Young Labour supported by Anne Snelgrove attended the Swindon College Freshers’ Fair on Wednesday 7th September.

It was a fantastic event and we met some amazing students studying everything from Business Studies to Beauty Therapy and Motor Mechanics  to Childcare.

So many students are worried now more than ever about the loss of EMA and it’s effect on their ability to buy materials (especially for vocational courses) and pay for transport.  With part time jobs in Swindon being so scarce most of the students we spoke to are at a loss as to what the Tory-led government expect them to do in order to stay in education.

We also added many names to Labour’s  Britain’s Lost Talent petition and got some wonderful feedback from students about what matters to them!

Don’t forget to follow Swindon Labour on twitter at twitter.com/swindonlabour or Anne Snegrove at twitter.com/annesnelgrove or find us on facebook at facebook.com/swindonlabour.  You can also see some photo’s from the Freshers’ Fair at flickr.com/swindonlabour

As an ex-teacher I worry hugely about what’s happening to our education system.  Education Secretary Michael Gove is launching a review of the curriculum after previously raising concerns that key areas of knowledge are missing from the current curriculum and what he claims is an  ”overly-prescriptive” system.  The review will look at how the curriculum can be slimmed down, to contain only the “essential knowledge”  that children should acquire, and leave teachers to decide how to teach it.

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Labour has grave concerns about the student fees plans voted through last Thursday.   We have campaigned hard against tripling of the fees cap to £9000, and are disappointed that both the Tory MPs for Swindon voted in favour, despite receiving free university education in their youth.

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We all know that only 27% of pupils who are receiving free school meals get 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including English & Maths which is less than half those pupils that are not. Labour put in place a policy to expand academies and looked carefully at the levels of achievement and raised standards by allowing the school to broaden its curriculum and as long as it included English and Maths, the restrictions on them following the national curriculum were slackened.

In Pinehurst the Labour government working with the council provided funding and the will to build what can only be described a flagship building, this is now working hard to educate children form 0 years to 19 years. This educational freedom that was extended by the last Labour government will go along way in closing the gaps in educational acheivement by different groups.

However “Gung Ho Gove” is determined to rush in and using his “Prussian Railway Timetable” impose so many changes in such a short space of time anyone might think he was indoctrinated in a Soviet Tractor Factory!  Is he is so driven to impress Dave and Gideon that he is as clever as they are, that he is driving a coach and horses right through the middle of common sense with his free schools agenda?

He is going to make it so easy to set up a school that I believe it is an indecent haste, by allowing them to set up in any existing building. This is without planning permission to change its use. Perhaps he was impressed with the film Fugitive and thought to himself I can set a free school up in any gas station, residence, warehouse, farmhouse, hen house, outhouse and doghouse? Yes you may smile but any post office, pub, bank, shop, bingo hall, village hall, community centre, can also qualify. The government speaks much of localism and yet in this case is prepared to avoid any local engagement and marginalise local democracy by closing the door on a communities involvement with planning of any school in their midst.

This is important as the environment or location of any of the above buildings may have impacts on the pupils and local residents. It may be in an unsuitable location due to traffic volume and road danger, for example the school may not be required to carry out a traffic impact assessment. This omission in itself can put pupils and visitors as well as local residents at risk.

If free schools are to be located within our community and aren’t to be resisted from day one by concerned local people. Gove must surely realise that it is important that any free schools are good neighbours and contribute positively to the environment and community in which they are situated? The argument about the merits of free schools is only just beginning, but the desire that Gove has; is to parachute into any location a school that can occupy any building. Is from experience in danger of meeting with resistance from local people and politicians alike who are concerned for the well being of the whole community.

David Miliband gave a stirring talk to more than 200 Labour supporters in the Punjabi Community Centre, Kembry Street last night (18th August).  He highlighted the damage caused by only 100 days of Tory govermnent – and it is a Tory government since the fig leaf of the LibDems have allowed them to be more reactionary even than Margaret Thatcher.

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Wow, Tuesday 20th was a big day:  the Prime Minister Gordon Brown came to Swindon with his wife Sarah and Ed Milliband also.

It was good to meet them and discuss some of the issues affecting the area.  Anne Snelgrove the South Swindon candidate was his PPS and knows him well.  It was great to have a tour of the Drove Peoples Campus with the Head-teacher and see for ourselves the difference Labour’s investment has made to the community.

Drove is not just a primary school, the staff, led by Nick Capstick, really push the envelope when it comes to running the school and trying out new things. The Campus also offers adult learning courses, health groups, family groups and even has its own radio show.

Anne and I welcomed Gordon before taking him on a tour of the Campus. We also met with around 70 people in the main hall to discuss issues ranging from healthcare in Swindon to citizenship.  It was very interesting to hear real people putting their questions to Gordon, Anne and I.

What Drove shows is that education in Swindon really has been revolutionised over the past 13 years. Not only have many schools been rebuilt or are completely new, but importantly, the funding per pupil has increased by a life-changing £1,000+. With this investment exam results have improved and we can be proud of our children and teachers that have worked so hard.

