Paul Flynn - Read My Day

Pickles populist piffle

 

It’s all pathetic stuff.

Will we have a week of crowd-pleasing stunts by the Tories? The fortnightly bin collections have been a great success. We have had them in Newport for about five years now. In that time I have had one complaint. It was a person who was against the idea before it was introduced.

The fortnightly collection has settled down well, It has helped the environment with a very creditable record of recycling that have been hailed as the best in Wales.

The only opposing voice is the Daily Mail.  Pickles populist piffle deserves the bad planning that his wasteful largesse is offered on the same day as cuts in the Royal Navy. They will regret this idiocy.

 

BBC Wales had been peevishly nit picking from dawn to evening on the 5p charge for plastic bags. They seem to have missed the point that is brave pioneering in the UK by the Welsh Government. Cheer up, BBC Wales.

 

 

 

Malice killed scheme

 

Malpas Court, Newport West, today celebrated a Labour Government success that has been trampled on by the Coalition Government. Even though Nick Clegg promised he was going to continue with the Future Jobs Fund, he was impotent in any attempt he made to honour his promise.

The Future Jobs Fund created nearly 500 jobs in Newport. Half of those on the scheme found full-time permanent jobs. Another 30% found alternative training schemes. That was one of the best results in Wales.

Today I had the pleasure of welcoming Welsh Government Minister Leighton Andrew
to my constituency. It was a pleasure to congtrtulate him on the Welsh Government's decison to introduce a Welsh Future Jobs Fund.  Today I met many constituents who are still employed in their Future Jobs Fund occupations. Why dump a winning scheme?

The Coalition Government displayed  blind political malice by a Government ignorant of the cost a non-income tax-paying, benefits-receiving unemployed persons.

 

 

EDF rip-off

Greenpeace came out with a startling claim today.

EDF let slip they are gearing up their lobbying machine to ensure that a new £1bn nuclear 'subsidy-on-the-sly' adds to their profits, rather than going to help those struggling to pay their electricity bills.

The introduction of a carbon tax meant to incentivise low-carbon energy projects by taxing gas and coal-fired power has left nuclear in line for a £1bn bonus.

Nuclear power stations do not burn fossil fuels and so are exempt from this new tax on high carbon emissions. However, since gas and coal energy companies will be increasing consumer bills to maintain the same profit margin on the energy they sell, this leaves the door wide open for companies like EDF to increase consumer bills in line with other energy companies thus gaining an additional £1bn pure profit.

Greenpeace have been trying to persuade Labour and the Lib Dems to introduced a tax on this windfall profit which would be used to help those hardest hit by the energy price hikes. Labour's been enthusiastic about the idea and tabled amendments to the budget which didn't pass. Lib Dem MPs initially refused to back calls for a windfall tax, but at its conference last week, the party made a welcome u-turn.

Yesterday, at a packed CBI breakfast fringe meeting at Labour's conference, Greenpeace asked EDF whether they would support or stand in the way of lobbying efforts for a 'windfall tax' that would ensure this £1bn would be used to help the those most vulnerable to energy price hikes. To many people's astonishment Dr Andy Spurr from EDF confirmed in blunt terms that they were planning to lobby against a new windfall tax because they wanted to plough the money back into their own business and increase profits to make their business more financially sustainable.

At a time when half a million more people have been pushed into fuel poverty by recent price hikes and the combined profits of the big six energy companies was £3billion last year, this is hardly the message EDF’s PR department was hoping for!

Greenpeace have been lobbying hard for a 'windfall tax' to prevent this subsidy-on-the-sly. Calling instead for the new revenue to be invested in insulating the homes of the fuel poor - including young children, older people, and single parents as well as a new technology innovation fund to help energy intensive industry lower it's carbon emissions. With Labour and the Lib Dems now supporting our calls, pressure for change is mounting.

It is now time for the Government to stand up for consumers and business - not keep bailing out an ever more expensive nuclear industry by the back door.

