 Mark's annual report
2008 p1
p2/3
p4
Below were my priorities and campaigns
between Sept 2007 and Sept 2008 (see my Annual Report 2007 for more
details).
PRIORITIES FOR 2007/08 (September to
September)
CASEWORK: My constituency office deals with around 2,000 cases a
year 1) Answer all correspondence within five working days. We are
achieving this about 95 per cent of the time at the moment.
COMMUNICATIONS
1) Increase the number of people receiving my e-newsletter. I
write a regular e-newsletter which explains my work and views to
people living in and connected to my constituency. My aim is to
double the number of subscribers. The figures in September 2007
stood at 87 so I need to increase this to at least 174 by next
September. This was achieved in July.
2) To stage more community
events.
I held two school dinners' event at Hilton Primary School
in January and Newhall Junior School in May. The aim was to
give parents information about school meals as well as it being an
opportunity for residents to discuss issues with me. I
held two meetings with mobile home owners from
Coton-in-the-Elms in September and from Hartshorne in
July to discuss energy issues. In October, we also staged a
meeting in Moira to help former miners who may have been
double-charged under the coal health compensation
schemes
3) Produce an annual report
My 2008 annual report was delivered in September.
CRIME
1) Continue my campaign to reduce cash-in-transit crimes
following a series of incidents in South
Derbyshire.
I have focused on getting continuing support for the East Midlands
Special Operations Unit - a Derbyshire-based police team which was
involved in bringing one group of these criminals to justice. Its
funding from the Home Office has now been extended.
2) Push for fair funding for Derbyshire Police.There has been a
slight increase relative to other forces for 2008/09 and that will
increase further next year.
ENVIRONMENT:
1)Move forward with plans for flood defences I have asked
questions in the House and have met with the Environment
Agency. I have been told that work should take place in at least
one area - around Hatton, Egginton and Scropton - over the
next three years.
FINANCIAL
1) Cash machines
One of my priorities for this year is to get more free-access
cash machines. This follows a report by the Treasury Select
Committee which identified that there were not enough
free-access machines across the country including the postcode
areas DE11 0 and DE11 7 in Swadlincote. It was then announced that
600 machines would be set up nationwide as part of a financial
inclusion programme. I nominated three stores. One store in Goseley
Avenue, Hartshorne has already received a machine. I
also hope to get more free-access cash machines in other
areas of South Derbyshire.
HEALTH:
1) Push for more NHS dentistry in South Derbyshire.
The Swadlincote Health Centre is now taking people who need
treatment and keeping them on as patients. An NHS dentists has also
opened in Woodville. The Primary Care Trust is currently
tendering for extra dentists in the area.
YOUNG PEOPLE
1) Secondary education: In September, I promised to push for
the three secondary schools in Swadlincote to be rebuilt as part of
plans for Government money under the Building Schools for the
Future project plus improve post-16 education. The county council
is considering two options - to build a school on the Newhall side
of the Nadin's site in Swadlincote half a mile from Pingle School
which would mean shutting William Allitt Schol and Granville
Community School but keeping Pingle open. The second option is to
keep Granville open and expand its facilities and William Allitt
would still close. William Allitt is facing closure as there is
limited space to expand the school and it is very run down. In
March, the council decided to defer the decision to explore the
option of retaining the three schools because of expected
population growth. I support this decision.
2) Youth provision: One of my priorities for the next year
is to argue for better youth facilities in South Derbyshire which
was prompted by the announcement in July that the Government was
spending £679m from April (for three years) in all areas
of the country in addition to the budgeted spend of about
£1.8bn per year. I am pursuing this to find out how the money will
be allocated locally.
3) Primary schools. I want the Reading Recovery scheme to be
introduced in more schools. This scheme targets pupils in Year One
who have struggled to learn to read. At the moment, the
county is receiving national funding for 10 training schools with a
further six being funded by the education authority and a further
two that are self-funding. There is only one teacher leader who can
support a maximum of 40 teachers. The Government is funding an
extra five schools from September.
4) Healthy eating. I staged school
meals' events at Hilton Primary School and Newhall Juniors to
encourage more children to opt for school dinners. My team is
starting to do some work on free fruit in schools. I asked a
parliamentary question on the subject last year and discovered that
there were no plans to offer fruit to schoolchildren younger or
older than the four to six-year-olds in the scheme. We hope to
launch a campaign to get the scheme extended. Initial research
shows that schools can use some of their health promotion budget
for this scheme.
Mark's annual report 2007 p1
p2
p3
p4
Mark's annual report 2006
Mark's annual report 2004
Mark's annual report 2003
Mark's annual report 2002
Mark's annual report 2001
Mark's annual report 2000
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