Posts Tagged ‘Councillor’

Wirral Conservative Councillor Cllr Chris Blakeley recently wrote an article on his Blog highlighting another article in the Liverpool Echo revealing how much money Merseyside Local Authorities have spent on employing private detectives to “snoop on the people of Merseyside”, the title of the article on Cllr Blakeley’s Blog "No Hiding Place" sums up perfectly his view on this subject.

Reading the piece in the Echo it becomes clear that Wirral Borough Council spent a mere £2800 investigating injury claims.

This is important because of eye watering insurance excesses, Wirral Borough Council in common with most other large organisations is largely self insured, ie when a claim is lodged against the Council in the majority of cases it is Council Tax Payers who pick up the bill not the Council’s insurers, in fact the money the Council had to put aside to meet claims in 2004/5 was £5.7 Million, which of course impacts on the Council’s ability to deliver front line services such as Social Care

Since 2005 however claims against the Council have been more thoroughly challenged, which is where our private detectives come in. the result of this policy has resulted in over £3.8 Million being made available to invest back into public services such as Social Care. This Document makes a very interesting read.

I think that Cllr Blakeley should make it clear to his constituents and every other Council Tax Payer in Wirral whether he supports Wirral Borough Council’s efforts in reducing spurious claims against Council Tax Payers or does he believe that Council Tax Payers should just pay out millions to everyone who puts a claim in?

Chancellor Alistair Darling today delivered his second Budget, a full transcript can be read here, however the main announcements are listed below

• Supporting people back into work with an extra £1.7 billion in Jobcentre Plus.

• Supporting 18-24 year olds with a guaranteed job, training or work placement for all who reach 12 months unemployment.

• Supporting pensioners with an additional payment alongside the Winter Fuel Payment worth £100 for households with someone aged over 80 and £50 for households with someone aged over 60

• Supporting savers by raising the tax free Individual Saving Accounts (ISAs) limit to over £10,000.

• Supporting families with children by increasing the Child Tax Credit by £20 a year from April 2010.

• Supporting those made redundant by increasing statutory redundancy pay to £380 per week.

• Supporting homeowners with a £600 million funding package to build more homes through unlocking sites currently sitting dormant

• Supporting the housing market by extending the stamp duty holiday to the end of the year for properties under £175,000.

• Supporting business by extending the Business Payment Support Service to help businesses experiencing short-term cash-flow difficulties.

• Supporting the automotive industry by enabling people who scrap vehicles older than ten years to replace them with new vehicles at a discount of £2,000.

The scrappage scheme supporting the automotive industry is particularly welcome here on Merseyside and will benefit the Vauxhall plant in Ellesmere Port and the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Halewood as well as the numerous firms supplying those plants, a similar scheme is operated with great success in Germany.

David Cameron’s Conservatives do nothing but talk Britain down and shockingly some Conservatives even appear to be enjoying the recession.

It is with great pleasure that I report that this evening Councillor Ann McLachlan has been reselected to stand as Bidston St James Ward Labour Parties official candidate for the 2010 local elections.

Ann has been an excellent Councillor and ambassador for Bidston St James Ward and we are confident of her continued success.