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London Assembly Conservatives Slam Unnecessary Advertising
Conservatives on the London Assembly have today reacted with disbelief after it emerged that Transport for London spent £78 million on communications during 2005/06 at a time when fares are set to once again soar.
The figures were released in a letter from TfL Interim Director of Marketing Nigel Marson which states “For 2005/06, as you are aware the contribution to The Londoner by Transport for London was £1.5 million. Total expenditure on the broader category of advertising, marketing and communications for 2005/06 (as reported to the GLA in TfL’s Monitoring report for the 4th quarter) amounted to £78 million.”
Commenting on the figures, Roger Evans AM, Conservative spokesman for Transport said:
“At a time when London’s transport network is reportedly the most expensive in the world it is astounding that TfL chooses to spend £78 million on advertising a service that Londoners using public transport have to use.
Instead of shameless self-promotion TfL could use this money to freeze or reduce fares.”
Richard Barnes, Conservative spokesman for policing added:
“In these uncertain times where transport security is of utmost importance for Londoners instead of channelling additional resources towards security Transport for London, a public transport monopoly have decided to advertise their brand.
£78 million is simply excessive when you consider that such funding would allow the recruitment of an additional 1500 police officers who could patrol the London transport network providing reassurance and additional security.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
Full text of Nigel Marson’s letter dated 9th August 2006 is below:
“Thank you for your e-mail of 25 July to Peter Hendy regarding a letter that you have received from the Mayor, including details of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) contribution to the Londoner. I have been asked to reply to you on behalf of Mr Hendy.
Transport for London invests £1.5m in The Londoner in return for three full colour pages of advertising space in each of the 10 additions that are distributed to 3 million London homes across the year. This equates to a cost of £50,000 per page – or £17 for every 1,000 London households that it reaches.
This represents cost effective media buying given that we would need to advertise in both the Evening Standard and London’s local press to reach a similar volume of people. To do this, again using full colour pages, would cost £44* per 1,000. To use a combination of the London/South East editions of the national daily papers is, at £135** per 1,000, even less cost efficient.
The requirements in section 5 of the Local Government Act 1986 apply to local authorities. Local authorities are defined in section 6 of that Act to include county, district or London borough councils and various other bodies. The definition was amended by the Greater London Authority Act 1999 to also include the Metropolitan Police Authority and the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority.
Transport for London is not a local authority and is not included in the definition of bodies to which section 5 of the Local Government Act 1986 applies. TfL is not therefore required to keep a separate account of publicity expenditure.
The Statement of Accounts for the year ended 31 March 2005 included a voluntary disclosure of expenditure on publicity which was consistent with the section 5 requirements. This excluded items exempt under the Local Authorities (Publicity Account) (Exemption) Order 1987 such as: publicity required by statute; invitations to tender; promoting the use and availability of timetables, amenities, facilities, and guidebooks; road traffic conditions; and publicity addressed to tenants. The amount disclosed for publicity was consequently only a small proportion of the total expenditure on such activities. The amounts paid to The Londoner in 2004/05 were not included in the total disclosed in the Statement of Accounts for publicity as it was considered that the advertisements placed fell within the definition of exempt publicity above.
For 2005/06, as you are aware the contribution to The Londoner by Transport for London was £1.5 million. Total expenditure on the broader category of advertising, marketing and communications for 2005/06 (as reported to the GLA in TfL’s Monitoring report for the 4th quarter) amounted to £78 million.
Once again, I thank you for taking the time to contact Mr Hendy, and I trust that you find this information useful. If you have any further queries, please let me know.”
TfL Advertising
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Met Police Complaints soar under Blair
Complaints made by the public to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) have soared since Sir Ian Blair took over as Commissioner, the London Assembly Conservative Group can reveal.
Figures supplied by the Mayor, during Mayoral Question Time last week, reveal that in the first full year following Sir Ian Blair’s appointment to his post on the 1st February 2005, complaints rose by over 32%, from 5,344 to 7,077.
This increase (2005/6) bucked the previous trend, and comes on the back of five consecutive years of falling complaints made to the MPS.
Richard Barnes AM, Conservative spokesman on Crime said:
“ This rise in complaints represents, to some extent, a public loss of confidence in the Metropolitan Police. A culmination of recent headline grabbing issues currently plaguing the MPS, together with the Mayor’s persistence in showcasing unrealistic policing pledges, only for them to be half-met or postponed, is having a detrimental effect on public perception. “
“ The MPS needs some strong leadership to reverse this trend, and needs to redouble it’s efforts to engage in more cross community activities in order to actively restore public confidence in it’s ability to function successfully, and to keep crime off our streets.”
MPS Complaints
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Concern at watering down of water police
London could be left vulnerable to attack following yet another downsizing of the specialist Marine Support Unit (MSU), Richard Barnes AM, London Assembly Conservative spokesman on Crime has revealed.
The MSU, which is housed at Wapping, is charged with maintaining a constant visible presence on the Thames, and to offer support 24 hour marine support to the Metropolitan Police Service along the Thames, the Estuary, and any tributary waterways. The MSU also comprises a Terrorism and Crime (TAC) team, and an underwater and confined spaces search (UCSS) team – which has a special role in responding to terrorism where the threat is from chemical or biological agents, alongside its usual role of carrying out security searches at major events, or ensuring the safety of VIPs or visiting dignitaries.
However, over the past 5 years the strength of the MSU has been reduced drastically, down some 25% from 1999 figures, to just 78 officers during April 2006.
Richard Barnes AM said:
“ The MSU has an important role to play in safeguarding security across London’s waterways. Given the present climate which exists in London, one in which we're being ever vigilant against the threat of terrorist attack, and given the number of strategic buildings – potential high value targets - which are located on the riverside, I have to question the wisdom of this continual policy of watering down the MSU’s tactical strength. “
“ I’m fearful that unless this downsizing is halted and reversed, the MSU may find itself spread too thinly across it’s theatre of operation, and such an outcome has the potential to leave London with a vulnerable underbelly. We simply cannot allow that to happen. “
Marine Support Unit
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Crime Pays as 800,000 Offences go Unpunished
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Member, has today called for an urgent review of policing after figures revealed that over 800,000 crimes went unpunished across the capital last year. Barnes blamed poor management within Scotland Yard and government bureaucracy, meaning that police officers spend less time on the streets and more time filling out forms.
