21/02/2010 by Steve Barclay.

Out on Saturday night in Wisbech at a quiz organised by our Conservative Future team, and it has left me feeling really upbeat.  They organised the whole event, with a mix of regular quiz questions, fun ad hoc challenges, and hot two course meal.   It was an excellent night.  There was a real buzz in the room, and a wide mix of ages from late teens to too old to ask.  If young people organising such events and working together is the future of our party locally, then it is brighter than I could have hoped.

After my abject failure at answering questions at the last quiz I attended organised by Wisbech County Councillor Steve Tierney, at least this time I managed to get a few questions right.  Unfortunately my effors at one of the challenges - building a bridge from straws and paper - will take some living down.  The bridge lasted all of one second under the weight test (the worst of the lot!), and was accompanied by a chorus of don’t give up the day job!  Well done to all the CF team on a great job last night.

Friday night was a different type of evening, with a trip out to Chatteris Working Men’s Club for the Mayors Ball.  Cllr Peter and Angela Murphy were perfect hosts, and it was particularly pleasing to see so many other Mayors attending from both within and outside North East Cambridgeshire.  It reminded me of how many charity evenings local mayors support across Cambridgeshire, and what a valued role they play in our civic life.

Posted in Conservative Future, Chatteris, Wisbech | No Comments »

17/02/2010 by Steve Barclay.

The key issue at the forthcoming General Election will be the economy.  So I am fortunate this week to be able to hear from a wide range of figures.

The week started with a breakfast on Monday with the Lord Mayor of London at Mansion House.  Tuesday was the chance to attend a lecture by Irwin Seltzer, the economist and Sunday Times columnist.  This was followed by dinner with Irwin and a number of economic journalists and MPs.  Wednesday was a meeting with rural businesses, and this evening I am off to our Group Council meeting in Fenland to hear from councillors about local businesses within the constituency.  

Tomorrow I have one of my regular coffee clusters, this time in Leverington to listen to the impact of the recession on this area of the constituency, and in the evening the Chatteris Mayor’s Ball.  Saturday will be canvassing in Chatteris during the day to hear from voters, and in the evening meeting up with association members at our quiz, organised by Conservative Future.

Reading papers and surfing the web are all well and good, but speaking with a wide range of people provides a better understanding of the reality on the ground.  It should be an interesting week-end.

Pictured is Irwin Seltzer speaking at the Politea lecture

Posted in Leverington, General Election, Chatteris | No Comments »

12/02/2010 by Steve Barclay.

Three different people have mentioned over the last few days problems with local bus service.  Two waited for a bus which just never turned up, and tell me this is not the first time.  The third is concerned that the service between Chatteris and Huntingdon will no longer change at Warboys but take a longer route.  There are also issues with the lack of service back from Cambridge to Chatteris or Wisbech, with the last bus setting off far too early. 

If you have had any problems with the bus service please let me know and I will follow it up.

Posted in Public Transport, Huntingdon, Chatteris, Wisbech | No Comments »

08/01/2010 by Steve Barclay.

A sad event today, attending the funeral of well known Chatteris councillor Ray German, where I was also representing our MP Malcolm Moss.  Ray was a hugely respected and popular senior councillor, working over the years at town, district and county level.

Ray was born in Sawtry and spent his entire life in the Fens, with the only gap being to serve with distinction in the RAF as a rear gunner during the second world war.  Rear gunner was one of the most dangerous jobs of all, with a life expectancy of just four weeks.  Having left school at 14, Ray did extra study in order to be able to sign up and serve his country as soon as he turned 18.

There was a large attendance in church, reflecting the affection and high esteem in which Ray was held locally.  It was a moving service, especially with the presence of the British Legion.  Ray was a real gentleman, and it was fascinating to hear some early stories of Ray’s life on the family farm in the Fens in the 1920s, when Ray’s love of flying was triggered by a airship flying over and an early bi-plane landing on the family farm. 

Another story told was about how as an 8 year old he would ride the huge farm shire house to the blacksmith, being lifted up on to it at one end by his father and off by the blacksmith at the other - what a contrast with health and safety regulations today and quite a responsbility at such a young age. 

