Nick was responding to David Cameron’s speech on the economy yesterday, in which he announced plans to scrap taxes paid by basic rate taxpayers’ on savings interest and raise the level of non-taxable income for pensioners by £2,000 a year, and to Gordon Brown’s interview on Sunday, in which he spoke about government plans to bring forward £10bn of spending on public works, digital technology and environmental projects, claiming the programme would create 100,000 jobs.

Nick said that, to be taken seriously, David Cameron would have to identify what cuts he would make in public spending to fund his proposed tax cuts.

First we have an expensive VAT cut that doesn’t help people and now the Prime Minister announces he will create 100,000 jobs without any idea of how.

David Cameron is now offering his own fake giveaway. Cutting savings tax will mean someone saving £100 will only get an extra 40p a year.

As Nick has said, “If David Cameron is going to be taken seriously he has to identify what cuts he will make. How many fewer police officers will there be on the street and who will have a smaller pension?

“The Liberal Democrats are the only party with a detailed plan on how to put Britain on a green road out of recession. We have set out how we would make big, permanent and fair tax cuts, giving £1,000 in income tax cuts to families on average incomes.”

Green Road out of Recession

Before Christmas, Nick Clegg set out Liberal Democrat plans to put Britain on a Green Road out of the Recession, creating jobs and leaving a legacy that will save energy, put money back into people’s pockets and fight climate change.

The plans will cost £12.5bn, which would be paid for by scrapping the VAT cut. The vast majority of that money will be spent immediately, making a real impact on the economy and people’s lives right away.

The Green Road out of the Recession proposals to create jobs include:

· A five-year programme to insulate every school and hospital, with 20% completed in the first year
· Funding insulation and energy efficiency for a million homes, with a £1,000 subsidy for a million more
· Building 40,000 extra zero-carbon social houses
· Buying 700 new train carriages
· Reopening old railway lines and stations, opening new ones, electrifying the Great Western and Midland mainlines and beginning the Liverpool light rail network
· Installing energy and money saving smart meters in every home within five years 

Download the plan: http://www.libdems.org.uk/assets/0001/0042/GreenRoadOutofRecession.pdf

Only the Liberal Democrats have the man (Vince Cable) to do the Chancellor of the Exchequer job, and the policies to really tackle the recession.  

On Thursday (23rd) I had the great pleasure of representing our local community at the official opening by the Duke of York of the Sir Harry Ricardo Innovation & Sustainable Transport Centre at Ricardo’s Shoreham Technical Centre.

Based next to the Old Toll Bridge and Shoreham Airport, Rocardo’s have been based in Shoreham for nearly 100 years and in the last few decades have expanded world-wide. Committed to the development of new technologies and innovation powering all forms of transportation, and in the forefront of efforts to improve fuel efficiency and reduce harmful emissions, the company continues to provide many skilled engineering jobs to the young men and women who have grown up in the area and started their education in the schools of Steyning, Lancing, Shoreham and Worthing.

For more information about Rocardo’s go to www.ricardo.com

During a debate at the County Council meeting on 25 July, Liberal Democrat Councillors condemned the Council’s performance on supporting the education of young people being looked after by the Council.

The Council’s Corporate Plan aimed to increase the percentage of West Sussex Looked After Children gaining at least one GCSE from 60% to 68%. The target was not reached.

Lib Dem group leader, Morwen Millson, said, “The Council has been concerned about the educational achievement of this group of children for almost eight years and yet has still not achieved just 68% of all Looked After Children attaining just one GCSE. As Corporate Parents we continue to fail our most vulnerable young people.

Deputy Leader Dr James Walsh said : ” The Council is failing disgracefully to support this most vulnerable group of children. Their life-chances are being taken away from them, as they will be virtually unemployable without even single a low-grade GCSE to show from their education. Many are truanting, and little action is taken. We must not let this go on, and urgent action is needed now”

I also spoke on this matter and said, “As a corporate parent visitor to one of the Council’s Children’s Homes, it is clear to me that there needs to be much greater co-ordination between those responsible for the care of each child and school staff if the educational achievement by our looked after children is to be improved.”

The Government’s ‘one size fits all’ approach to schools was accused on Monday of failing thousands of pupils by not providing a personalised education by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg.

In a speech on 16 June, Nick Clegg set out plans to give schools greater freedoms, allowing them to tailor education to the needs of their pupils. He proposed:

· Scrapping mandatory national tests for seven and 14 year olds, with the money saved put into early assessment at age five and a huge expansion of one-to-one reading and numeracy tuition.
· Abolishing the overly prescriptive national curriculum and replacing it with a shorter document, and allowing all schools the curriculum freedoms currently enjoyed by Academies.
· Taking the politics out of the day-to-day management of schools by establishing an independent Education Standards Authority and slashing the size of the central government department by half.
· Changing targets so that schools are incentivised to address the needs of all pupils, not just those ‘borderline’ pupils.

Contact me for a full copy of the speech.

The consultation period will be from May to July 2008.