There were a total of 984,125 criminal offences committed in London between April 2005 and March 2006. The Detection Rate - the number of offences leading to criminal conviction - being just 18%. This means that whilst 177,143 offences committed led to conviction, a further 806,982 offences did not.
Even the published detection rates - the total number of crimes cleared up, including those not resulting in conviction - was only 232,621 (24%).
Richard Barnes said:
"How can we tell people that crime doesn't pay when 800,000 crimes go unpunished every year in the capital alone. This is not the fault of the grassroots police officers, who are some of the best in the world, it's their leadership and government bureaucracy that's preventing them doing a good job. We must cut red tape at Scotland Yard because there is little point training extra police when all they do is fill out paperwork."
Detection Rates
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Where have all the police officers gone?
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Member, has today reacted with disbelief to a Mail on Sunday article in which a Metropolitan Police source is quoted saying that shortages in police numbers in some London Boroughs are due to the introduction of Safer Neighbourhood Teams.
The article states at “the lack of officers had been caused by the introduction of special neighbourhood teams” but this goes against reassurances given by the Commissioner Sir Ian Blair that officers would be resourced from back office roles without a reduction in the current levels of warranted police officers at a borough level.
Richard Barnes said:
“Either the left hand doesn’t know what the right is doing at the Metropolitan Police Service or Londoners have been deliberately misled into believing the increased Council Tax they are paying is for additional police officers for their areas when in fact they are only paying for additional Police Community Support Officers which is hardly a substitute for real police on the streets.
A high visibility police presence is what Londoners want and it is clear that this provides improved public reassurance but when the presence is Police Community Support Officers with limited powers many will be left feeling cheated by the Mayor.”
Safer Neighbourhoods
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Ken’s Broken Promise to Londoners
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Member, has today expressed his disappointment that the promise to have Safer Neighbourhood Teams of 4 officers in every Ward across London by April will not be kept by the Mayor Ken Livingstone.
The teams, that were due to be in place by April, should have consisted of 1 Sergeant, 1 Police Constable and 2 Police Community Support Officers however the Metropolitan Police have confirmed that they simply do not enough Police Community Support Officers to meet the Mayors promise and currently there are 87 posts empty.
Richard Barnes said:
“Livingstone has promised Londoners a Safer Neighbourhood Team of 4 officers per ward by April but this simply will not be happening in over 50 wards of London despite people paying inflated Council Tax bills immediately.
Knowing that the advanced rollout of Safer Neighbourhoods was a huge project the Mayor has either deliberately misled Londoners or showed a complete lack of understanding of the scale of such a scheme. Either way, the Mayor of our great city should not be making promises he cannot keep.”
Safer Neighbourhood Teams
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Are the Met hiding Ken’s broken promise?
Richard Barnes, policing spokesman for the London Assembly Conservatives has today written to Sir Ian Blair to seek clarification as to why the names of all Safer Neighbourhood Teams across London have been removed from the Metropolitan Police Service website. Only the names of the Sergeants contained within the teams now remain.
This move by the Metropolitan Police comes a week after research of their site showed that over 80 wards across London did not have the teams of 4 staff promised by the Mayor by the first week in April.
Richard Barnes said:
“Livingstone has increased his share of the Council Tax using the excuse that every ward or neighbourhood in London will see the benefits of a Safer Neighbourhood Team consisting of 1 Sergeant, 1 Police Constable and 2 Police Community Support Officers by the first week in April. Some areas still don’t have the teams of 4 even though Londoners are expected to pay hugely inflated Council Tax immediately.
I have written to Sir Ian Blair to find out which areas do not have the teams of 4 and to seek clarification as to why the details of each Safer Neighbourhood Team has been removed from their website.
Personally I think the Metropolitan Police are covering up the Mayors broken promise.”
END
Safer Neighbourhood Rollout
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Safer Neighbourhoods Fail First Test
Figures released by the London Assembly Conservatives show that Safer Neighbourhood Teams have failed to cut crime since their roll out in Tower Hamlets. Whilst incidences of low-level crime such as graffiti have been cut they have been more than compensated by a sharp rise in street crimes such as mugging.
Safer Neighbourhood Teams were fully rolled out across the 17 wards in Tower Hamlets last summer. The Conservatives compared crime Metropolitan Police crime statistics in the five months before and after 1st August 2005 to compile the figures.
Policing Spokesman, Richard Barnes, said:
“The Mayor and the Commissioner continually cite Safer Neighbourhood Teams and community based policing as the all encompassing solution to the levels of crime faced by Londoners. The reality is that in the one Borough where Safer Neighbourhood Teams have been rolled out across every ward the number of offences such as mugging, burglary and bag snatches increased substantially following their introduction.
Whilst we support community based policing it’s in everyone’s interests to ensure that these teams are effective in combating all types of crime.”
Tower Hamlets Safer Neighbourhood Teams
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Ken Pledges Too Few Extra Transport Police
London Assembly Conservatives are accusing Ken Livingstone of selling Londoners short by proposing just 89 extra British Transport Police Officer compared to 600 offered by the Conservatives.
Livingstone announced the extra officers today as part of his budget proposal, due to be voted on by the London Assembly on 15th February. Conservatives are worried that which such a large network 89 officers will be too few to build public confidence.
Fear of crime on the transport network is at an all time high as a result of the knife attack on Tom ap Rhys Pryce in Kensal Green last month and terrorist attacks of 7/7.
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Conservative Policing Spokesman, said:
“The public are demanding reassurance and whilst we welcome the extra 89 officers the Mayor is pledging we think that he should go further. There are hundreds of station platforms throughout London and they can only be properly covered by the 600 extra officers we have proposed.”
Additional BTP
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Arrest Fundamentalists Now
London Assembly Conservative Policing Spokesman, Richard Barnes, has joined calls to arrest those responsible for displacing placards inciting racial hatred during protests against the Cartoon depiction of the prophet Mohammed. His call came following David Davis - Shadow Home Secretary’s - intervention yesterday.