 

Blunt-brained moronocracy

'Nobody ever changed things on the basis of consensus.

Or wanting to be liked.

Or not taking risks.

Or keeping your head down.

It's a lesson for me and it's a lesson for my party too.'

Ed's speech did not crackle or fizz. It was not well delivered in the traditions of the actor politicians Blair and Cameron. But Ed said something.

The curse of politics over the past 40 years has been the timidity of cowardly politicians sheltering in the consensus of the soggy middle ground. Jerusalem cannot be built on a marsh. 

Generations of politicians have been hooked up to their daily drip-feed of tabloid adulation. They have been fearful of upsetting the blunt brained moronocracy of the muddled middle, unthinking, superficial, prejudiced and lame.

Some Governments have taken risks that shocked their people. Portugal depenalised drugs in 2001. By 2005 drugs deaths had been halved. Drugs crime and criminal justice costs have plummeted. It could never have been done on the basis of consensus. It was not popular. It was heads-up not down. It was brave. The lesson is that it worked and saved hundreds of lives from misery and death.

Over to you, Ed. I know you understand.

 

Bliss of conference absence

Party conferences are for party members not for backbench MPs.

Tonight I had the bliss of speaking to Newport Trinity Methodist Women's Group. There was a fine turnout of women with a sprinkling of men. They kindly let me talk about the joys of being an MP. There is little in the work of an MP more agreeable than talking to intelligent constituents on the strengths and frailties of politics. Tonight's audience were marvellous, raising serious questions about the bewildering world of politics in 2011.

By a strange coincidence I was introduced with the words of the prayer that is said in Parliament in private before every day's business starts. In my new version of my book 'How to be an MP', I conclude with 20 new nostrums ending with a quote from the prayer that speaks of 'setting aside all prejudices.'

If only.

The words quoted and the final words in my new book are:

"May they never lead the nation wrongly through love of power, desire to please, or unworthy ideals but laying aside all private interests and prejudices keep in mind their responsibility to seek to improve the condition of all mankind."

How to create an IT disaster

 

Laugh or cry?

The coalition are heading for the precipice. In yesterday's blog, I reported the PASC Select Committee report. It was an unanimous warning from the all-party committee that their policies are unworkable.

Tomorrow there is a similar message from another unexpected Tory source. 

"The Daily Telegraph has learnt that Universal Credit — the Government’s answer to simplifying the benefits system — has been moved to the top of George Osborne’s warning list of projects that could fail and threaten the Coalition.

A team of senior Whitehall officials and industry experts has been assigned to investigate the development of the single payment, which is due to replace several different benefits in 2013.

Concerns centre on the ability of HM Revenue and Customs, which will have a central role in delivering Universal Credit, to meet its deadlines. HMRC chiefs are understood to have privately told ministers of their concerns about the timetable.

 

Universal Credit, the brainchild of Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, is the centrepiece of the Government’s welfare reform agenda and is vital to David Cameron’s political and economic strategy. It will replace benefits including Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Housing Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit.

Ministers say a simpler benefits system will help cut down on the £5 billion a year wrongly paid out through fraud and error. Universal Credit is also intended to encourage claimants to work, by allowing them to keep more of their benefits when they start to earn. But Mr Osborne, the Chancellor who is also head of Conservative election strategy, is said to have become concerned about the plans as part of efforts to identify policy that could go wrong and threaten his party’s prospects.

The fears within Whitehall echo alarm already expressed by independent observers. The National Audit Office has warned that the welfare reform programme faces major risks. The chairman of the Commons public accounts committee has called the plan “a train crash waiting to happen”.

The reason for this group worry is the fragility of the information technology.  PASC previous report scream out a warning of the abject failure of IT Government projects. Who now believes in IT?

Only Iain Duncan Smith, it appears. He has a sorry record of failure. What will it be, a u-turn or a car-crash?

