North East Lincolnshire Council’s children’s services team came top in the Making a Difference in Yorkshire and Humber Awards 2008 in the category of People Management, for the improvements it has made to service delivery and another five projects from North East Lincolnshire Council were short listed for awards, organised by Local Government Yorkshire and Humber (LGYH).  

The awards celebrate councils, police and fire authorities throughout Yorkshire and

A new management approach was developed to ensure that the needs of children and families were met when demands on the service were increasing. 

Joanne Hewson, interim deputy director for communities and partnerships for children services, said:

“We needed to ensure that whilst delivering a universal service to all families, our most vulnerable families received the extra level of service required to enable us to make a difference to their lives. “This had previously been inconsistent and we wanted to make dramatic changes to this.“In order to achieve this it was essential that everyone worked together to deliver this demanding agenda.” 

The portfolio holder for children’s services, said:

“This is an excellent achievement and recognises the continued efforts and commitment that has gone into ensuring that our children’s centres provide support and assistance to families in our area. 

“It is testimony to the work of the all organisations involved from health, social care and education establishments and everyone should be very proud of their achievements.” 

Councillor Arthur Barker, chair of LGYH, said:

“The Making a Difference Awards are a great way for the region to come together and celebrate the achievements of the past year. Yorkshire and Humber are recognised nationally for a lot of their good work and I welcome opportunities, such as this one provided by Local Government Yorkshire and Humber, where we can show how effective our local authorities are.”   

North East Lincolnshire Council residents can learn more about staying warm and keeping fuel bills low this winter with a number of Energy Roadshows taking place next week.

The event is part of a wider programme of activities taking place as part of the Warm Homes Campaign, a national campaign that aims to cut the number of winter deaths and reduce cold-related illnesses by raising awareness of the help available to people who cannot afford to heat their homes in winter.

The campaign, which runs throughout November, is organised by energy efficiency charity National Energy Action (NEA) in association with eaga, and supported by the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

North East Lincolnshire Council’s Home Energy team is using the event to raise awareness of the problems facing local people who struggle to heat their homes and the role that energy efficiency can play in making their homes warmer, more comfortable and easier to heat.

The Energy Roadshows will provide advice and grant information to help people keep warm save money on their fuel bills.

Locations of the Energy Roadshows are as follows

November 26 - Matalan, Alexandra Road Retail Park - 12noon – 4pm

November 27 - Asda, Holles Street, Grimsby -10am – 3pm

December 5 - Ramsdens, Cleethorpe Road 10am – 3pm

Councillor Steve Beasant, portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “With a cold snap forecast for this weekend, there has never been a better time to focus on the services provided by the council to help people stay warm in their homes. “People with elderly relatives or neighbours have a social responsibility to help people stay warm in their homes and these roadshows offer a great opportunity to find out more.”

The UK is facing a homelessness timebomb as a third of people would lose their homes within three months if they lost their job, according to a survey by the homeless charity Crisis.

The poll revealed that 33% of the working population could face homelessness in as little as three months if they were to join the increasing numbers of unemployed people.

Last week the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) warned that unemployment could rise to as many as 3.25 million, which is more than 10% of the workforce if recent Government bids to help the economy were unsussessful

Any increase in unemployment levels could prove disastrous for those already struggling to meet rent and mortgage repayments, according to the charity.

Crisis said: “If unemployment continues to rise, the knock-on effect of a rise in homelessness could occur very soon.”

The survey also revealed that 24% of adults without children said they would approach the local authorities for help in the event if they lost their home.

 Crisis said this expectation was “misplaced” and that local authorities “only have a duty to house people who meet the strict statutory criteria” and that most couples without children do not qualify.

30% of those polled said that their savings had already been spent and that 60% were now planning to cut back on Christmas spending.

Leslie Morphy, chief executive of Crisis, said: “Recent job losses are creating a homelessness timebomb. The Government must act to help people struggling to pay their mortgage to avoid repossession and move quickly to protect private tenants.

“It must accelerate the building of new social housing and at the same time widen the safety net of support for those facing homelessness. Finally, we must not forget those who are already homeless. They are in danger, once again, of being at the bottom of the pile.”

The Post Office will be allowed to continue to operate the card account which distributes benefits to 4.3 million claimants.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, James Purnell told MPs he would do “nothing to put the network at risk”.

 Post Office card accounts were devised to avoid  the need for giros and payment books for pensioners and benefit claimants, while still allowing them to use post offices to collect money.

The Post Office had faced competition to run the account from the private company PayPoint, which said it was “disappointed by this decision”.

Unions representing postal staff welcomed the decision but said the network’s future depended on being able to offer more services, particularly savings and insurance products.

“The Post Office is a national treasure and asset and the government should be doing more,” said Andy Fury, from the Communications Workers Union, adding that the Post Office should be transformed into the “people’s bank”.

The Lib Dems said that the decision would come as a “huge relief” to postal workers and customers but argued ministers had “some explaining” to do about the way it had handled the process.

“The government has wasted time and money and caused immeasurable heartache by dragging this process out for so long,” said the party’s work and pensions spokeswoman Jenny Willott.

“This could all have been avoided if, as the Liberal Democrats have long argued, the Post Office Card Account had never been put out to tender in the first place.”

Commenting on the Home Affairs Select Committee report on Policing in the 21st Century, Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Huhne said: “This report is right to highlight how mistaken the Government has been to try to run policing through Whitehall targets, which have proved an expensive disaster.”

Chris Huhne went on to say:

“The result has been a priority for trivial offences, the abandonment of local concerns and the swamping of officers in red tape.

