The Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centre (DUWC) received a grant of more than £41,000 annually and a further £50,000 from Public Health to carry out tribunal representation work for people challenging decisions by the Department for Work and Pensions regarding benefit reductions and withdrawals. But the funding from the County Council will come to an end on March 31. Colin Hampton, co-ordinator of the centres for the past 33 years, said: “DUWC, irrespective of who is in government, gives a voice to those who come to seek our help." “You would think those in power would welcome this feedback but it appears that this authority would rather not hear what they have to say." “The centres have many funding streams and even more supporters. We will be embarking on a massive fundraising campaign to bridge the gap left by the Council’s cynical move.” Thousands of Derbyshire residents use the service, which has offices throughout the county. It also comes at a time when the centres are dealing with the full digital roll out of universal credit. Please visit our website for more information about the service: http://www.duwc.org.uk/

We don't just use libraries to borrow books - we use them for reading, we use them for researching, we use them for the Internet services they provide and we need libraries to foster our learning. Older people need libraries, adults and young adults need libraries - and families need libraries. ... and this means libraries with trained librarians, not just volunteers. In spite of much deprivation and poor Internet access, Highbridge and many other similar communities are now growing - new houses being built and new young families moving into the area - this town needs a hub for its local services. What better place than the library? The current library opening hours provide only restricted access to library services - the town is expanding - this service needs expanding. The County Council has kept open the Highbridge Children's Centre and should be using the same arguments for investing in the Library. The Highbridge library is a valuable information hub - not only for the residents of Highbridge itself, but all those many, otherwise isolated, users in the outlying areas, some of which may only have mobile library access now, e.g. Mark, Walrow, Isleport, Bason Bridge & Watchfield. These are users who can get to Highbridge Library using the existing (yet slender) public transport links. Burnham on Sea Library is just one further step away. For a young parent with little children in Highbridge, it has been calculated that it costs £9.00 to get public transport to Burnham and back - but you can walk to the Highbridge Library! "Google Can Bring You Back 100,000 Answers. A Librarian Can Bring You Back the Right One." Neil Gaiman "Cutting libraries in a time of recession and austerity is like cutting hospitals during a plague." (adapted from Eleanor Crumblehulme library assistant)

This is extremely important: 1. We students are being under-represented 2. We have already paid for a service which we are not going to receive 3. We students must take a stand for ourselves and not allow people to take advantage of us. 4. Students and lecturers are both being financially penalised and we should not accept it.

Over the year 2016-2017 nearly 174,000 allegations were closed and 149,450 (86%) of tip offs were incorrect allegations. Over the financial years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 332,850 cases were closed following reports by members of the public (of benefit fraud). Of these 287,950 were found to have no or little evidence to substantiate the claim (87%) We need to stop the culture of hunting out benefit fraud, as most of the time the allegations are incorrect. Going through this process has a detrimental effect on disabled and chronically ill people’s mental and physical health. We believe that if the public are to remain involved in reporting on alleged benefit fraud then they should not be allowed to do this anonymously and should have to give at least their name and national insurance number. This will help to make people think about their actions before picking up the phone, will help to reduce bogus allegations, and will make improvements to this culture of thinking people on benefits are scrounges and that disabled/chronically ill people are faking (when in fact they are probably faking being well most of the time). If someone is found to be a serial malicious reporter then they should be fined and banned from giving tip offs again. The general public have a slim view and understanding of what disability/chronic illness ‘looks like’ resulting in more reports of benefit fraud and disabled/chronically ill people being scared to leave the house for fear they’ll be reported increasing isolation in communities and fears that your neighbour is spying on your every move. Let’s stop feeding this narrative. Please help us make some positive changes to the benefits system. Together we rise! Faye Dempsey, Ellie Hicks, Alison Morton Articles of interest: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/01/spy-on-your-neighbour-britain-demonisation-benefit-claimants-disabled-people www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/benefit-fraud-public-tip-offs-legal-action-police-no-evidence-dwp-work-pensions-department-a8144096.html

