Helen Jones

Labour Party | Warrington North

INCREASES IN RESOURCES

The recent Spending Review announced by Chancellor Gordon Brown saw increases in resources for two areas on which I have campaigned for sometime. 

I have written in this column before about the successful police Community Action Teams and the Community Safety Officers.  Having joined CSO Barry Flynn on his beat in Birchwood I know that these initiatives are proving invaluable in making our streets safer and tackling anti-social behaviour which plagues too many communities.  Needless to say I was very pleased to hear the Chancellor give a commitment to increase the numbers of CSOs and to increase police numbers. 

The second area in which I have been particularly involved is in lobbying for more children’s centres and continuing the drive to make our education system better and better.  The excellent initiative at St Stephen’s in Sandy Lane,  which will cater for more than 900 children,  is tackling disadvantage at its roots and ensures that children can be given the best possible start in life and parents have access to good,  affordable child care.    We know that investment in early years results in children having fewer problems at school and achieving more.  I want every community in Warrington to have its own children’s centre.  The Chancellor announced funding for 2,500 new children’s centres which was tremendous news.  In addition plans to extend the successful Bookstart scheme which provides free books for youngsters and finance to ensure that by 2008 there will be an additional 120,000 more childcare places were also announced.

I try to visit every school in my constituency at least once in each Parliament and it is pleasing to hear directly from heads and teachers just how much they have welcomed the huge investment which has been made in our schools over the last seven years.  In 1997 school capital investment was £700 million.  By 2005-06 it will be over £5 billion.  The increase in capital investment from 1998 to 2003 in Warrington has been over £5.5 million.  There are now 28,000 more teachers than there were seven years ago and they are assisted by over 105,000 more support staff.  Indeed our teachers are rated,  by OFSTED, as the best qualified ever and our schools and classrooms are getting better.  The Government intends that by 2015 every single secondary school in the country will be rebuilt or refurbished.

Schools of the future will be a world away from the schools of the past and teachers and parents tell me how much investment in new technology can transform teaching in the classroom.  Making sure our schools have new computers,  new science equipment and more resources is part of making sure our children have a better education.  Every classroom in every school will have an interactive ‘whiteboard’ replacement for blackboards which will allow teachers to work with pupils to surf the net,  download information and develop presentations.

There is still much to be done but the Chancellor’s commitment to fighting crime and improving our schools and pre-school provision is something I very much welcome.

I am also currently seeking the views of my constituents on the issue of identity cards and would welcome any comments people have on the issue.  The Government is running a consultation and any comments  I receive I will be passing on to the Home Secretary.  

• Do people think National Identity cards are a good idea?
• Do people think they should be voluntary ort compulsory?
• Do people think ID cards should be used to secure public services?
• Do people think they would make our society safer without infringing privacy?

You can contact Helen Jones MP –

• by phone on 01925 232 480
• by fax on 01925 232 239
• by post to Gilbert Wakefield House,  67 Bewsey Street,  Warrington WA2 7JQ or the House of Commons,  Westminster,  London SW1A 0AA
• by e-mail at jonesh@parliament.uk