“The best thing ministers could do for policing in this century would be to scrap the ID cards scheme and put 10,000 more police on our streets.”

THE Environmental Health team at North East Lincolnshire Council is working with two takeaways to help them clean up their act after they received a zero-star rating in new Scores on the Doors figures released this week.Happy House Cantonese Takeaway in Wellington Street, Grimsby, and Yeung’s in High Street, Waltham, both recorded zero stars in the online figures for September.

More than 450 premises have now been assessed since Scores On The Doors, accessible at www.nelincs.gov.uk/scoresonthedoors, was launched In March. Mr Mercer added: “We are still finding a high level of compliance across North East Lincolnshire. This online service enables us to highlight good practice and help businesses, schools, nursing homes and other catering facilities to make sure they are providing the very best for their customers and service users.”Cllr Steve Beasant, the council’s portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “Scores On The Doors highlights good practice in food hygiene and management, while allowing environmental health officers to work with lower scoring premises to educate them about how they can improve.

Commenting on the news that the number of registered childminders is now at its lowest level for five years, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children Spokesperson, Annette Brooke said: “It is now becoming increasingly difficult for parents to find good quality and affordable childcare.”

Annette Brooke continued, saying:

“The Government’s overly prescriptive and bureaucratic approach to pre-school care coupled with the new Ofsted inspections on the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage is driving good childminders away.

“Good quality childminders provide an essential service particularly for mothers who do not want to put their children into a nursery at a very young age.

“Ministers must rethink the current system to make sure children are cared for in a suitable environment, without putting unreasonable demands on childminders.”

Nearly one in three electric blankets inspected by North East Lincolnshire Council’s trading standards team recently were defective and could put lives at risk.

That’s the worrying verdict from the council’s trading standards manager Andy Foster, following testing of 205 blankets owned by residents in North East Lincolnshire in a two-day operation.   There was a 31 per cent failure rate - with the majority of those that failed (68 per cent) due to having no protection from overheating.

The figures show a large increase on last year’s results when 91 blankets were tested and 23 per cent failed.

Mr Foster said: “As the nights draw in and people start to use their electric blankets once again, it is extremely worrying to see such a large number of these items failing to come up to scratch. “Every year, fatal fires are started because of a defective electric blanket, but trading standards are on hand to help, not only with advice, but with a collections service which will see our officers picking up any blankets from people’s homes.   The extra service of having blankets collected has already been taken up by 22 North East Lincolnshire residents. 

Mr Foster added: “The high failure rate reinforces our call for people to get their blankets tested on an annual basis. There are also a number of simple checks that people can perform themselves.

• Checking the length of the cord to ensure there are no breaks in the insulation - increasing the electrocution risk.
• Ensuring the plug has correctly sleeved pins
• Ensure you’re electric blanket has overheat protection If your electric blanket has the old kitemark symbol it will not have overheat protection and hugely increases the fire risk All modern blankets will carry the BEAB MARK

 Cllr Steve Beasant, portfolio holder for communities and neighbourhoods, said “The health and safety of residents is a priority for the council and I am pleased we were able to offer this service again  

“Faulty electric blankets can pose a real danger and sadly, statistics show that older people are often at most risk. I believe this council initiative will reduce the number of accidents related to faulty or old electric blankets

If you have any queries about your electric blanket and have missed this year’s testing ring trading standards on 01472 324770 and ask to speak with Jessica Body

Responding to Andy Burnham’s announcement today of a modernisation review of England’s public library service, Liberal Democrat Shadow Culture, Media and Sport Secretary, Don Foster said: “I welcome a review of how libraries can be improved but I’m concerned that this is just a thinly veiled attempt to make further cuts to our fast-disappearing library services.”

Don Foster went on to say:

“Under Labour we’ve seen the slow death of hundreds of libraries across the country. Rural areas are suffering the most and being cut out of the loop as resources are concentrated elsewhere.

“We should be looking to councils like Sutton who have shown just how great libraries can be when they shake off their dusty image and become lively centres of learning in the community.”

Liberal Democrat research on libraries shows:

· London loses a library every 10 weeks on average, while the North West loses one every three weeks
· A library in the capital is open for an average of 10 hours longer each week than a library outside the capital
· There are 10% fewer mobile libraries than there were in 2001
· Half of all library closures last year happened in the north
· London was the only area in the country not to see more libraries close than open last year
· In England, an average of more than one library per week closes
· The number of people borrowing one item per year or more from libraries has declined by a quarter since 2001

The Liberal Democrats are calling upon Alistair Darling to clear up the uncertainty about hundreds of millions of pounds that councils have invested in Iceland’s banks.

Chancellor Alistair Darling has protected Britons’ personal savings in banks which are now in default, but at least 20 councils in England and Wales are known to have deposits in Landsbanki amounting to tens of millions of pounds. 

Councils are asking the government for the same protection that has been promised to personal savers.

The Icelandic Prime Minister said that his government is working to repair relations with Britain amid the crisis - The BBC has claimed that Kent County Council alone has £50m in Iceland based banks.    

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils in England and Wales, says it has identified more than 20 councils which are believed to have deposits in Landbanksi or Heritable, which was run by Landbanksi. 

The LGA says it does not expect “significant financial problems” in the short term as town halls put money into a wide range of institutions and vital frontline services should not be affected. 

John Andrew, BBC local government correspondent, said that there is growing anger among councils, who say they followed Treasury advice by investing surplus money in a way that would deliver the highest return for taxpayers.

Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Julia Goldsworthy said that there is an urgent need for clarification and urged the government to make clear how local authority funds will be protected.