 

 

How Coalition will fail

 

Labour members smile sweetly and silently nod. Tory members are jumping up and down in  rage. We all agree that the Coalition Government is set to fail.

This is the state of play on the Public Administration Select Committee (PASC). It's a unanimous report published yesterday called  “Change in Government: the agenda for leadership” (download a PDF of the report).  PASC has been following up the promise made by the Prime Minister to “turn government on its head; taking power away from Whitehall and putting it into the hands of people and communities.”   This involves the  fantasy of the ‘Big Society’ The promise of localism which is really centralisation plus openness and transparency but not where Andy Coulson is concerned. They also promise a  ‘post-bureaucratic age’.  It will appear just after they have created their own new bureaucracies. 

PASC’s chair Bernard Jenkins sums up the Coalitions tasks. 'What exactly is being done to implement this reform?  What objectives are being set?  What organisational changes are being made?  How is the process being led?  How lessons learned are being shared across departments.  Is the civil service workforce engaged in the process of change?  What will be the outcome in say three years’ time? The overall conclusion is stark.  

Unless government can develop and implement a comprehensive plan for cross-departmental reform in Whitehall, the Government's wider ambitions will fail.  As our report points out, we know that the Prime Minister’s Director of Strategy, Steve Hilton, and others at senior levels in the Government, are exasperated by lack of progress and are apparently appalled by the ‘custom and practice’ of Whitehall…. The report also highlights the lack of specialist expertise and other key skills, institutional inertia and complacency which justify the Prime Minister's complaint about "the enemies of enterprise" within Whitehall (which so enraged the Cabinet Secretary)'.

Francis Maude seems content that he is 'doing stuff.' So far nothing works. The best evidence is in the Health Committee's report proving that trying to redesign the engine while the car is running in top gear is impossible. The reform of residential home inspections cut visits by 70%. Having heard all this before from other Governments it's difficult to suppress a yawn. David Blunkett talked of the 'rubber levers' of power. Politicians  decide. The levers are pulled and nothing changes. John Prescott accepts his share of the blame for FiRe exchange debacles but fairly complains that the civil servant responsible forgot to tell him that costs had soared from £100 million to £400 million. Subsequently the Civil Servant was promoted.

PASC has come up with a pious range of recommendations. The Cabinet Office should take on a much stronger coordinating role and should provide vigorous leadership to ensure that every department of state is leading and implementing change effectively.   We don't say how. We have heard it all before. We also call for a 'world class centre of Government headed by someone with the authority to insist on delivery across the Civil Service'.  Who? 

PASC fairly concludes.   "Change must be driven: it will not just happen.  That is how large companies implement change, or change fails'. That is where the Committee is united. We divided on whether the planned changes are desirable. On the planned wrecking of the NHS my money is firmly on inertia to win the day. And a good thing too.

 

Traditionally, the Civil Service has had three core capabilities: advice to Ministers on policy and legislation; management of public services; and, supervision of public bodies. The reform agenda demands a fourth capability: the ability to engage with voluntary and private sector organisations to contract and commission public services.  People in Whitehall with that capability could almost be counted on one hand.  A conscious development programme here is essential.  What concerns us is that in some cases, without a coherent plan,  Departments are not identifying the roles and capabilities required.  So savings programmes are throwing out the good with the bad.

PASC report continues: "Our message to Francis Maude is that he must take a lead on the process of Civil Service reform – and he must have the authority from the Cabinet to take the lead -   or the Government’s reform programme will fail.  However, Francis told us that the last thing the government needs is a new plan or blueprint and that he prefers “doing stuff”.  

I had an exchange with Maude on this point.

 

Paul Flynn: There have been a number of mistakes and apologies and times when you have had to go back. You had the evacuation of British citizens from Libya this week; there was the climbdown on the idiotic idea to sell off the forests; the building schools initiative—another U-turn on that. You have not been in power very long to have had so many humiliating U-turns and now you have got a sort of fire brigade in at 10 Downing Street to avoid these future disasters. Wouldn’t a plan have been possible in the early days to avoid the elephant traps that the Government has fallen into?

