Energy Saving Measures
Posted by Dawn Primarolo, MP for Bristol South, at 14:19, Mon 22 September 2008:
ENERGY SAVING MEASURES
The Prime Minister has announced a range of measures to help people with their fuel bills this winter. Global oil prices have been particularly high recently, as demand grows worldwide. The package of measures, worth nearly £1 billion, includes:
· A new £350 million Community Energy Saving Programme which will be launched in around 100 ‘fuel-poor areas’ to go street-by-street through communities offering free and discounted central heating, energy efficiency measures and benefit checks.
· A £74 million increase in the Government’s Warm-Front programme, which offers free central heating and energy efficiency measures, saving eligible households up to £180 a year.
· Cold weather payments – following a prolonged period of particularly cold weather – increase from £8.50 to £25 a week. This is on top of an extra £50 (£100 for the over 80s) alongside the Winter Fuel Payment this year.
· Help towards insulation and a range of energy saving devices available for 11 million households.
Should you want any more information on any of these proposals, please do get in touch.
LLOYDS TSB TAKEOVER OF HBOS
We have seen another difficult fortnight economically, and I am glad that the Government has taken steps to ensure as much stability as possible in these tough times. The practice of ‘short-selling’ on certain shares has been stopped, and the Prime Minister is working to improve the international system of regulating world markets. Locally, many people work for Lloyds TSB and HBOS, and I know that they will have been concerned by last week’s takeover. I do, however, think that the swift action taken prevented far greater damage from occurring. I have written to the Chancellor to ask for his urgent comments on this matter. I will, of course, keep you updated.
WORK CONTINUES AT BRIDGE LEARNING CAMPUS
I spent a fascinating hour or two on the site of Bridge Learning Campus last week. The campus will bring together Hartcliffe Engineering Community College, Teyfant Community School and parts of New Fosseway School and the City of Bristol College onto one site. The completion of work is nearing all the time, and builders will be putting the finishing touches to the school hall so that it’s ready for open evenings in the next few weeks. During my visit, I also spent some time on the current school site to learn about Hartcliffe’s very successful Reading Recovery programme, designed to help students who have had difficulties with literacy at primary school.
VISIT TO ASHTON PARK SCHOOL
Last week, I popped into Ashton Park School to see the launch of the Kenya-Bristol partnership. The Kenyan Olympic team will train in Bristol before the Olympics in London 2012. The Olympics is, of course, about far more than just two weeks of competition, and the partnership will see a range of activities and events. Ashton Park School has been running successful expeditions to Kenya since 2004, and has a twinning arrangement with a school in Kenya. The partnership will also be looking at student exchanges, as well as sporting, cultural and commercial opportunities. The guests of honour at the launch were Kenyan runner Kip Keino and triple-jumper Jonathan Edwards, who have three Olympic gold-medals between them. Some pupils put on a fantastic demonstration at the end of the event, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if we see pupils from our local schools representing Great Britain in 2012.
RECESS ROUND-UP
Along with catching up on letters, emails and telephone calls from my constituency office in Bedminster, I’ve been out and about meeting groups and visiting organisations in the past fortnight. As well as those events I have already mentioned above, I also:
· Visited a ‘Golden Oldies’ session at Withywood. This is a fantastic group, who meet every week to sing along to classic songs. I was even cajoled onto the dance floor for a couple of minutes!
· Helped launch Lifecycle’s new bike repair and recovery shop in Knowle. The project is providing bikes for free to people on low incomes, thanks to the donation of unwanted bikes. The bikes are then inspected, with any faulty parts repaired or replaced. Bikes that are beyond repair are dismantled, with the usable parts reused and everything else recycled. The project is also giving young people the opportunity to gain vocational experience.
· Finished knitting two squares to make up part of Oxfam’s giant blanket. The blanket is designed to raise awareness of the importance of maternal health in the developing world. Oxfam, as always, are doing a fantastic job in pressing for continued international progress to alleviate poverty.
· Opened two new health organisations in the city centre – the BS1 GP surgery and the Bristol Sexual Health Centre.
ANY QUESTIONS?
If you have any queries about these issues, or have a question you would like to ask about anything else, please do not hesitate to get in touch. Just email me on Primarolod@parliament.uk, phone 0117 909 0063 or write to me at PO Box 1002, Bristol, BS99 1WH. Alternatively, for more information on what’s happening in and around Bristol South, you can visit www.bristolsouthlabourparty.org.uk.
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Posted by Pete Ferguson, 14:08, Thu 2 October 2008: (Is this post abusive?) #
ENERGY SAVING MEASURES
Generally accepted by all to be a P in the ocean, cold weather payments that require 7 consecutive days below zero is pathetic, this government knows full well it will hardly ever be paid out on that basis.
The Prime Minister Gordon Brown lied when he said ALL PENSIONERS will receive free home insulation. Or was this yet another of his many incompetent mistakes!
Just released today, figures show that the number of households in fuel poverty in the UK rose to 3.5 million in 2006, an increase of 1 million. The figures include around 2.75 million homes classed as "vulnerable" -containing a child, elderly person or someone with a long-term illness.
After 11 years of Labour Government those figures are a disgrace!