On Saturday some protesters allegedly held posters bearing slogans such as "Massacre those who insult Islam" and slogans that glorified the 7/7 attacks on London. Barnes believes that anyone inciting hatred in this way must be punished.
Richard Barnes said:
“It is vital that we defend peoples right to protest against anything they find offensive, but inciting racial violence is unacceptable whatever the circumstances. Those responsible must be caught and arrested. Their actions are offensive, dangerous and demeaning to the cause they claim to represent.”
Protests
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Tories angrily reject allegation of racism
Conservatives on the London Assembly have angrily attacked claims they conducted an “orchestrated sustained racist campaign” against a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority.
They have accused the people who made the claims of damaging community relations in London and doing a disservice to Londoners by ‘using the race card’.
The claim was made yesterday by Lee Jasper, Mayor Ken Livingstone’s Policy Director on Policing and Equalities, in an article on the website of the community group, the 1990 Trust.
It refers to MPA member Peter Herbert, who was recently reported to the Standards Board for England by two members of the Conservative Group on the Assembly - Leader Bob Neill and, the Member for Ealing and Hillingdon Richard Barnes. The Board are currently undertaking an investigation on the grounds that he “abused his position” on the MPA.
In the article, Mr. Herbert also accuses the two members of racism stating: “I’m not going to tolerate this level of racism.”
Bob Neill said:
“These accusations are an absolute disgrace. I reject them in the strongest possible terms. Mr. Jasper and Mr. Herbert do themselves and the organisations they represent a massive disservice by making such claims. Every genuine victim of racism and discrimination in this city will find it grossly offensive that these people are using a serious issue in such a fashion. I demand they withdraw the remarks immediately and publicly apologise.
"We believe Mr. Herbert misused his position and we have therefore done our job of sticking up for Londoners' interests by reporting him to the appropriate authority. This is absolutely nothing to do with race. It is our duty to report politicians we believe have misused their office, whether they are black or white. Using the race card is disgusting.”
Richard Barnes said:
“I am absolutely outraged that anyone should accuse me of being racist. I represent one of the most diverse communities in London and have spent decades championing the fight against racism in all its forms. These claims are distasteful and should be withdrawn.”
The complaint was made over Mr. Herbert’s involvement in a community project that was seeking funding from the MPA. The Community Advice Project (CAP) wanted to turn the MPA-owned Old Street Magistrate’s Court in Shoreditch in to a community centre.
In addition to investigating whether Mr. Herbert “abused his position”, the Board is also investigating two further possible failures to comply with the Code of Conduct including that he: “failed to withdraw from am MPA meeting after declaring a prejudicial interest” and, “mislead Mr. Riddle [the MPA monitoring officer] over his reasons for seeking access to Old Street [magistrates], stating that CAP wanted to perform an inspection when the purpose was to allow the filming of a television news item for CAP”.
Blink
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Child Trafficking Rife in London
Conservatives on the London Assembly have called for more funding for the police to tackle child trafficking.
More than 100 “trafficked” children arrive in London every week, according to the Met police. They are currently running a campaign at four UK airports monitoring unaccompanied children arriving in Britain from one country, which the police have not named. The campaign runs until mid-January 2006.
The Conservatives want more funding so the campaign can run for a longer period of time and be extended to more airports and other countries.
Their call comes ahead of a meeting today at which the issue of child trafficking will be discussed.
Conservative Policing and Resilience spokesman Richard Barnes said:
“Child trafficking is abhorrent. We need to do everything we can to prevent it and to protect children who find themselves innocent victims. I welcome the Met’s campaign but its scope is limited. An issue as important as this needs more funding so that it can be extended.”
Child Trafficking
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Fewer Police on Londons Streets?
Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair warned yesterday that London will see less police on its streets unless he receives an increase in funding from taxpayers of 11.2% next year.
The admission sets him on a collision course with Mayor Ken Livingstone who on Wednesday said such a rise would be unacceptable.
Without the increase the Mayor and Sir Ian will be unable to deliver their pledge to roll-out Safer Neighbourhood community policing teams across London by March 2007.
Conservatives on the London Assembly have accused the Mayor of irresponsibly raising public expectations by making promises he cannot afford to keep.
Sir Ian issued his warning at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority’s Finance Committee held on Thursday afternoon.
But on Wednesday, under fire at City Hall about the 11.2% hike required in next year’s Council Tax precept to pay for Safer Neighbourhood teams Mr. Livingstone said:
“I don’t think the combination of paying for all of this on top of the Olympics will be acceptable.”
From next year, Council Tax bills will include a £20 levy to pay for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Conservative Policing and Resilience spokesman Richard Barnes said:
“The Mayor and Met Commissioner appear to be on a collision course here. They both committed to the roll-out of Safer Neighbourhoods by March 2007 but now it seems the Mayor cannot afford to deliver them. He is guilty of making promises he may not be able to keep. That is a failure of leadership.”
Safer Neighbourhoods
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Mayor backs down on plans to roll out full Safer Neighbourhood Teams in 2006
Mayor Ken Livingstone today rowed back on promises to deliver a 'Safer Neighbourhood' policing team to every ward in London by March 2007.
Under fire at City Hall, he said he could no longer guarantee the scheme because of funding limitations. Conservatives on the London Assembly accused him of "irresponsibly raising Londoners' expectations" by making promises he could not keep.
The timing of the Mayor's admission is also embarrassing because it comes on the day the country's senior police office, Met Commission Sir Ian Blair says in an interview with the Guardian: "Neighbourhood teams are our opportunity to change policing" for the better.
London Assembly Member Richard Barnes said:
"The Mayor has rowed back on one of his central commitments to Londoners - to deliver community policing teams. This is a failure of leadership. He irresponsibly raised expectations amongst Londoners. Now we are seeing the cold reality."
Each Safer Neighbourhood team consists of one police sergeant, two police constables and three Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs). The Mayor announced in September that he planned to roll the teams out across London by March 2007, but the Met's current budget predictions for 2006/7 show they are £31.8 million short of funding.