Sir Gus O’Donnell: Well, we have had plans and have plans

.Q253 Paul Flynn: What has gone wrong? Why have there been so many U-turns?

Francis Maude: There have not been that many.

Q254 Paul Flynn: Looking back at past Governments—

Francis Maude: We are a Government that does things. You earlier were saying we are doing lots of stuff, in a way that made it sound rather dismissive, but I took it as an immense compliment, actually. If you do a lot of stuff and do a lot of things and you press ahead at speed, as we are doing, is everything going to be perfect? Probably not.

Q255 Paul Flynn: I think experience showed us that doing stuff, major reforms, major reorganisations largely do not work and do not deliver benefits that account for the disorganisation and the chaos of the processes themselves. Generally I take a conservative point of view and you seem to take the revolutionary point of view.

Francis Maude: If I may put it like this, you are taking the reactionary point of view.

Q256 Paul Flynn: Chairman Mao would have been proud of you.

Francis Maude: You are taking the—was it Lord Melbourne who said, “Change? Aren’t things bad enough already?”

Q257 Paul Flynn: Indeed. A very profound comment. 

 

Q241 Paul Flynn: Can I just counter this dastardly suggestion that I am isolated in my wisdom here? I have the might of the Daily Mail behind me; I have Professor Martin Smith, and Nigel Shadbolt, another professor, a member of the Transparency Board, no less, said that “the eagerly awaited comprehensive spending data from the Treasury (COINS) disappointed many—it was hard to fathom and difficult to interpret.” I have the joy of representing the Office of National Statistics and these matters are discussed at great length, and the feeling is that your Government—we come to this later—is running away from the professional standards of statisticians and going into this populist binge of yours with policies that have inaccuracies built into them, where there are no plans and which are bound to end in a car crash.

Francis Maude: Point one: Nigel Shadbolt, who is on my Transparency Board and was at the meeting we had of the board yesterday, strongly supported us putting the data out there. The fact that he says it is imperfect—I completely agree with everything he said. This data is not perfect but it is the data we have, so it is a very quick, simple thing to do, and there was lots of interest for people in combing through it and finding lots of stuff to query.

Q242 Paul Flynn: How are you going to measure whether it is working or not?

Francis Maude: People will tell us.

Q243 Paul Flynn: You have not got anything in place, any mechanism—plan, dare I use the word?

Francis Maude: This craving for plans.

Paul Flynn: Clearly, you have some phobia about plans and accuracy. It is all great stuff; it is all very daring stuff.

Francis Maude: People will tell us. There is a huge community of people who develop applications that use this data in different ways, which exploit it, sometimes for commercial gain, sometimes for social gain, and this is unplanned. This is fundamentally unplanned. This is a market, a mixed ecology, if you prefer that word, where lots of activity is going on—

Q244 Paul Flynn: Chaos.

Francis Maude: No, untidy. Not chaos. But very untidy. There is a difference between statistics and information, and Gus is completely right that the statistical process must be rigorous and accurate to the best extent that it can be. There is a difference between putting data out there and allowing other people, other organisations, to use it in different ways.

Paul Flynn: I think your comments will come back to haunt you in future.

Robert Halfon: Unlike my friend opposite, I am fairly Maoist when it comes to reform of the Civil Service.

 Paul Flynn: Hear, hear, comrade.

 

 

A ball with bells inside

SAINSBURY’S 1 MILLION KIDS CHALLENGE 

 

 

Children at Malpas Court Primary school can have a go at Paralympic sport thanks to Sainsbury’s Newport.

