Jo Swinson was featured widely in the media last week, talking about her plan to tackle employers who fail to pay the National Minimum Wage.
With the wider availability of new technology (light emitting diodes or LEDs) it is now becoming feasible to replace the county's street lights. By moving from the types of fluorescent lighting elements (or "lanterns" as they say in the trade) currently used, we will benefit from lower energy costs, greater reliability, simpler administration and more flexible control.
Liberal Democrat County Councillor for Handside & Peartree, Malcolm Cowan has discovered a worrying and startling fact about the implications of the call-in of the New Barnfield incinerator plan by government. The county council have no Plan B as backup if the current plan is thrown out by the inspector, and that they also plan to persist in moving Southfield school this year. If the plan is rejected, the move will have been disruptive and pointless and if approved, it could have been delayed for a year. He says 'It really does look as if the Tory Cabinet is in denial - no plan B means years more uncertainty and extra cost as landfill prices go up. Moving Southfield school this year means a real snub to the children and their parents who have already endured years of uncertainty. It is almost as if they don't believe their plan is going off the rails'.
Figures released by the County Council in January 2013 have revealed that there are just 1200 pre-school places across the entire county, despite a target requirement of 4000 by September 2014. Failure to recruit organisations to provide the places has already lead to the criteria having to be amended. This Tory failure is letting down parents trying to get back to work.
Today Liberal Democrat Education Secretary David Laws has announced plans to support the set-up of a new, independent, professional body - a College of Teaching - to represent and champion high standards in the teaching profession.
Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron writes in the Independent: "In 2003 Britain was led by the Labour Party with Conservative support into a war with Iraq which many people in our country believe was illegal.