Thursday, 29 September 2011
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Monday, 26 September 2011
Working towards a fair public sector pensions settlement
I spent last week meeting a wide range of people working in our public services. I very much value the dedication of these men and women, who work hard to provide the wide range of services that we all depend on.
I was treated to a ‘behind the scenes’ tour of the Devon & Cornwall Fire Service in my constituency, visiting not only both Truro & Falmouth Community Fire Stations but the Cornwall and parts of Devon control room in Truro.
While I found the tour very interesting and admired the skill and professionalism of those that I met, I most valued the opportunity to listen to the views and concerns of the fire fighters and members of staff I met about the future of their service. The hot topic of conversation was the Hutton Report into the future of public sector pensions. Over the past few months there have been negotiations between national union leaders and government representatives about changes to pension schemes. Each occupation and profession within our public services is different and there are a range of different pension schemes with varying levels of employee contribution and benefits.
The proposed reforms put forward by Lord Hutton, a former Labour Minister, are far reaching and aim to strike the right balance in these very tough times, between affordability and sustainability as well as providing a good pension in retirement for the members of the pension scheme. My pension, like those of all other MPs, is being reviewed as part of the same process.
From the conversations I have had over the past months, most people working in a public service understand that some reform is acceptable. We all understand that on average people are living longer, although this does vary from occupation to occupation, that many people are now living longer in retirement than they spent working and that as a result, if we want a decent pension when we retire we will have to either work longer or make more contributions or a combination of both. However, it is essential that any changes are fair and seen to be fair - to people of all ages.
Based on conversations with constituents over the past months as well as letters from people working in our public services, I have made a series of representations to the Minister responsible for the negotiations with unions and the Pensions Minister. Later this month, we will be debating the final stages of the Pensions Bill. I am particularly concerned about the impact of the accelerated introduction of a later retirement age on a group of women currently in their mid-fifties. While I agree that women and men’s pension arrangements should be treated equally, these women have been hit particularly hard with changes over the years and I believe should have a smoother transition to the new arrangements.
Monday, 19 September 2011
Building homes for our childern
Striking the right balance between conserving our precious natural environment and enabling sustainable development will be a key issue for all of us in the weeks, months and years ahead. Local businesses, including food producers need space to grow and employ people, and local people need genuinely affordable homes to rent or buy.
I believe people and communities are best placed to make the decisions on how to strike this balance and achieve the quality of life that we all value in Cornwall. I am pleased that the Government’s reforms of the planning system seek to achieve this. I am well aware that some people are concerned that these reforms will in someway lead to “concreting over the countryside”. Whenever a government proposes change there are vested interests on all sides of the debate who often misrepresent those changes to aid their own cause.
So you can decide what you think about the proposed reforms, my team and I have produced a simple, plan English guide for you to consider. You can obtain it from my website or by calling my office. After you have read it and need any more information or have questions and concerns you want to raise with me, I will be delighted to work with you. The Localism Bill that intends to bring in these changes is making its way through Parliament and I will take up your issues with Ministers.
If you would like me to visit a group in your community, such as a residents association, I will be delighted to come along and discuss the proposed changes with you.
I can assure readers that I will do everything in my power to protect our areas of outstanding natural beauty (ANOBs) and our environmentally valuable ecosystems. At the same time I will work closely with businesses and enterprises in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors that are creating new and good quality jobs for people of all ages.
There is evidence that, as a result of changes to how people live and the fact that overall we are living longer, we now have a housing crisis. This crisis worsened over the past decade, a period when there was a great deal of immigration into our country and when not enough genuinely affordable homes were built.
It is vital that we start building well-designed homes in well planned areas for local people to rent or buy so our children and grandchildren have somewhere to live.
Cornwall Council has good policies to help landlords bring empty properties back into use. For social rented housing as well as ‘affordable housing’ they also have the power to ensure that people with local connections to a particular town or village are prioritized for those homes. I have seen this being delivered well in St Agnes and Gerrans.
I believe the new homes that are being built in St Agnes are a great example of meeting local housing need in an attractive and sustainable way and congratulate all those in St Agnes who have supported this development.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)