week.

Dementia Awareness Week starts on Monday, July 4, and local people are being offered advice, support and the chance to reminisce at North East Lincolnshire Council’s libraries.

On Monday, July 4, the Alzheimer’s Society will be holding two drop-in sessions to give people the chance to find out more about dementia and receive help and advice.

These sessions will take place at Grimsby Central Library from 10am to 3pm and at Cleethorpes Library from 1.30pm to 3.30pm.

For more information or to book a one-to-one advice session, call (01472) 323620, visit www.alzheimers.org.uk or www.nelincs.gov.uk/art-culture-and-leisure/libraries.

Additionally, there will be a chance to share your memories of visits to the seaside with author and reminiscence facilitator, Chris Motley on Friday, July 8.

The session will take place from 10.30am at Cleethorpes Library and is free to attend. Tea and coffee will be available at 11.30am.

To book a place, call Cleethorpes Library on (01472) 323650.

The council’s library service has a new collection of books available for loan about a wide range of issues that affect families and their children, such as general parenting; children’s health; education and development; and activities that the whole family can enjoy together.

North East Lincolnshire Council’s library service has teamed up with the council’s family information service to provide a selection of books called ‘100+books4families’ to give parents and carers an insight into issues that matter to them.

Books in the collection cover a wide range of topics such as: general parenting; children’s health; education and development; and activities that the whole family can enjoy together.

Titles include: First Time Parent; The Crafty Kid; Good Night, Sleep Tight; Read With Me…. Again; Kids Cake and Party Food; Teenager Owner’s Manual; and Grandparents’ Handbook.

A full list of the titles available in the 100+books4families collection is available on the library service website: www.nelincs.gov.uk/libraries

The books are available to borrow free of charge and free internet access is also available in local libraries.

For more information, call Grimsby Central Library, on (01472) 323600 or the Family Information Services (FIS) helpline, on (01472) 323250 or 0800 18 303 17.

Liberal Democrat MP for East Dunbartonshire Jo Swinson has backed plans to create an elected House of Lords.

The Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, recently announced plans to reform the House of Lords to create a smaller, 80% elected and more democratically legitimate chamber.

At present, Peers are currently appointed to the House of Lords by the Prime Minister of the day, to sit as Members for the rest of their life and scrutinise legislation proposed by the House of Commons. However, Governments and politicians on all sides have talked about reforming that House of Lords for more than a century, and Jo Swinson has encouraged her fellow MPs to back progress away from an unelected House.

Commenting, Jo Swinson said: “It is unacceptable that the House of Lords remains completely unaccountable to the public, and reform was a key promise of the Liberal Democrat manifesto. It’s only right that people have a say in who sits in their Parliament and that politics is open and transparent, which means an elected House of Lords with a democratic mandate.

“Labour had 13 years to put plans in place for an elected House of Lords, but we are now pressing ahead with reform.”

Responding to Richard Banks’ comments yesterday on rising interest rates, Citizens Advice Chief Executive, Gillian Guy said:

“Across the Citizens Advice service, we helped people with over 100,000 mortgage and secured loan arrears last year. Encouraging forbearance is absolutely right and necessary, with the current levels of unemployment and other economic challenges people are facing. A policy of ‘tough love’ would be short-sighted and unhelpful.

“Of course there will be cases where homeownership is unsustainable, but in that situation it is vital that those affected are helped out of home ownership in an orderly way and that they can get into secure rented accommodation with the least disruption possible. This is the key challenge for lenders and government.

“When lenders were not treating people fairly and failing to show forbearance repossession proceedings were started when people were only a couple of months in arrears. Since then lenders have done a good job with customers facing difficulties but we are now starting to see poor practice creep back in.

“Anyone struggling to meet their mortgage repayments, or worried that they might have difficulties in the future, should get free independent advice straight away from somewhere like their local CAB. You have a greater chance of staying in your home if you seek advice early.”