• Sainsbury's Sam presented the school with a Paralympic sports equipment kit so they can take part in the ‘1  Million Kids Challenge’

• Pupils at the school can now try ‘Goalball’, ‘Sitting Volleyball’ and ‘Visually-Impaired Football’ in the run-up to next year’s London 2012  Paralympic Games

• 5 schools have signed up to the challenge in Newport

 It was a great chance for me to see agains many friends among the staff and children. 

The children were sensitive about those who are unable to take part in many sporting activities. The experience of playing football with a ball with bells inside will heighten their appreciation of the problems of otehrs. The headboy and haedgirl at the school found it was more difficult that they thought.

I told the children that in the past those with disabilities had no chance of winning olympic medals. Now they can. It's a joy seeing paralympic athletes getting the attention they merit.

 

 

 



The kit contains equipment for three Paralympic sports for pupils to take part in: ‘Goalball’, ‘Sitting Volleyball’ and ‘Visually-Impaired Football’.

 

 

The Sainsbury’s 1 Million Kids Challenge is a fantastic activity to help raise the profile of next year’s Paralympic Games. It’s great for so many pupils across Newport to have the opportunity to play Paralympic sports and I hope the pupils at Malpas Court Primary school really enjoy taking part in the challenge. 

 

 

Sainsbury’s Newport Store Manager Paul Baldwin said on Friday’s presentation: “Sainsbury’s are proud to be sponsors of the 2012 Paralympic Games and we’re really looking forward to working with Malpas Court Primary school as well as other schools taking part in the 1 Million Kids Challenge in Newport to help them experience a Paralympic sport”.  

Schools across the country were encouraged to sign up to the Challenge between 11^th April and 22^ndJuly. The sign-up process was a huge success with three schools in Newport signed up to the Challenge. Nationwide, 5,726 schools in total have signed up, with 1,948,867 pupils across the country pledged to take part in a Paralympic sport. That’s nearly double the original target of 1 Million kids!

 

 

By taking part in the Challenge, schools including Malpas Court Primary school will also have the chance of winning a fantastic prize - to be involved in the 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay, a key event to launch the Games. The relay takes place next August.

Tesco too

Today it was Tesco's turn to give sports equipment to four Newport Schools.

Clytha, Glasllwch, Maesglas, and  St Michael's received the fotballs etc. from Leroy Robinson the Tesco amn. We were all welcomed with fruit, juice, doughnuts and tea. Mr Robinson explanied the link between Tesco's and the charitable work that the schools are doing.

It's good to see the cooperation between supermarkets and local schools. The children were fascinated with Mr Robinson's account of his early interest in business. He had a paper round when he was eight and he has been working ever since.

It was a great morning..

 

 

 

 

 

