Prospective Parliamentary Candidate and local councillor, Antony Wood, took a hands-on approach to crime prevention on Saturday night, walking the beat with Police in Dedworth, part of which is in his Clewer South Ward. The local Councillor joined Officers WPC Christina Beringer and Sergeant Andy Fenton as they dealt with several incidents during the night.
Commenting on reports that the drinks industry will be forced to pay towards policing town centres when 24-hour drinking is introduced,
"The Adult and Community Care Committee kept hearing about poor service caused by staffing problems," County Councillor Diana Smith explained. "So it set up a task group to look at Recruitment and Retention. Proper statistics were hard to come by. We eventually got figures for the reported high vacancy rates in 'front line' teams, from 18% among the essential Home Based Care staff to 31% of highly-skilled Occupational Therapists. We heard of one team of Occupational Therapists entirely consisting of stand-ins. Looked at in purely economic terms, terms the Conservative Executive understands, we found under-staffing led to a big bill for agency staff, over 40% of Surrey's total. The costs in human terms are don't get counted, but they include de facto rationing of care for the people who need it, lack of continuity of care, and stress for staff. Sickness rates are higher among Adults and Community Care staff than in any other Surrey service."
A new independent opinion poll of marginal constituencies, including Mid Sussex, shows Liberal Democrats in a narrow lead over the Conservatives.
A ST Margaret's Hospital worker has spoken out against bus service cutbacks which leave him with a three-mile trek home after work.
Scepticism, bureaucrats, a proposed Constitution, not to mention bendy cucumbers, are all associated with the European Union.