At the reception at the Conservative Club, was amazed to hear that the Lib Dems have already put out election literature before Ray’s funeral has been held.  I hope a lesson is learnt.  This has never happened before in my experience and never should again.

Afterwards pop in to the old bakery in Chatteris with my election agent Debbie Clark, then head back to the association office for the afternoon to catch up on recent constituency issues which have been raised over the festive break.

Posted in Cllr Ray German, Chatteris | No Comments »

30/12/2009 by Steve Barclay.

How can we have legislation that deters shopkeepers and residents from being responsible and clearing their local pavements of ice?  I raised this last February after being told by a shop keeper in Chatteris that they used to clear the pavement in front of their shop, but could no longer risk doing so.  Now the national newspapers are up in arms about it, but it is old news. 

Health and safety legilislation currently means responsible shopkeepers clearing the pavement in front of their shop risk being sued if someone falls.  The sheer folly of this is starkly clear with the current harsh weather.  Pavements are particularly dangerous.  We should have agreements with our local farmers who are well placed with tractors to get out and help on our roads and pavements, and earn some money for doing so at a time when working on the farm tends to be quieter.

Bizarrely, the Health and Safety press spokesman has just said that the legislation is necessary because if someone used water to clear a pavement and it froze, then they would need to be liable and open to being sued.  What planet are they on.  Do they really think shop keepers will go out and put water on the pavement in the middle of winter?

Often people raise issues with me which are not strictly for Parliament, but more for the district or county councils to tackle.  This time an issue people often think is for the county council, clearing roads and pavements, actually needs Parliamentary action.  Whilst county council highways departments are responsible for local roads, Parliament needs to act to set them, local residents and businesses free from health and safety legislation preventing them clearing ice.  They should not have to fight the weather constrained by laws which are counter productive.

On a related note, a thank you to all the staff of the Cambridgeshire Highways Department who have been working extra hours recently.  The gritters are out in very difficult circumstances and with so many Fen roads next to waterways and at high risk of accidents, the extra hours the gritters are putting in is saving lives.

Posted in Health & Safety, Chatteris | No Comments »

02/11/2009 by Steve Barclay.

People sometimes say that they only hear from politicians at election time.  I do not want this said in North East Cambridgeshire.  That is why we have been running our regular programme of coffee meetings across the constituency on Saturdays, chatting with a wide range of residents about the issues that matter to them.  It is why after being selected we put out 30,000 introductory leaflets.  It is also why a wide variety of local issues have been followed up over recent months, whether across the constituency on issues like the Fenland Road Safety Campaign and the lack of access to speech therapy, or on issues impacting specific areas - flooding in  Whittlesey and Coates, paramedic cover in Littleport, tourism in Wisbech, vandalism and anti-social behaviour in March, and leisure in Chatteris to name just a few.

This week I thought it would be helpful to report back on the last 18 months since being selected at the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate.  So we are putting out 48,000 newspapers, in five local editions to reflect the different issues impacting in different towns.  I still have a full time job which pays the bills so politics has to fit around this in my spare time in evenings and week-ends.  Hopefully the newspaper will be of interest to you, and shows that we are working hard all year round in North East Cambridgeshire.

To read the newspaper please click on the link to the relevant edition for you:

Wisbech
March
Chatteris
Whittlesey
East Cambridgeshire

This week-end I will be speaking at the NFU dinner at Chatteris on Friday evening, holding a coffee meeting on Saturday in Wisbech, and laying the remembrance wreath on behalf of Malcolm Moss MP in both Whttlesey and March on Sunday.

I hope the Prime Minister will reflect, as he stands before the cenotaph on Sunday, on the shameful news just from the last 7 days.  His proposed £20 million Territorial Army cuts which even his own backbench MPs described as shameful, the leaked email from Lt Colonel Rupert Throneloe warning that the lack of helicopters was forcing him to take unnecessary road trips risking lives (which tragically included his own and a teenage private after £2.4 billion was cut in the helicopter budget in 2004 by Gordon Brown), the inquest into the 14 deaths in the faulty Nimrod showing a catalogue of errors, and the 7 deaths from ignoring safety warnings behind the fatal helicopter collision in Iraq.  Tony Blair was quick to send the army to war but Gordon Brown has always refused to pay the costs.  Lives have been lost as a result.  I hope he reflects on this on Sunday. Make do and mend is not an adequate strategy for our armed forces.