Personally, I often forget to donate to food banks until I see the crate at the exit of the supermarket, and by then I'm all packed up and ready to go home. Of course, I could be more aware, and work on making it become a habit, but at the moment, I'm not very tuned in, although I'd love to be! Anyway, when I do my online grocery shop, which I am now trying to do on a more regular basis, I thought there was a significant change that could be made which would allow me to donate to food banks whilst doing the shop. For example, when I get my two tins of tuna for a discounted price, I could add one of those tins of tuna into a separate 'food bank' list. Rather than delivering these items to me, they could go straight into a food bank deposit system. Obviously it would need to be a simple user interface that doesn't get mixed up and confuse people and suddenly you receive the items you were trying to donate and the food bank receives the full order... So it could be quite difficult to do (I've got no idea, I don't work in systems!). Anyway, this is just an idea that I believe could work really well and could result in some valuable relationships between supermarkets and those in need.

Big businesses need to take responsibility, and stop harming our climate. Throughout the world more and more wildfires, heatwaves, and floods show that we must take urgent action to achieve a safe and healthy climate. HSBC Unlike some other banks, HSBC invests much less in solar or wind energy, which are now good value. You can switch to a less harmful bank. RWE (Npower) Energy generator and supplier Npower is mostly owned by the huge multination RWE, which uses an awful lot of coal. You can switch to another company which uses clean energy. Danone Danone’s brands – including Evian and Volvic – sell bottles made of unrecycled plastic. Once they shape up and commit to making these changes, we'll target other irresponsible companies – and you can suggest some. By signing and sharing this petition you’re telling businesses they must stop harming our climate NOW. Find out more about CLIMATE SERIOUS and how you can get involved: www.climateserious.org #climateserious

We need answers from all parties involved. The school is a big part of our community.

As everyone knows if flood plains are built on the water has to divert somewhere else usually with catastrophic results !!! We have seen this over the years where villages have been washed away, animals drowned and homes have been destroyed with flooding !! The Government have told all councils they must provide more homes and totally disregard the dangers and destruction of building on or near flood Plains! This is happening now in Hale Village and Halebank . The Government and Environmental Agency are NOT acknowledging flood plains in our area even though they actually flood!!! We must all fight this immediately before it happens in other areas !!! Please sign the petition telling the Government they can't do this !!!

The low paid employees at the MoD’s Fort Blockhouse base in Gosport, Hampshire, who work as cleaners, mess hands and housekeepers, are currently embroiled in a row as ESS has cut the workers’ working year from 52 to 50 weeks. This issue affects mainly women workers on very low pay. The cost-cutting scandal for employees working at Ministry of Defence (MoD) establishments in the south of England has been compounded by the awarding of a new contract to ESS. Unite, the country’s largest union which represents 27 ESS workers, said it was taking legal advice as some employees had their weeks further cut to 48 weeks a year and there were questions about their hourly rate being below the national living wage. Unite has members employed by ESS at HMS Sultan (Gosport), HMS Collingwood (Fareham) and Whale Island (Portsmouth), where the company is also cutting the working year in the contracts of its low paid workers. ESS is part of the Compass Group. The pay of the CEO for Compass Group North America, Gary Green, was £5.8 million last year – the equivalent of £15,890 a day. Unite regional officer Bob Middleton said: “The Ministry of Defence is collaborating in this greedy cost-cutting scandal by awarding a new contract to ESS to run for five years from 1 June 2018. “ESS has won the contract by submitting a bid with reduced employee costs which is disgraceful, as our members are loyal employees who are proud to support our armed forces.” Unite general secretary Len McCluskey wrote to the defence secretary Gavin Williamson about the unilateral reduction in the weeks worked and the loss of an estimated £500 a year in wages – but no response from the minister was forthcoming. Bob Middleton added: “The MoD should hang its head in shame by giving a new contract to ESS, a company that does not care whether some of its employees are now suffering financial hardship after having their working weeks axed without consultation. “The announcement of the new contract is rubbing salt into the wounds."

