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David Heath welcomes Frome College funding breakthrough
David Heath has welcomed the long-awaited announcement of funding of £1.1 million for a new tertiary block.
The funding, to be provided by the Learning & Skills Council (LSC), has been delayed since last year, provoking Mr Heath to ask questions in Parliament and write to Ministers. That has now produced a positive outcome.
Mr Heath said: "I am delighted at this news, however overdue. It is very good news for Frome College, and it's good that the building work can now go ahead. I'm glad to have helped move things forward."
David Heath given all clear on expenses
David Heath has been given the all clear by Sir Thomas Legg after his review of MPs expenses.
In the report published today, Sir Thomas records that “Mr Heath has no issues”.
Mr Heath said he was delighted by the findings. “I was always confident that I had stuck carefully to both the spirit and the letter of the rules, but it is good to have that confirmed by Sir Thomas Legg after scrutinising with great care five years of expenses claims.
“However, I think the public will be rightly concerned about the huge number of incorrect or inappropriate claims identified by Sir Thomas, and it strengthens my view that we have to now ensure that the system is much more robust, transparent and focused on what MPs genuinely need in order to do their job.
"Those MPs who face significant repayments will need to justify to their constituents why they considered their claims to have been necessary to their parliamentary duties in the first place.”
David Heath to meet minister over flood school
Officials from Somerset County Council will joinDavid Heath to meet the Minister for Schools, Vernon Coaker MP on Tuesday 9th to discuss the future of a school which has suffered regular flood damage.
The meeting will take place at the Department for Children Schools and Families in Whitehall.
Countess Gytha Primary School in Queen Camel has hit the news several times over recent years when the River Cam which runs immediately next to the school breaks its banks.
Mr Heath has been helping the governors, teachers and children at the school to campaign for a new school building on a different site to protect it from future flooding.
The county council had agreed provisionally to include the school project in its building program for 2011/2012, but Mr Heath has sought a meeting with the Minister to see if there is any way that that can be brought forward.
Mr Heath said: "I know how desperately everybody connected with the school wants the new building to go ahead, and it obviously makes financial sense for a new building to be built rather than spending a fortune in continually replacing classrooms ruined by floods, let alone the disruption to the children's education.
"The government have said a lot recently about making communities more resilient to flooding, and I'm hoping the minister will point the way towards the financing of the scheme at the earliest possible opportunity. Of course, it also needs the county council to meet its responsibilities and recognise that this is a scheme which simply can't wait."
David Heath calls for action to combat retail crime
David Heath called for urgent action today to combat retail crime, which is estimated to have cost shops across the country £1.1 billion last year.
The figures come from the Retail Crimes Survey, which estimates that crimes such as shop lifting and driving away from petrol stations has gone up by 10% in the last year, and cost businesses the equivalent of 72 thousand retail jobs.
Mr Heath said: "A lot of people seem to think that retail crime is victimless, but of course we all pay for the consequences through increased prices in the shops. It is not surprising that crimes such as this should go up in a recession, but I do wonder whether sufficient emphasis is put on this sector by the police and the courts.
"It's important to understand why people steal from shops, but it's also important to recognise that very often this is done by organised gangs and that proper investigation and identification of the main players could save us all money in the long run."
Make Chinese lanterns safe for livestock, says David Heath
David Heath called in Parliament for action to make Chinese Lanterns safe to livestock and wildlife.
Speaking at Questions to DEFRA ministers, Mr Heath drew attention to the growing trend to set off Chinese lanterns, which are carried by convection currents across the countryside.
The lanterns contain a metal wire in their construction which, if it is chopped up into hay or silage can cause harm to cattle and other livestock.
Mr Heath said: "This is a growing trend in our part of the world, particularly at the open-air festivals like Glastonbury, and I can well understand the attractions. The illuminated paper lanterns look spectacularly beautiful against the night sky.
"Unfortunately, the problem comes when they land in fields which are subsequently mown and as a result we get fragments of wire in animal feed-stuffs. I certainly don't want to be a kill joy, and I certainly don't want to ban them, but I hope the government will take action to ensure they are made in such a way as to avoid the metal wire and replace it with something biodegradable.
"I gather a lot of these are imported from China, and safe alternatives do exist. It would be far better for the safety of animals if they were the ones that people used from choice."