Olympics takes precedence over Londoners' safety
At the heart of the funding issues is the Mayor's commitment to charge the average London household £20 per year for twelve years' to pay for the 2012 Olympics. That restricts his ability to raise Council Tax for policing and transport.
Asked if funding the Olympics will have to take precedence over Safer Neighbourhood Teams, the Mayor raised eyebrows when he answered: "If I fail to convince the government to give me more funding - Yes."
Richard Barnes added: "It is deeply alarming the Mayor says the Olympics takes precedence over the safety of Londoners, which should always be paramount."
Safer Neighbourhoods
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Mayor Bullying Londoners with Fare Increases
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon has accused Mayor Ken Livingstone of bullying Londoners after he announced a package of fare increases on buses and the tube that will massively penalise anyone travelling without an Oyster card.
He also accused him of breaking his pre-election promise not to increase fares.
Speaking at his weekly press conference this morning at City Hall, the Mayor announced:
· The cash single fare on buses and trams will increase from £1.20 to £1.50.
· Weekly bus passes will increase from £11 to £13.50.
· A tube Zone 1 Oyster fare will decrease from £1.70 to £1.50, but the cash price will rise to £3.
· Single tube journeys from Zones 2-6 will cost £1 on Oyster. The cash equivalent will be £3.
· Travelcard fares will increase on average by inflation plus 1%.
Commenting on the inflation busting rises, Richard Barnes said:
“The Mayor is bullying Londoners into buying Oyster cards and it is not on. Londoners want the freedom to choose, not to be dictated to by the Mayor.
Under this Mayor fares have rocketed, the council tax has more than doubled and the congestion charge has also increased by 60 per cent. The £20 a year cost to Londoners for the Olympics will also kick in this year. Livingstone always talks about each rise costing Londoners a few pence more each week, but if you add them together, they are costing the average family in London hundreds of pounds more. Whichever way you look at it, the Mayor is kicking Londoners where it hurts.”
TfL Fare Increases
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West London Tram Delayed almost a Year
Mayor Ken Livingstone announced today that the proposed West London Tram scheme will be delayed by a year to allow for a review of “transport management issues”.
But London Assembly Conservatives said the Mayor was “running scared” of a scheme that is “expensive, will cause traffic chaos for years while it is built - and ultimately won't deliver the transport benefits West Londoners need”.
The next stage of the planning process for the scheme was due to begin in December but will now take place in the summer of 2006.
Richard Barnes, Conservative Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon said:
"The story behind today's announcement is that Ken Livingstone is running scared of a scheme which is fast unravelling. Three out of five people in the Mayor's own consultation were opposed to it. Its expensive, will cause traffic chaos for years while it is built - and ultimately won't deliver the transport benefits West Londoners need.
“One suspects this might also be related to next year's local elections. The Mayor doesn't want an unpopular scheme being pushed through in an election year."
West London Tram
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Police Officers Solving Less than One Crime a Month
The average police officer in London solves less than one crime a month, new figures have revealed.
The staggering statistic raises serious questions about the efficiency of policing in the capital. London Assembly Conservatives say officers are ‘drowning in paperwork’ leaving them little time to fight crime on our streets.
The figures, calculated by London Assembly Conservatives using new statistics from the Metropolitan Police’s website show:
· There are just over a million crimes reported in London each year;
· Of these only one in five (21.72%) are solved;
· Based on the 19,062 police working in London’s Boroughs - each officer therefore solves just 0.96 a month.
Conservative spokesman on Policing and Resilience Richard Barnes said:
“These figures illustrate the harsh reality - our policemen are literally drowning in paperwork. The result is that they spend hours needlessly filling in forms when they should be out fighting crime on our streets. We must make the way our police work more efficient.”
Detection Rates
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Government not Londoners must pay Terrorism Policing Costs
Conservatives on the London Assembly have called on the government, not London Council taxpayers to pay for policing costs related to the 7/7 and 21/7 terrorist attacks.
They’ve made their call ahead of a Metropolitan Police Authority meeting later today at which government plan's for the Met to pay £27million towards costs will be discussed.
The Conservatives say an attack on the Capital is an attack on the whole nation, not just London – and therefore costs are the government’s responsibility.
Richard Barnes, Conservative spokesman on Policing and Resilience said:
“Any attack on the Capital is an attack on the whole of Britain. The government should therefore pay for the policing costs related to these incidents–not Londoners.”
The Conservatives also point out that the Metropolitan Police are responsible for anti-terrorism measures across the whole of Britain, not just in London. If a terrorist attacks had taken place in another city, then the Met would have responded to it–with funding from central government.
Resilience Costs
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"Outrage" as Home Affairs Committee Refuses to Consult with Hindus and Sikhs
London Assembly Conservatives have joined Hindu and Sikh leaders’ outrage at the Home Affairs Select Committee’s decision to accept oral evidence from the Muslim community, but not the Hindu and Sikh communities in its investigation into the 7/7 and 21/7 attacks.
This is despite recent figures released by the Metropolitan Police showing that more Hindus and Sikhs were victims of hate crime than Muslims during the backlash that affected the capital.
The Conservatives have also criticised the government and the Met Police for announcing the formation of working groups to tackle extremism composed almost entirely of Muslim members.
Assembly Member for Ealing and Hillingdon and Conservative spokesman on Policing and Resilience, Richard Barnes said:
"We cannot tackle extremism and promote full integration in London and the UK without reaching out to all minority groups. The Hindu and Sikh communities suffered greatly following the attacks of 7/7 and it is therefore imperative that the government and parliament do not exclude them by focusing solely on the Muslim community"
Home Affairs Committee
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London Detection Rates Decrease After 7/7
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Crime Spokesman has called for the government to pay for extra anti-terror police following a fall in London detection rates. The fall has been blamed on the need to redeploy officers from normal police duties to guard soft terrorist target such as the tube.
The number of robberies increased by 10% in July but the number of detections fell by nearly 10%. A person committing robbery only has a 1 in 7 chance of being convicted. Burglaries increased by 2% but the number of detections decreased by 10%. Only 1 in 6 burglaries lead to a conviction.
These figures show that the Metropolitan Police cannot continue to keep officers on anti-terror work without more resources from the government, says Mr. Barnes, who is also a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority.