Posted in March, Chatteris, Whittlesey, Wisbech | No Comments »

23/09/2009 by Steve Barclay.

A striking feature of a number of public services is how little information there is in the public domain.  Those using a service, and taxpayers paying the bill, have few facts available to assess the quality of the service provided.  After being contacted by a constituent regarding the lack of speech therapy for his child, I have tried to bring a little transparency below on what is happening on this locally.

The Government‘s target is 18 weeks between a referral from a GP to the first treatment.  The longest a child in Cambridgeshire has currently been waiting is 90 weeks for their first speech therapy session.  The average time spent on the waiting list across Cambridgeshire is 30 weeks, three months over the Government‘s target.  60% of children in Cambridgeshire have been on the waiting list longer than the national target. 

A full time speech therapist works 36 or 37 hours a week, of which 80% of their time is clinical including travel time to schools, with 20% involving administration.  There are currently around 42 fully qualified speech therapists in Cambridgeshire, with up to 3,500 children waiting or accessing the speech therapy service.  It is a heavy case load per therapist, with only so many hours for one to one sessions.  The risk is that as resource is moved to bring the waiting list down there will be even less scope for one to one therapy or time with a fully qualified therapist. 

Within North East Cambs, there is one qualified speech therapist covering March and Chatteris, supported by a specialist one day a week and a further therapist 2 days a week.  They have to cover 83 children needing support, with a further 39 children on the waiting list.  34 children in March and Chatteris have been waiting longer than the Government target of 18 weeks from GP referral to their first therapy session.

In Wisbech, there is a full time specialist and a full time assistant, with a further part time therapist.  They have to cover 112 children needing treatment, with a further 30 on the waiting list, of which 9 children in Wisbech have been waiting longer than the Government target.

Despite these pressures on front line services, there is some good news.  Whilst 700 children in Cambridgeshire are currently on the waiting list, last year it was 1,300!  How many people locally were aware last year that 1,300 children were waiting for speech therapy? What does that say about transparency around the delivery of public services?  Such delays matter - not least when a child starts school and is struggling to speak with their teachers and classmates.

Despite as a country now spending over £100 billion a year on the NHS, it is interesting how today many children no longer have access to the benefit of the one to one sessions that used to be the norm.  Instead speech therapy is often delivered via Teaching Assistants who complete a 10 week course with an hour‘s training plus homework, a visit from a speech therapist once a term or every half term, or through work with a therapist in group sessions. I have not yet seen any data on whether a much lower percentage now gain access to one to one treatment with a fully qualified therapist, but the large demand for speech therapy suggests this may be the case. That is not to say that in some cases a group session or the support of a teacher assistant is not sufficient, but one to one support will often be preferred by parents.

It is good news that the waiting list across Cambridgeshire, and locally, has come down over the last year.  Extra funding has helped, although it has not adequately closed the gap with demand.  The average wait before the first treatment of 30 weeks is still far above the Government target and up to 90 weeks in the worst case.  Problems clearly remain in delivery of speech therapy across Cambridgeshire.

As for the case raised with me by the concerned constituent, the good news is that this has now been investigated.  Confirmation has been received today that he does qualify for one to one speech therapy sessions.  There is no explanation as to why despite the clinical need this treatment was not provided at all last year, other than that the service moved on 1^st Sept 2009 from Peterborough to Cambridge.  Moving forward he will now receive the skilled support of a speech therapist attending his school, alongside the attention of a much valued teaching assistant.  It will make a real difference.

More generally, this highlights the challenge we face across the public sector as all political parties now acknowledge the need for significant spending cuts.  The Conservative Party has made it clear that we will increase NHS spending. However there will also be more demand, not least from an older population and expensive new treatments.  The current Government has spent billions which has not been matched by delivery, as shown locally with issues like speech therapy.  Greater transparency is needed to ensure money gets to the front line and is not wasted.  More speech therapists in Fenland and East Cambs are certainly needed, and an NHS budget of over £100 billion should be delivering them. 