Death of a campaigner

Clare Hodges has died. She was a splendid campaigner and sent me this moving letter in 1997. Her real name was Elisabeth Brice. She campaigned under the assumed name to avoid prosecution. She was powerfully persuasive and energetic in spite of the crippling pain of her MS.  Among the other activities of this former TV producer was a translation of Noddy books into Latin. Thanks to her campaigning Sativax is available. It is not natural cannabis but has gone some way to allow cannabinoids to be ingested legally. On one of her visits to the House of Commons Clare brewed her own tea on the Terrace. The staff were puzzled by the little green leaves that were left in her cup. Her eloquent appeal persuaded the Townswomen's Guild and the Belgium Parliament to back her campaign.     This was Elizabeth"s message §: "I discovered I had Multiple Sclerosis ago when I was 25 years old. For several years I was only mildly affected, I carried on working, married and had two children. But slowly my condition became worse, so that now I am constantly uncomfortable and tired; I am visually impaired and cannot sleep, eat or move very well. In some ways it's like having permanent jetlag. The medicines prescribed only gave limited relief and often unacceptable side effects. Over the years I've been given steroids, tranquillisers, pain killers, muscle relaxants and antidepressants. At best they only helped in the short term, and many have intolerable side-effects. My main problem, however, was that, my bladder was in constant spasm, but no prescribed medicines helped me. Multiple Sclerosis (or MS) is a cruel disease. You develop it when you're young and healthy, and slowly but surely you lose all your faculties, abilities and functions. Nowadays you can expect to live your full life span often until you are completely dependent. And of course this is a very depressing prospect. I began to get gloomy and introspective as all the future seemed to hold was deteriorating health and no medicines that really helped. But in 1992 I read n an American journal about how some doctors had observed cannabis can help people with MS. As I am a middle class mother of two young children I had a bit of a problem obtaining cannabis. It was sometimes quite embarrassing asking people, but eventually I found someone who helped me and showed me how to use it. When I did try cannabis, the physical relief was almost immediate. The tension in my spine and bladder was eased, and I slept well. I was comfortable with my body for the first time in years. But, just as important, I felt happy that there was something, after all, that could help me. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted from me. I've been using cannabis now for nine years. There is no doubt that my condition had improved in different ways, I do not have to take as many prescribed medicines. I now eat better, sleep better, and I feel more positive and motivated. Ad my health is more stable I find I can now do simple things that I hadn't been able to do, like go to the shops, or cook my children's dinner after school. Through trial and error I have now established a routine that helps me. I take 9 grams of herbal cannabis per week, drinking it in tea during the day and smoking it at night before I go to bed. I do not smoke it with tobacco but with dried herbs. I've found smoking is the best way of taking it to treat my disease as it is much easier to regulate the dose. The neurologist I see was very much impressed by how much better I was, he put me in touch with two other patients with MS who also used cannabis. When we found out cannabis in tincture form was available on medical prescription in Britain until 1973, we decided to start campaigning to have it restored as a legal medicine. The campaign is called the Alliance for Cannabis Therapeutics or ACT. It's run entirely by patients, and we finance it ourselves. It has involved an enormous amount of work, dealing with thousands of letters from patients, doctors and politicians. We were very involved in the British Medical Association report, were interviewed by the House of Lords select committee, and by two Ministers of Health. We also helped a pharmaceutical company, GW Pharmaceuticals, obtain a licence to grow cannabis for medical research, and clinical trials are now planned. Judging from the large correspondence over the years and from widespread reporting in the press, it reasonable to conclude there are thousands of medical users in Britain. Many patients say cannabis helps them because it not only eases their physical problems, but also improves their mood. Like all diseases, MS affects you both physically and psychologically, and cannabis is the only medicine we've come across which treats the whole condition. This is why many of us feel the research to develop a version of cannabis without the psychoactive effects fundamentally mis-understand how it helps us. The campaign in Britain has now been active for 8 years, and has been very successful. When we started in Britain cannabis was considered as little more than recreational drug, and now, although there is very little new scientific research, it is considered a useful medicine. However, we patients are in exactly the same position as we were 8 years ago. We still have to break the law to get the medicine we need. In a way the situation is almost farcical. While authorities debate earnestly rights and wrongs of medical use of cannabis, patients simply carry on taking it. While government-controlled cannabis is grown for medical research, secretly and with tight security, patients simply carry on growing their own at home. And, worst of all, seriously ill people are regularly taking to court for growing cannabis and regularly acquitted by juries the only thing these trials do is to bring the law into disrepute and cause great distress to ill people. Next week I will be giving evidence at a crown court trial of a woman with MS who grew cannabis at home to treat her condition. So what can be done to escape from this impasse? Both the House of Lords and the Townswomen's Guilds have recommended that we should have more research, but that patients should have more research, but that patients should have legal access to cannabis while research is proceeding. What our patients' campaign suggests as an immediate, simple solution is that any patient who has authorisation from their doctors be allowed to grow up to six plants at home. Very similar legislation to this has recently been passed in Hawaii so there is now a clear example to follow. The next step would be to move it to schedule 2, so doctors can prescribe it on a named patient basis. To conclude, as time goes on, I am becoming more and more disabled, and more frustrated that there's such reluctance to help me and others like me. It's been a big effort for me to come to speak here, but I very much wanted to outline the problem to people who I hope will not just call for me research, but will have the confidence to actually do something to help us now. Thank you. At the time I said in the Commons/ “The recent case on ex-police women forced to buy her medicinal cannabis on the streets from the dealers she once arrested illustrates the absurdity of the current laws. The House of Lords Select Committee on Science, 100 MPs, the Police Foundation and the majority of doctors and the public are in favour of this bill. By a simple change in the law, natural cannabis can be legally available to those suffering from serious ailments. It is indefensible that last September a Chief Constable said he would not arrest someone for smoking cannabis recreationally in the same month a desperately ill woman was dragged through the courts for using it medicinally."