The County Policy & Resources Select Committee on Wednesday (7th) at County Hall will be considering the methods used in preparing the draft Strategy, whether additional groups might be engaged in the preparation of the Strategy work and how to promote the consultation in local communities.

The Strategy will be for all the population, not just those who have been traditionally been supported because they have been seen to have the highest needs. It should: -

aim to build strong and cohesive communities where individuals feel included and recognise their responsibilities;

assist individuals and communities to access services and opportunities with minimal intervention; and

encourage service providers to work as partners in focusing needs and aspirations of people, ensuring that there are high quality affordable services, and improving information provision from a variety of sources including through the web, so people can identify, and take, opportunities and choices.

I will be suggesting that Parish Councils should be included in the consultation, and will be reporting on this the Upper Beeding and Bramber Parish Council meetings this week.

A summary of the Framework document is available from the County Council at:

www.westsussex.gov.uk/scs

Please read the Framework, consider the information it presents, and then respond to the questions at the end of the document.

County staff are continuing to work with the School to reach travel mark level two (TML2).

Once the school achieve this Level consideration will be given to completing the path between Pound Lane and Monks Walk as a minor scheme. However it appears that there are currently many schools on the county list, so the work is unlikely to be done within the next year or two. Being at TML2 will put the School in a better position to have the footpath completed.

Lib Dems on West Sussex County Council have yet again been dismayed by the ruling Tory administration’s refusal to allow proper scrutiny of decisions made by the Cabinet. 

Morwen Millson, Lib Dem group leader on WSCC, has criticised the Tory council for once again rejecting a request to scrutinise spending of £1 million of taxpayers’ money. 

“There do not seem to be any criteria that determine how one-off, windfall revenue is spent or what consultation should be undertaken. The total amount is just under £1 million, which is a large sum. The public have a right to expect the Opposition to analyse this sort of spending, but as usual the Tories don’t want to be held accountable to voters. Simply putting a decision paper on the county council’s web site is not good enough.” says Morwen. 

“We need to know what other items were considered to use this money and the business cases for these items, when there are families desperate for more help with their disabled children whose plight is ignored, public transport routes that are being axed due to the county’s failure to invest in modern technology to keep buses moving in our towns and buildings that are not fit for purpose in which our children are being taught.” 

This is the second time in less than a year that a request to call-in a decision has been turned down by the scrutiny chairman. Haywards Heath councillor Brian Hall says, “It is a grave departure from what is ethically and morally correct, to permit such a distortion of the scrutiny process. This is especially scandalous when the Tories have a built in majority on the committee in any case!”

Deputy Group leader Dr James Walsh from Littlehampton adds, “It is not as though we abuse the system at all. We are very selective and sparing in our call-in requests!”

The Liberal Democrats Spring Conference at Liverpool last weekend backed measures to improve support for children with special educational needs (SEN).

The motion passed by conference delegates also stressed the importance of support during transition from school to adult services, whilst an amendment proposing the funding of dedicated pools of specialist teachers available to schools where the school doesn’t have the capacity to cope with a child with special needs, was only narrowly defeated.

The Lib Dem plans also include proposals to:

· Ensure the inclusion in teacher training courses of training in all types of special educational needs

· Work towards achieving and then reducing the six month target for assessment of SEN

· Ensure the needs of SEN students are included within plans to raise the education leaving age.

West Sussex Lib Dems support such a policy and want to see much more money allocated towards special needs education in the County. A move to do this and for more respite care for those with autistic children was defeated by the Conservatives at the 2008/09 Budget Council meeting last month. The Lib Dem Opposition on the Council will continue to fight for more money for this badly underfunded service.

Due to the resignation of one of the local education authority representatives on the Governing Body there is a vacancy to be filled.

If you live in the Upper Beeding/Bramber/Steyning/Small Dole area, have an interest in primary school education and feel you could make a contribution to the community as a governor, please contact Derek Deedman for a discussion about the role and application form.

Derek Deedman has asked the Safe Routes to School Officer to consider the provision of a pelican crossing on the A283 Steyning Bypass at the Castle Lane crossing.

After a campaign by Derek Deedman a few years ago, the County Council provided a joint pathway/cycleway alongside the A283 Steyning Bypass from the Bramber roundabout to the Castle Lane crossing point of the Bypass.

The new route is well used by both walkers and cyclists for leisure activities and by students attending the Grammar School. The problem is that having reached the end of the pathway/cycleway users are presented with the option of making the hazardous crossing of the A283 with traffic travelling up to (and over!) 60 mph, or turning into De Braose Way, at the top of which cyclists have to dismount as the Twittens from there and over the Bypass are not for use by cyclists. In the circumstances the easiest and preferred option for many is to cross the Bypass. Many parents are, therefore, unwilling to allow their children to travel by bike to school when their child could end up killed or seriously injured and continue to drive them to school instead.

Derek believes that a pelican crossing at this location would lead to a considerable increase in children being able to cycle to the Grammar School from the Upper Beeding and Bramber area.