For several years Stratford Shopping Centre have stayed open 24hrs a day allowing for those whom are homeless to have somewhere dry and secure to shelter/sleep during the night. However as of today (29/01/2018) they have handed orders to all those currently staying in the centre, ordering them to leave with immediate effect. This means the homeless people are being forced out on to the streets in these extreme weathers, some of these people don’t even own a sleeping bag or adequate warm clothing which means they are at high risk of falling extremely ill. We are petitioning for Stratford Centre/Newham Council to rethink their decision and to continue allowing for our homeless friends to continuing using Stratford as a secure place for them to be during the night as many of them are highly vulnerable and some are also very elderly. Newham Council urgently need to support these homeless people with their housing/accommodation as these people cannot continue living on the streets.

Dr Glen has renewed her application to add Plains, Caldercruix and Hillend to her practice area and is hoping to achieve this by August 2018 with agreement from Lanarkshire NHS. The Primary Care Department of NHS Lanarkshire gave assurances in Caldercruix in January 2014 at a public meeting that there would continue to be GP services in Caldercruix at dedicated premises.The present service is well short of the assurances given to Alex Neil MSP in 2014 about a commitment to having a GP in the village. Assurances were also given to the Scottish Government that a GP would be in place in the village. The NHS is under pressure and Dr Glen is able to offer appointments in a permanent building with nursing and administrative support all ready to run for the benefit of local villages.

Bakkavor Alresford Salads have applied to the Environment Agency for a renewal licence to continue to put into the river their daily factory wash down described as TRADE EFFLUENT containing a cocktail of powerful chemicals to replace and supposedly improve on the chlorine based biocide they have been using for years. Their impenetrable application can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/so24-9dz-bakkavor-foods-limited-environmental-permit-application-advertisement This application is important to the river and the environment and raises many questions, some of which are listed below; Is the quality of the river Itchen important? YES. It is protected by being in a Site Special Scientific Interest and has the highest European rating as a Special Area of Conservation. Has the Environment Agency, charged with protection of this pristine and iconic river, been successful over the last twenty years? NO. Alresford Pond is now full of man made chemicals and the Upper Itchen fails water quality objectives under the Water Framework Directive and falls short of conservation objectives under the EU Habitats Directive. How does the Upper Itchen compare with other rivers? VERY BADLY. Directly comparable sampling has shown that the Upper Itchen carries about 5% of the shrimp population in the upper river Meon which has no washing plant. This is indicative of what is happening to all fly and bug life in the Itchen. Is the water quality in the Itchen improving? There is NO EVIDENCE that it is and much evidence of a thirty year uninterrupted decline. Does polluting the river matter? YES. It matters to all aquatic life from sticklebacks to trout and much bird life from king fishers to swifts. Does chlorine discharged from the factory dissipate? YES after years if discontinued. If this licence renewal is refused is there an alternative? YES. The factory should connect to the sewer for all contaminated water. Has the Environment Agency required any other company to do this? YES. The salad washing plant at St Mary Bourne was obliged to make this connection years ago despite the Bourne not having the environmental protection of the Itchen.. Can the company afford the cost of making the connection? YES. The owners Bakkovor, a multinational company, has an income of £1.7billion a year. If the contaminated factory discharge went to the sewer would it resolve the river’s pollution problem? Probably not but it would be a first step. IF YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS LICENCE SHOULD NOT BE ISSUED BY THE ENVIRONMENT AGENCY YOU SHOULD WRITE TO: ENVIRONMENT AGENCY, Permitting and Support Centre, WQ Team, Quadrant 2, 99 Parkway Avenue, SHEFFIELD , S9 4WF Although not directly relevant to this licence you might also ask yourself whether you think that the pesticides, insecticides, fertilizer, soil or whatever, should not be washed off these salad vegetables in the various countries of their origin rather than trucked or flown and trucked to Alresford to be washed into the pure spring water of the River Itchen.