 

Mr. Paul Flynn (Newport, West): Cannabis has been trialled and tested for 5,000 years in every continent by millions of people, and it has not had any serious side effect throughout that period. One hundred Members of Parliament, the majority of the British Medical Association and the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology all agree that natural cannabis should now be used medicinally. Is it not ironic that Clare Hodges, who has gone to the Belgium Parliament and convinced it to change its law in the past three months to allow medicinal cannabis to be prescribed, has to go on the streets of this country to get her own cannabis? She is an MS sufferer. Another MS sufferer was dragged through the courts six months ago. The policy is stupid and cruel.

 

 

SAINSBURY’S 1 MILLION KIDS CHALLENGE 

 

Children at Malpas Court Primary school can have a go at Paralympic sport thanks to Sainsbury’s Newport.

• Colleagues at the store will present the school with a Paralympic sports equipment kit so they can take part in the ‘1  Million Kids Challenge’

• Pupils at the school will be able to try out ‘Goalball’, ‘Sitting Volleyball’ and ‘Visually-Impaired Football’ in the run-up to next year’s London 2012  Paralympic Games

• 5 schools have signed up to the challenge in Newport

 

Pupils at a local school are set to experience three Paralympic sports thanks to their local Sainsbury’s supermarket. The Malpas Court Primary school has signed up to Sainsbury’s ‘1 Million Kids Challenge’, which is designed to encourage young people of all abilities to experience Paralympic sport in the run-up to next year’s London 2012 Paralympic Games.

 

On Thursday 22^nd September at 10am, colleagues from Sainsbury’s Newport will present pupils at the school, situated in Whittle Drive, Newport, with their Paralympic sports kit, to enable them to take part in the Challenge.  The kit contains equipment for three Paralympic sports for pupils to take part in: ‘Goalball’, ‘Sitting Volleyball’ and ‘Visually-Impaired Football’.

 

 

To celebrate the start of the challenge at Malpas Court Primary school, Paul Flynn, local MP for Newport West will also be making a very special visit, to help colleagues from Sainsbury’s Newport present the kit.

Paul Flynn MP said: “The Sainsbury’s 1 Million Kids Challenge is a fantastic activity to help raise the profile of next year’s Paralympic Games. It’s great for so many pupils across Newport to have the opportunity to play Paralympic sports and I hope the pupils at Malpas Court Primary school really enjoy taking part in the challenge”. 

 

Sainsbury’s Newport Store Manager Paul Baldwin said on Friday’s presentation: “Sainsbury’s are proud to be sponsors of the 2012 Paralympic Games and we’re really looking forward to working with Malpas Court Primary school as well as other schools taking part in the 1 Million Kids Challenge in Newport to help them experience a Paralympic sport”.  

Schools across the country were encouraged to sign up to the Challenge between 11^th April and 22^nd July. The sign-up process was a huge success with three schools in Newport signed up to the Challenge. Nationwide, 5,726 schools in total have signed up, with 1,948,867 pupils across the country pledged to take part in a Paralympic sport. That’s nearly double the original target of 1 Million kids!

 

By taking part in the Challenge, schools including Malpas Court Primary school will also have the chance of winning a fantastic prize - to be involved in the 2012 Paralympic Torch Relay, a key event to launch the Games. The relay takes place next August.