Richard Barnes said:
“Ordinary police officers are doing a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances, but these stats prove that the redeployment has led to problems. The Met just does not have the resources to both police the whole of London and protect us against terrorism. The government must pay for extra police officers to alleviate this problem long term.”
Detection rates
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Barnes launches Online Petition Against Terror Sites
Richard Barnes, London Assembly Conservative Policing Spokesman, has launched an online petition calling on Internet Service Providers who host sites that promote, encourage or assist terrorist actions to actively block or remove the offending web pages.
The petition is located at http://www.richardbarnes.info/petition.asp and can also be located by navigating via the homepage of www.werenotafraid.com. Since it’s launch the petition has received in excess of 500 entries from across the globe.
Richard was spurred on in his campaign after locating an al-Qaeda terrorist manual online that contained detailed instructions on how to make poisons including Ricin and explosives similar to the ones used in the terrorist attacks of 7/7 and the failed attacks of 21/7.
Since launching his petition Richard has become aware that a UK website hosts the website of al-Tajdeed, a radio station that broadcasts messages encouraging the murder of UK servicemen and women in the Middle East and that a Norwegian teenager recently made a crude homemade bomb which killed himself and seriously injured his brother after using instructions downloaded from the internet.
Richard Barnes said:
“The beauty of the internet is that it is completely anonymous with virtually anything being available to anyone, however it is time that some form of regulation was enforced onto Internet Service Providers either voluntarily or via a change in legislation. It is unacceptable that instructions on how to make volatile explosives can not only be accessed by those seeking to cause terror but also by those vulnerable members of society who need to be protected.
I am not proposing draconian measures that would restrict the freedom of speech but a common sense approach that realises that there is no public interest in making available instructions on how to make explosives or poisons, or web pages that promote the murder of UK citizens at home or abroad.”
Petition
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Government, not Londoners, must pay Terror Policing Costs
Central government, not London Council taxpayers should pick up the soaring policing costs related to the recent terrorist attacks in London, Conservatives on the London Assembly say.
Their comments come after Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority and Labour Assembly Member Len Duvall admitted a rise in London’s Council Tax precept to pay policing costs was possible.
Richard Barnes, Conservative spokesman on Policing and Resilience said:
“The recent terror attacks were against all of Britain, not just London. The Metropolitan police are also responsible for anti-terrorism measures across the whole of Britain, not just in London. The government, not Londoners should therefore pay for the growing policing costs related to these incidents. Mr Duvall should be fighting London’s corner on this issue – not surrendering to the Treasury.”
MPS financial resilience
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London’s Horror as ‘Al-Qaeda Training Manual’ found on U.S. Department of Justice’s website
Do a Google search with the word ‘al-Qaeda’ – and the top hit is a United States’ Department of Justice (DOJ) site containing an ‘Al-Qaeda Training Manual’ that they have translated into English.
The revelation that top terror tips are available on a U.S. government website has ‘horrified’ London politicians. They have written to American Ambassador to Britain, Robert Holmes Tuttle, requesting he urgently takes the issue up with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The manual includes advice to al-Qaeda terrorists on:
· How to go undetected on crowded public transport;
· How terrorists can communicate and avoid detection by the security services;
· How to transport weapons and stop deterioration of explosives.
Anyone going to the U.S. Department of Justice’s web site can access their English translation.
The DOJ site says is has only published sections of the manual because it “does not want to aid in educating terrorists or encourage further acts of terrorism,” however, the manual is full of advice the London bombers would have found useful.
The site says the Met police originally found the manual during a raid on an al-Qaeda member in Manchester, England. It was used earlier this year in an embassy bombing trial in New York.
A researcher working for the London Assembly Conservatives stumbled upon the content of the site.
Richard Barnes, Conservative spokesman on Policing and Resilience and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said:
“I was horrified to find the first site you come to when you put ‘al-Qaeda’ in to Google is a U.S. Department of Justice site - with full instructions on how to be an urban terrorist. I hope the U.S. government will see sense and remove this immediately. We need to do everything we can to make London safe.”
al-qaeda
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Mobile phone change could help identify casualties
London's bomb attacks highlighted the difficulties emergency services face in identifying those involved. But Richard Barnes AM, lead London Assembly Member on London's Civil Contingency believes mobile phones could have speeded up identification of victims.
Praising a new initiative by East Anglian Ambulance Service for mobile phone users to save an “In Case of Emergency” [ICE] contact telephone number into their mobile phones, Mr Barnes is calling for mobile phone manufacturers to incorporate this facility in all new designs.
He said: "It has become apparent over the past days that identifying victims following terrible atrocities is a problem. This is also true of day to day accidents many people experience in going about their daily lives. Adding an ICE number to mobile phones provides a practical and workable solution. It would be of tremendous help to emergency services if a mobile phone user is unable to communicate following an accident or injury.
"I urge mobile phone manufacturers to adopt this initiative as a matter of urgency. By adding a specific number under the name 'ICE - Mum' and the telephone number, emergency services could retrieve the phone or SIM card and trace the individual’s contact
"At times like these we must all look at ways to assist the work of the emergency services and I wholeheartly back the campaign by the East Anglian Ambulance Service."
ICE
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Assembly Member Attacks Heathrow Expansion
Local London Assembly Member Richard Barnes has today attacked plans to expand Heathrow Airport. The plans, unveiled by the British Airports Authority will see the creation of a third run way and sixth terminal at a cost of £7bn.
In order to make way for the new runway and terminal, the village of Sidson, comprising of 700 houses may have to be demolished and the expansion will increase noise and pollution. Passenger numbers are expected to rise from the current level of 67m per year to 116m by 2015. The plan is now up for consultation until October.
Richard Barnes said:
“Heathrow is big enough and we haven’t even finished building Terminal Five yet! The answer to the lack of capacity in South East England is not to keep expanding Heathrow. The government needs to bite the bullet and build a new airport away from major towns and cities.”