Labour will continue to invest in children’s education with things like one-to-one tuition for primary school pupils who need help to catch-up, raising the education leaving age to 18, and protecting Sure Start Centres.

What Gordon made absolutely clear was that Swindon’s economy is dependent upon securing the recovery. To risk it all by cutting support as the Tories want to, would send Swindon back and risk thousands of jobs. The choice is clear, Gordon Brown who handled the economic crisis and is securing the recovery and the Tories who have called it wrong throughout the recession and are wrong now on the recovery.

Victor Agarwal, Labour Candidate, N Swindon.

Today while campaigning in Moredon I met a Sun reader who repeated the things his paper is saying constantly about Labour.   They attack on 5 main fronts:  schools (‘standards are plummeting‘),  health (‘billions spend on clipboard-ticking managers’),  immigration (‘illegal migrants and bogus assylum seekers pour in’), benefits are too high (‘creating a huge idle underclass for whom work is a dirty word‘) and crime (‘smirking criminals routinely walk free in the name of political correctness‘).

OK – LETS LOOK AT THE FACTS… and there are a lot of them…

£25m Government investment in Swindon Academy

Schools

• Spending per pupil in frontline schools spending has risen from an average of £2,970 in 1997/98 to £6,130 in 2009/10 –  more than doubling in REAL terms.
• There are 42,400 extra teachers and 212,000 more support staff than in 1997 – including an extra 123,100 teaching assistants.
• We have some of the best ever school results at every age;
• At primary school the percentage of pupils achieving level 4 (the expected level) or above in 2009 was in English 80 per cent compared with 63 per cent in 1997,  in Maths 79 per cent compared with and 62 per cent in 1997,  and in Science 88 per cent compared with 69 per cent in 1997.
• Around 100,000 more children now leave primary school secure in the basics than in 1997.
• 64.8 per cent of pupils achieved 5 or more grades A*-C at GCSE or equivalent – an increase of 19.7 percentage points since 1997. Over 129,000 more pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE or equivalent than did so in 1997.
• 47.6 per cent of pupils achieved 5 or more grades A*-C including English and mathematics at GCSE or equivalent – an increase of 1.3 per cent percentage points from 2006/07.
• This means just over 78,000 more pupils achieved 5 or more A*-C grades at GCSE including English and maths than in 1997.
• In 1997 half of all schools did not achieve 30 per cent of pupils leaving with five A*-Cs at GCSE, including English and maths now it is just 1 in 12. We are investing £400m in our National Challenge to ensure that every school will have at least 30 per cent by 2011.
• Record numbers of young people are achieving their goal of going to university, 392,000 more than in 1997 – now over 2 million.
• Ten years ago there were no Sure Start centres at all. Now there are now 3,500 round the country, benefitting more than 2.7 million families. Nine out of ten parents using children’s centres are happy with the services they receive.
• In 1997 there was no free childcare entitlement. Today all 3 and 4 year olds have at least 12.5 hours and all will have 15 from this September.

Health

£100m Government investment in the Great Western Hospital

• 89,000 more nurses and 44,000 more doctors in the NHS since 1997 have helped to drive up standards and drive down waits.
• Waiting lists have fallen by over 500,000 and waiting times are now at their lowest level since records began.
• In 1997 284 000 patients waited more than 6 months for an operation. The figure today is almost zero.
• 3 million more operations are carried out each year than in 1997.
• The premature mortality rate for cancer is the lowest ever recorded, saving nearly 9,000 lives in 2006 compared to 1996.
• Premature mortality from cardiovascular diseases has dropped by more than 40 per cent since 1996, saving nearly 34,000 lives a year.
• The NHS has delivered the largest hospital building programme in its history, with 118 new hospital schemes opened and a further 18 under construction.
• Created new services to provide patients with greater convenience including around 100 new walk-in centres and over 750 one-stop primary care centre.

Crime

• Policing Teams for every community in England and Wales committed to spending 80 per cent of their time on the beat or visibly working in their community.
• 3,600 Neighbourhood Policing Teams now in every area of England and Wales through the Policing Pledge which sets out clear minimum standards for what people can expect from their local police.
• A new guarantee on response times – including 24 hours for non-emergencies.
• Overall crime down by more than a third since 1997 (that’s 6 million fewer crimes each year) – almost 1 million fewer homes burgled; and almost 1 and a half million fewer violent crimes.
• Wiltshire is the safest authority in England for serious violent crime – and close to the safest for many other types of crime.
• The risk of being a victim of crime today is the lowest since the British Crime Survey began in 1981. Crime did not rise in the recession – unlike the 1980s and 90s.
• Knife crime is falling, homicides are at their lowest level for a decade and there were fewer gun killings last year than at any time in the last 20 years.
• Highest use in Europe of DNA databases and CCTV networks.
• Anti-social behaviour tackled through ASBOS and new powers for police and local-authorities to deal with alcohol-related disorder.
• Family Intervention Programmes and new powers to reduce antisocial behaviour and other problems including drugs and alcohol, truancy, and domestic violence – which are expanding to reach every problem family in the country over the next 5 years.
• Communities empowered to address the problems that affect them, giving them more information and a greater say in decisions on crime, policing and justice and other factors that affect their quality of life.
• A new mandatory code for alcohol retailers banning the most irresponsible promotions like “drink all you can for a fiver” or “girls drink free” and regulations to prevent a persistent offender from drinking in public, going to a particular pub, club or off licence, or to certain parts of town at night.
• A ‘yellow card, red card’ scheme to shut down retailers found persistently selling to those under 18 – as well as supporting initiatives by responsible retailers like Think 21.
• A new right for communities to petition the local authority to end twenty four hour licensing where such problems arise.
• 26,000 more prison places since 1997, with plans for 96,000 places by  2014.
• Reducing the number of women and the mentally ill in prison, transferring more foreign prisoners to EU jails, and new approaches to cut reoffending.
• ‘Community Payback’ – with hard work for several hours a day not a few hours a month, in public wearing orange jackets, paying back through useful service to the communities they have harmed.
• National Victims’ Service – guaranteeing all victims of crime and anti-social behaviour more intensive support, care and attention, including seven days a week cover; and a named, dedicated worker offering one-to-one support, staying with them through the trial and beyond.