 

 

Wikileaks PQ's 'answered'

In October 2010 I tabled 22 written questions to the Ministry of Defence. A holding answer was given on 27th of October (below) to questions tabled last September. Nearly a year later I have received a response.

 

15^th September 2011

Dear Paul,

I undertook to write to you in response to your Parliamentary Questions on 3 November 2010 (Official Report, column 847W- 850W) on Armed Forces Investigations.  I am now in a position to do so.

Let me begin by reiterating that protecting Afghan civilians is among our and ISAF’s top priorities.  There are strict procedures in place to both minimise the risk of casualties occurring and to investigate any incidents that, regrettably, do happen.  Where there are incidents in which civilians have been injured or killed, and UK forces are potentially believed to have been involved, the chain of command conducts an investigation to ensure that Rules of Engagement (ROE) have been complied with and Escalation of Force procedures followed.  If it is suspected that a criminal act has taken place it will be reported to the Service Police for further investigation.

The information disclosed by Wikileaks about each incident came from the Serious Incident Report, which is an initial snapshot of what occurred, often reported in the few moments immediately after an event.  Because of their immediacy to the event these reports do not always have all of the facts and it is for this reason that subsequent, more detailed investigations are conducted to consider all of the relevant information. 

I can confirm that we have located the necessary records to confirm that 11 of the incidents you enquired about were fully investigated by the Chain of Command in theatre.  All the troops involved complied with UK ROE and followed Escalation of Force procedures correctly.  Those incidents were:

Allegation 3         21 October 2007

Allegation 4         25 October 2007

Allegation 5         6 November 2007

Allegation 8         22 October 2008

Allegation 10      29 November 2008

Allegation 12      24 December 2008

Allegation 13      30 December 2008

Allegation 16      27 January 2009

Allegation 18      19 May 2009

Allegation 19      28 May 2009

Allegation 21      10 November 2009

A further five incidents were investigated by the Chain of Command but the reports we have located are incomplete:

Allegation 1         15 November 2006

Allegation 7         14 October 2008

Allegation11       4 December 2008

Allegation 14      3 January 2009

Allegation 17      26 March 2009

We have been unable to confirm whether these reports were not completed properly or simply the wrong version was filed upon return from theatre.  However, they had all found that the troops had not breached UK law or ROE. 

Allegation 2 (dated 4 October 2007) was, as you know, attributed to an unknown patrol.  Despite the extensive searches we have undertaken no further details of this incident have been uncovered.

Allegation 9 (dated 19 November 2008) was investigated by the Chain of Command.  A summary of the investigation report was located in a separate document, which found that the troops involved correctly followed Escalation of Force procedures, but it has not been possible to locate the report itself. 

For two incidents, Allegation 15 (dated 19 January 2009) and Allegation 20 (dated 30 September 2009), the civilian casualties were caused by other ISAF nations, and, in accordance with policies at the time, were not investigated by the UK.  Our policy now states that in such circumstances, where UK troops are involved even if clearly not directly responsible for a civilian casualty, a UK investigation will take place. 

With regard to Allegation 6 (dated 12 March 2008), no investigation took place as there was no indication of civilian casualties.  A possible Afghan National Police casualty was initially reported (as published by Wikileaks) but a few moments later he was confirmed as a UK soldier.  UK helicopters were called in and engaged the enemy.  However, despite The Guardian stating two women and two children were killed, and another child injured, in the incident there is no mention of this in our reports.

None of the incidents were reported to the Service Police for further investigation.

The Permanent Joint Headquarters has completed a review of the policy regarding these incidents to confirm the reporting process and ensure investigations are properly recorded. 

I will not be placing copies of the investigation reports in the Library of the House as their release could prejudice the safety and effectiveness of the Armed Forces.

I hope this response has been helpful. 

Yours sincerely,

Liam

The Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP