Archive for December, 2009

On behalf of the team I would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year.

An event has been planned to showcase how technology is being used to enable elderly and vulnerable people to maintain their independence and stay in their own homes for longer.

Wirral Borough Council, along with NHS Wirral, is holding a ‘Smart House’ Open Day* on December 16^th from 10am to 3pm.

The Smart House will be demonstrating the many uses of ‘Assistive Technology’ that have been developed to enable greater independence for people with disabilities and health problems as well as the elderly and vulnerable.

Assistive Technology can be used to help with personal safety, memory, falls detection and can even help with long term health conditions.

The technology works in a variety of ways; to remind the occupier to take medication, to monitor medical conditions, to alert agencies or loved ones if someone falls or doesn’t return to bed during the night or if someone with dementia gets wanders off and gets lost.

Cllr Moira McLaughlin, Cabinet Member for Social Care and Inclusion, said: “This technology can often be the difference between someone coping in their own home or not. We hope people come along and find out how technology could enable them to cope better and maintain their independence for longer.”

* The Smart House Open Day is being held at Girtrell Court, Woodpecker Close, Saughall Massie.

At the next Election there will be a big choice about the change we want for Wirral and the Country as a whole, a choice that offers change for the many under Labour as opposed to change for the privileged few that the Conservatives offer, which is a change you can ill afford?

In his Pre Budget Report, Chancellor Alistair Darling set out a balanced package to protect the frontline services such as Schools, the Police and the NHS as well as invest in growth and half the deficit fairly in 4 years.

Our plan is to protect frontline public services – making them smarter, more efficient and more responsive.

The Tories’ plans would do lasting damage to our public services and involve scrapping Labour’s patient guarantees, including to cancer patients.

Our plan is to tax fairly – ensuring that those at the top make a fair contribution

The Tories plan to give unfunded and unfair tax cuts to the wealthiest – like their giveaway of £200,000 to each of the 3000 wealthiest estates.

Our plan is to invest in growth – because faster growth will cut unemployment and its cost. It is the best way to reduce the deficit.

The Tories’ plans would deliver a decade of austerity and low growth – their plans involve cutting support to the economy right now, leading to higher unemployment and bigger welfare bills. They would give over £10 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest few.

Our plan means that we will fulfil our commitment to halve the deficit within 4 years.

We will secure growth – not pull the plug on economic recovery. When the recovery is secured we will halve the deficit in 4 years. We will tighten our belts, as families across the country are doing.

Click here to help campaign for frontline public services, for investment in growth and for halving the deficit fairly in 4 years

The plan outlined in the Pre Budget Report outlines how Labour will take the British economy out of the downturn fairly and sustainably – avoiding the dangerous, damaging and immediate cuts proposed by the Conservatives. 

I notice that it emerged last week that the Tories’ proposed tax plan to cut Child Tax Credits for households on more than £50,000 per year in total would raise only £45million – not the £400million that they claimed it would.

In fact to raise £400 million they would have to cut Child Tax Credit from couples earning as little as £16,000 each.

Can Wirral Tories answer the following question – is this mis-calculation simply a sign of the Tories lack of experience and inability to do their sums or do they intend to remove Child Tax Credit from couples earning as little as £16,000 each?

Thanks to funding from our Labour Government, Wirral Borough Council in partnership with local companies have been able to invest in our young people by creating 100 apprenticeships. Not only that, I am able announce that the scheme has been extended to create an extra 50 apprentices.

I welcome the commitment from both the Government and the local authority to our young people, as in the current climate it is of the upmost importance that we help young people gain the skills they need and help our small companies grow, by funding apprenticeships we are doing both