Heathrow
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Action plan unveiled to tackle dirty hospitals and superbugs
Conservatives
www.conservatives.com
Released by: Mark Nicholson
Date: 16th February 2005
Nicholson: Action plan unveiled to tackle dirty hospitals and superbugs
Higher standards needed on cleanliness and infection control say Conservatives
Mark Nicholson, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Ealing Southall, this week backed the action plan unveiled by Conservatives to clean up hospitals in Ealing and across the country, and clamp down on dirty wards which are breeding grounds for dangerous ‘superbugs’ like MRSA.
Mark explained,
“Since Labour came to power, the rate of superbugs like MRSA in England have doubled. Our hospitals are far worse than those on the Continent. Despite the Government being warned four years ago, action has not been taken to improve cleanliness and infection control. I am very concerned that many people in Ealing, especially pensioners, are now worried about entering hospital because of fears about catching superbugs. Vulnerable people may be avoiding getting the health care they need.”
The cleanliness of Ealing Hospital has recently been criticised in Channel 4’s Dispatches programme and the incidence of MRSA cases per patient bed day in Ealing is twice that in Hillingdon.
Outlining an action plan to tackle these hospital-acquired infections across England and restore public confidence in the NHS, Mark said,
“Labour have not responded to the rising number of MRSA cases with the urgency required. They are all talk. The next Conservative Government will take action to enable doctors and nurses to provide cleaner hospitals.”
The action plan includes measures to:
• Abolish flawed Whitehall targets which have overridden the recommendations of infection control teams to close beds or wards for cleaning.
• Require the preparation and publication of infection rates in each hospital, on the basis of each clinical department.
• Recruit additional infection control nurses and include training in infection control for health professionals.
Mark concluded:
“Under Labour, billions of pounds have been spent on the NHS but there are too many bureaucrats, too many dirty hospitals and too many people waiting for treatment. Under another Labour Government, patients would go on waiting and hospitals wouldn’t get any cleaner. Conservatives will get our hospitals clean, get money through to frontline services and give patients the opportunity to choose where and when they get their treatment.”
Notes to Editors
The MRSA problem
• What is MRSA ? Staphylococcus aureus (often referred to simply as ‘staph’) are bacteria commonly carried on the skin or in the nose of healthy people. These bacteria can cause an infection; treatment of these infections has become more difficult because staph bacteria have become resistant to various antibiotics, including the commonly used penicillin-related antibiotics, making treatment of a patient very difficult. These resistant bacteria (‘superbugs’) are called ‘methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus’ - or MRSA.
• Over the last seven years rates of MRSA have doubled (Number of death certificates mentioning MRSA, source: Health Protection Agency, Statistics Quarterly: Spring 2004, England and Wales 1997 to 2002). http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_health/HSQ21.pdf
• The National Audit Office warned four years ago the extent of the problems and risks associated with hospital acquired infections (NAO, The Management and Control of Hospital Acquired Infection in Acute NHS Trusts in England, February 2000). http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/9900230.pdf
• 44 per cent of the staphylococcus aureus bacteria in the UK is resistant to methicillin. This compares to just 1 per cent in the Netherlands and Denmark (Chief Medical Officer, Winning ways: working together to reduce healthcare associated infection in England, December 2003, p. 10). http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/06/46/89/04064689.pdf
Conservatives MRSA Action Plan in full
1. Abolish Whitehall targets which have overridden the recommendations of infection control teams to close beds or wards for cleaning. If a ward needs to be closed for cleaning it will be.
2. Provide additional support to the Health Protection Agency to enable it to send in a team to back up hospitals’ infection control teams in responding aggressively to combat outbreaks of infection.
3. Recruit additional infection control nurses and include training in infection control for health professionals.
4. Accelerate the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and Rapid Review Panel’s work to bring new solutions for combating hospital-acquired infection through to use in the NHS.
5. Accelerate progress in research into the means of reducing infection.
6. Instruct the National Institute of Clinical Excellence to prepare evidence-based infection control standards.
7. Publish a National Infection Control Manual.
8. Develop, and make available, the application of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) methodology, to form part of the standard for infection control.
9. Require the preparation and publication of infection rates in each hospital, on the basis of each clinical department. The infection data will include not only MRSA bloodstream infections, but also surgical site MRSA infections, other serious infections (e.g. Clostridium Difficile) and information will record the incidence as well as prevalence of infection – i.e. how likely you are to contract infection in a hospital department.
10. Require hospitals to publish their infection control procedures incorporating their compliance with published standards and their statement of who is in charge (the senior nurse or matron) of delivering a clean and safe environment, ward-by-ward, across the hospital. The nominated person must have both the responsibility and the power to control all aspects of cleanliness and infection control on their ward. This will give patients and GPs the opportunity to choose cleaner hospitals.
Local figures
Source:
Department of Health, Mandatory Bacteraemia Surveillance Scheme, April 2001 - March 2004. http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/08/58/93/04085893.pdf
MRSA
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Action to help working families and pensioners in Ealing Southall
www.conservatives.com
Released by: Mark Nicholson
Date: 30th November 2004
Nicholson: Action to help working families and pensioners in Ealing Southall
New proposals to reverse Labour’s tax hikes for those on low and middle incomes
Ahead of the Government’s annual mini-Budget at the beginning of December, Mark Nicholson, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Ealing Southall, backed new Conservative proposals to cut the level of tax on low and middle income earners in Ealing Southall. A new consultation paper proposes a number of ways in which more people on lower incomes can be taken out of tax completely, and how many on middle incomes can be freed from having to pay punitive, top rates of income tax.
Estimates suggest that since 1997, due to Tony Blair’s stealth tax increases in income tax thresholds and National Insurance, an average of:
• 6,400 more people in Ealing Southall on low incomes have now being dragged into the tax system, including part-time workers on the minimum wage, students working weekends to pay their tuition fees, and pensioners receiving just £60 a week from a personal pension.
• Another 2,000 more people in Ealing Southall are now paying top rates of income tax, including deputy head teachers, police inspectors, warrant officers in the armed services, and many hospital matrons.
Mark explained,
“Conservatives believe in low taxes. Families and businesses across Ealing know better how to spend or invest their money than regional bureaucrats or Whitehall pen-pushers.
“Tony Blair promised not to raise tax ‘at all’. But he did – 66 times. Now independent experts agree that if Tony Blair were to be re-elected, taxes will have to go up yet again. Yet too much taxpayers’ money is being wasted, and high taxes are undermining incentives to work, to save and to invest.
“We need action to ensure all taxpayers get value for money, to thin down fat government, and ensure that hard working families and pensioners and those on modest and middle incomes across Ealing receive a fairer deal.”
Notes to Editors
The full consultation document can be downloaded via:
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=117087
It includes detailed options for reducing National Insurance and income tax for those on low incomes and middle incomes.
Since 1997, 4.2 million more people are now paying some form of income tax, whilst 1.35 million more people are now paying top rate income tax. Across the UK’s 659 Parliamentary constituencies, this averages out at 6,400 and 2,050 more people respectively per constituency.
Gordon Brown’s Pre-Budget Report will take place on 2 December 2004.
ENDS
Low Paid Tax Cuts
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Action plan unveiled to tackle pensions crisis
Conservatives
www.conservatives.com
Released by: Mark Nicholson
Date: 17th December 2004
Nicholson: Action plan unveiled to tackle pensions crisis
Conservatives pledge to help Ealing’s current and future pensioners
A Government-commissioned report has forecast (this week/last week) that 12 million people face poverty in later life because they are not saving enough. The report comes amid growing concern across Ealing about pensioners’ ability to get by – especially in the context of soaring local taxes. Ealing Southall Conservatives have backed a national action plan to tackle the growing pensions crisis, including helping pension ‘wind-up’ victims.
Mark Nicholson, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Ealing Southall, explained;
“Pensioners have been let down by Labour. Their promises to help pensioners have been shown to be all talk. Pension schemes have been taxed to the hilt by a £5 billion a year tax, more and more pensioners are being forced to fill out insulting means-testing forms, and (insert fraction) of the increase in the basic state pension since 1997 has been swallowed by higher council taxes for single pensioners in (area) and (insert fraction) for pensioner couples.”
Outlining an Action Plan for pensions, Mark pledged to restore the link between pensions and earnings, help wind-up victims, and introduce new incentives to save for retirement. The plan – part of Conservatives’ Timetable for Action – calls for:
• Restoring the link between pensions and earnings, which would increase the pension for a single pensioner by £7 a week and for a pensioner couple by £11 a week.
• Freeing people with private pensions from having to buy an annuity at 75.
• Helping wind-up victims: Tens of thousands of people have paid into a company pension which they were told was safe, only to lose their savings when the company became insolvent. Using the unclaimed assets in dormant bank and building society accounts – which Gordon Brown has targeted for unspecified charitable purposes – would help rebuild the pension funds of wind-up victims.
• Introducing a Lifetime Savings Account on a ‘buy one, get one free’ principle; savers’ contributions would be rewarded with government contributions.
• Introducing longevity bonds to reduce the risks that company pension schemes face.
• Removing the cap on total pension contributions that people can make, provided that all employees at a company are eligible to join the same pension scheme.
• Allowing companies to promote their pension schemes, by relaxing the Financial Services Authority regulations that restrict the financial advice they can give.
• Encouraging company pension schemes to assume that employees want to join unless they opt out themselves – i.e. encouragement, but not compulsion.
(name) added,
“I fear the pensions crisis would be made worse under Liberal Democrats’ flawed policy of abolishing tax relief on pensions for higher rate earners. It would discourage people from saving for retirement and punish the growing number of people, who aren’t very rich but who now are in the higher tax bracket.
“People want less talk, more action. We must reverse the spread of means-testing, strengthen company pensions and provide better incentives for saving for (area’s) pensioners of today and tomorrow. We will give single pensioners an extra £7 a week and couples an extra £11 a week. It is time to restore dignity and security in retirement.”
Notes to Editors
Pensions Commission Report
The First Report of the Pensions Commission was published on 12 October 2004.
http://www.pensionscommission.org.uk
It notes,
• Pension savings have fallen: “The total level of employer contributions to pension schemes is thus falling significantly, while employee contributions to employer-sponsored schemes appear to be declining” (p.88).
• The Government’s means-testing agenda is the wrong approach: “Means-testing within the state system both increases complexity and reduces, and in some cases reverses, the incentives to save via pensions which the tax system creates” (p.205).
Liberal Democrat policy
Liberal Democrats have suggested that tax relief on private pensions for higher taxpayers should be reduced or abolished. This would mean that many hard-working people could get taxed up to 40 per cent on their pension contributions (or more, given their plans for local and regional income tax, and their 50 per cent national top rate). This would discourage people saving for security in retirement, and amount to a £6 billion raid on people’s dwindling pension pots. The elderly would receive smaller private and occupational pensions as a result.
Liberal Democrats note, ‘at the moment tax relief is available for pension saving, as an incentive for people to save more, and to reward those who are saving. Therefore contributions to a pension fund attract tax relief at the person’s top marginal tax rate at the time they are paid in, investment returns are tax-free, and when the pension is withdrawn it is taxed at the person’s marginal rate at that time… At present more than half the money spent on tax relief for pension contributions goes towards just 2.5 million higher rate tax-payers. This fails to give the most help to those who most need it… We would encourage the Independent Pensions Authority to review tax reliefs to find a fairer system’ (Liberal Democrats, Dignity and Security in Retirement, Policy Paper 67, August 2004, p.24).
Indeed, Vincent Cable MP, the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman, has explicitly advocated, ‘upper income earners should pay more… [such as via] a loss of a variety of tax reliefs and allowances, which often favour those on higher incomes’ (‘Liberal Democrats and social justice’, The Orange Book, 2004, p.170).
A GP registrar with three years’ experience can expect to earn £46,009 in 2004 (source: NHS Careers website). If this doctor were making a pension contribution of 5 per cent, the loss of tax relief at 40 per cent would mean £920 a year in higher tax.
Change in council tax vs. Pensions
The year-on-year changes in the basic state pension can be compared with the change in council tax, using the average Band D rate as the benchmark for a typical household. Single pensioners receive a lower state pension, but benefit from a 25 per cent council tax discount if living alone.
Pensions
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Give Ealing’s tenants a foot on the housing ladder
Conservatives
www.conservatives.com
Released by: Mark Nicholson
Date: 30th October 2004
Nicholson: Give Ealing’s tenants a foot on the housing ladder
Action on housing pledged by Conservatives
Mark Nicholson, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Ealing Southall, this week backed new plans to extend home ownership in Ealing. New Conservative policies would mean extra support for ‘shared ownership’ schemes; allow social tenants to buy a stake in their home; and make it easier for housing associations to build more affordable housing. This will help those who currently cannot afford to get on the housing ladder.
Mark explained,
“It is now increasingly difficult for residents in Ealing on modest incomes to buy their own home. Labour once promised they had ‘no plans to raise tax at all’; but their property taxes – such as council tax and stamp duty – have hit first time buyers. The average first time buyer in Greater London now pays an extra £1,357 in stamp duty compared with 1997. Soaring council tax bills are a financial drain on top of that.
“Social tenants have also lost out, with Right to Buy discounts being cut back for Ealing’s 14,567 council house tenants. Where council housing has been transferred to housing associations, tenants lose the same Right to Buy. It seems the Government’s only policy on housing has been to be to concrete over green fields, whilst missing the opportunity to regenerate our towns and cities. On housing, as on everything else, Labour are all talk.”
Under the Conservative plans for Action on Housing:
• Conservatives will promote and extend support for shared ownership schemes. Shared equity helps people buy their home of choice without having to fund 100 per cent of the value.
• We will extend the Right to Buy to over a million housing association tenants, and reinvest the receipts from sales in new social housing (while recognising the need for some exemptions in small rural areas). There are 8,746 housing association tenants in Ealing.
• We will help social housing tenants purchase a home, not just their present property, through transferable discounts. Our new ‘Right to Own’ will allow tenants to build up a stake in their equity of their home.
• We will reduce Labour’s disproportionate and excessive regulation and inspection of housing associations, and make it easier for them to work with private sector developers to build more affordable housing to buy and rent.
• We will review housing regulation as a whole and the impact it is having on house building and the cost of new homes.
Mark concluded,
“Conservatives want the dream of home ownership to come true for more and more people, so that they can benefit from the security and independence which home ownership conveys.”
Notes to Editors
The full policy pamphlet ‘Action on housing’ is available online at:
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=news.story.page&obj_id=116845
Housing Ladder
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Burglary now seen as ‘risk free’ in Ealing
Conservatives
www.conservatives.com
Released by: Mark Nicholson
Date: 12 December 2004
Nicholson: Burglary now seen as ‘risk free’ in Ealing
New Government report reveals criminals not scared of being caught
Mark Nicholson, Conservative Parliamentary Spokesman for Ealing Southall, expressed grave concern this week at a report from the Government admitting that burglars now regard robbing people’s homes as a ‘virtually risk free’ activity.
The report, compiled by the Home Office, investigated the attitudes of convicted house burglars. Even amongst those who have been caught:
• Only 10 per cent of burglars think there is a ‘high likelihood’ of being caught during a burglary or while in possession of stolen property.
• Almost two-thirds of burglars returned to a property they had previously burgled.
• “Few considered it to be risky at any stage… Residential burglary… was regarded as virtually risk free. The threat of detection during the course of a burglary or after disposal of goods was considered an insufficient deterrent”.
• Burglars’ main motivation for committing their crimes was the need to fund drug use.
• The most effective way of deterring burglars was targeted and repeated police enforcement activity.
Mark remarked,
“Tony Blair promised to be ‘tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime’. All talk. This report exposes the fact that under this Government, crime is out of control and sentences are too lenient. We already knew that the clear-up rate of burglary in Ealing was just 6%, meaning 16 out of 17 burglars are never brought to justice. No wonder that burglars now regard breaking into people’s homes as ‘risk free’.
“This research backs up Conservatives’ Timetable for Action to fight crime:
• Tougher sentences – such as abolishing Labour’s early release scheme, so burglars serve their full sentence and do not dismiss the threat of prison.
• Cutting political correctness and police paperwork, getting police out onto the beat, and funding 8,500 more police officers for London.
• 20,000 extra drug rehabilitation places to reduce the hard drug use that fuels crime.
“It is time we ensured burglars faced the consequences of their crimes. Labour are all talk, while Liberal Democrats don’t believe in jailing burglars. Only Conservatives will restore respect, discipline and decent values in our society.”
Notes to Editors
New Home Office research
The Home Office published its report, Decision-making by house burglars: offenders’ perspectives on 1 November 2004. http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/r249.pdf
Liberal Democrat policy
Liberal Democrats oppose most burglars being sent to jail.
• ‘I’m absolutely convinced that prison is a complete and utter waste of time’ (Mark Oaten MP, LibDem Home Affairs Spokesman, interview with Andrew Rawnsley, BBC Radio 4, Westminster Hour, 9 November 2003).
• ‘[The] assertion that burglars should be universally locked up risks creating a crisis in the prison system’ (Mark Oaten, Liberal Democrat press release, 13 January 2003).
• ‘If you do an office burglary at the weekend and nick some computers, that sort of offence is perfectly easily dealt with outside [prison]. If you do a burglary of a garage when people are away on holiday that sort of offence may be best dealt with the first time on the outside’ (Liberal Democrat President, Simon Hughes MP, BBC News Online, 23 September 2003).
• ‘Too many petty offenders are being sent to prison’ … ‘Non-violent offenders… should expect to be subject to intensive supervision in the community… The offender could pay them [the victim] back in kind by doing physical work in the victim’s house or garden’ (Liberal Democrat press release / ‘Liberal Democrat proposals for tough community sentences’, 17 November 2003).
Crime detection statistics
The Government previously published statistics on crime detection rates in July 2004.
Home Office, Crime in England and Wales 2003/2004: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/crimeew0304.html
The statistics include crime detection rates by ‘basic command unit’ areas. ‘Detected crimes’ are those ‘solved’ by the police: where an offence has been committed and recorded, a suspect been identified and there is sufficient evidence to charge the suspect. A low detection rate means cases are not be solved and more criminals are escaping justice.
Basic Command Unit - Detection Recorded for Key Offences 2002/03 to 2003/04 – Excel chart
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs04/bcu2.xls
Burglary
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