Immigration

Chicken Tikka Massala - Britain's national dish?

• Net inward migration to Britain as measured by the Office for National Statistics has fallen for the last three years.
• Delivering the biggest changes to our immigration, citizenship and border security systems for decades – with the  new Australian-style points-based immigration system which allows us to be more selective so that only those with the skills that we need to build a stronger economy can come here, and to ensure that as growth returns, we will see rising levels of employment, skills and wages not more immigration.
• 100% biometric visas, and ID cards for foreign nationals – with 170,000 already issued.
• Electronic border controls will count people in and out of the country by the end of 2010 (the Tories abolished all counting of this under Thatcher).
• Introducing a points-based system for permanent residence and citizenship clearly spelling out the rights and obligations of legal migrants to Britain, as well as the requirements for earning British citizenship (including passing exams in English, paying tax and obeying the law).
• The Migration Impact Fund, paid for by contributions from migrants has over the last two years has contributed £70 million to services in local areas experiencing rapid population change.
• Reforms to housing allocation policy, empowering local authorities to give greater priority to local people, and to those who have spent a long time on the waiting list.
• Chicken Tikka Masala is recognised as Britain’s most popular dish.

Benefits & Employment

New JobCentre Plus in Swindon

• Instead of doing nothing when the recession hit – Labour chose to act, with job-boosting measures and extra help for families on middle and modest incomes, including tax cuts, increased child benefit and tax credits, and expanded support for the unemployed.
• We also provided support to keep businesses afloat through a range of different schemes. Government support to help people move back into work have helped over 4 million people to leave unemployment benefit since December 2008.
• We have committed to halving the deficit by 2014 and are introducing a new 50p rate of tax for income over £150,000. But we will also continue to support families through these difficult times.
• We are giving a two-year Stamp Duty holiday for first-time buyers on residential property transactions up to £250,000 – funded by a new 5 per cent rate of stamp duty for transactions over £1 million from April 2011 (the opposite of what the Tories plan).
• Consumers will be given a new right to a basic bank account, and to encourage saving we will launch the Saving Gateway, where the Government adds 50 pence for each £1 saved by working age people on low incomes, in July 2010.
• A free nursery place is guaranteed for every 3 and 4 year old.  3,500 Sure Start Children’s Centres have been opened, reaching more than 2 million children and their families.  We are committed to eradicating child poverty by 2020, with a particular focus on reducing poverty amongst the youngest children and for working families.
• New mums now have 9 months paid maternity leave and maternity pay is up to £123 a week, while all dads now have the right to paternity leave. Parents and carers also have the right to request flexible working.
• We will increase the child element of the Child Tax Credit of £4 per week for families with children aged 1 and 2 years old from April 2012. From April 2010, there will be additional annual payments of £100 into the Child Trust Fund accounts of disabled children.  Severely disabled children will receive £200 per year. Over 4.8 million Child Trust Funds have been started.
• Labour has doubled the number of registered childcare places to more than 1.3 million, one for every four children under eight years old. The Working Tax Credit provides help with childcare, up to a maximum eligible amount of £300 per week (£175 per week for one child).
• We are guaranteeing a job, training or college place to every 18-24 year old out of work for more than six months – we do not wish to see the patterns of past recessions repeated where temporary job losses led to whole communities becoming long-term unemployed.
• We will continue to help those who have lost a job or income stay in their homes, for example, helping them with interest payments or through the Homeowners’ Mortgage Support scheme, which helps them reduce and defer mortgage payments until their financial circumstances improve. The decisions we have taken on mortgage protection and employment support have been welcomed by leading charities such as Shelter as necessary steps in the face of recession.
• We want to help people get on the housing ladder. So we are doubling the stamp duty limit for first time buyers from £125,000 to £250,000, for this year and next, funded by an increase on the most expensive properties.
• The Government will extend free school meals to primary school pupils in low income working families in England from September 2010. The Sure Start programme has been expanded – there is now a Sure Start for every area, 3,500 in total.
• As a result of the tax credit system, 4 in 10 families – over 3 million families – now pay no net tax.