Posted in Speech Therapy, NHS, March, Chatteris, Wisbech | No Comments »

28/06/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Knights jousting in full armour, medieval musicians, and glasses of mead provided the backdrop to a fun medieval dinner in Chatteris. The medieval fayre was a great success last year (unlike my attempts at archery with the authentic long bow) and this year the week-end included a medieval dinner with a host of characters in medieval dress. Sat next to Chatteris Mayor Peter Murphy and Cllr Alan Melton meant plenty of great anecdotes over dinner as we enjoyed the sights and sounds of the medieval games. A fun evening and am sure now a fixture in the Chatteris diary.

Take time off on Saturday afternoon to watch the key 2nd British Lions rugby test against South Africa in The Griffin in March. Great match and the Lions were hard done by losing 28 - 25 with the last kick of the match. Simon Shaw was outstanding. Then on Saturday it was dinner of a different kind as Karen and I headed over to the East of England Showground in Peterborough for an NFU dinner. A chance to catch up on the farming news amongst friends, although conversation frequently returns to the rugby.

Sunday meet up in Wisbech for lunch at a friend’s house before heading over to Elm to enjoy a local garden opened up especially for the week-end to raise money for Parkinson’s. A gorgeous garden, and tea and cake on the lawn listening to local singers are a perfect way to round off the week-end.

Posted in Elm, Chatteris, Wisbech | No Comments »

05/07/2008 by Steve Barclay.

A week-end of carnivals and festivals as I headed first to Doddington.  Even at 8.30am the bbqs were up and running with the most wonderful smell of bacon providing too much temptation. I succumbed to a second breakfast in the form of a bacon bap.

Outside the church there was an array of floats in lots of different vibrant colours.  You could sense the urgency as last minute touches were applied before the judges arrived.  A wonderful sight was the wide range of scarecrows throughout the village, as quite a few people had entered the carnival competition for the best scarecrow.  I don’t think it won but a particular favourite of mine was the Cadbury’s gorilla playing the drums.  Together with the bunting and flags it all created the perfect carnival feel.  The weather did not prevent 18 floats from taking part – a great feat for a village the size of Doddington.  

Then I headed over to Chatteris in the afternoon where fortunately the weather had improved in time for the Chatteris Medieval Festival.  This had displays of archery, groups of fighting knights an armour having pitched battles, birds of prey, and not to mention a hog roast and traditional beer tent.  So there was no shortage of entertainment to keep all ages entertained.  More about the medieval festival can be found in the Cambs Times.  It’s fair to say my attempts at firing a tradition long bow were not quite up to scratch – I doubt the French would have been too concerned at such efforts on the fields of Agincourt.

Then on Wednesday, a change of scene as I head to the Carlton Club in London for lunch with our Association Patrons and guest speaker Michael Gove MP.  Michael is Shadow Secretary of State for Education and one of the key figures within the new Conservative Party.  Sitting next to Michael provides a great opportunity to discuss with him the issues facing schools in the Fens.  He is partitularly keen to reverse the fall in social mobility that has occurred under Labour, and free up teachers to teach rather than respond to the ever increasing numbers of targets and interventions from Whitehall.

Archery at the Chatteris Medieval Festival

Doddington Village Show

Posted in Doddington, Chatteris | No Comments »

22/06/2008 by Steve Barclay.

Out on the doorstep in Sutton this week-end as part of our efforts to distribute 45,000 leaflets across the constituency this month.  A team of us met up at the home of Cllr Phil Read on the High Street, just a stones throw from the chemists and butchers where I popped in to catch up on local news.

The cost of petrol is hitting people hard.  Many local shops in the village have closed over the years, so people are now in a catch 22 as they are told by the government to use their cars less but little is done to support rural communities, forcing them to shop in Ely.  A specific issue raised was the desire for a tea / coffee shop in the village which would be great in particular for young mums.  There is clearly a strong sense of community in Sutton - even my deliveries had to be temporarily suspended as I was called over to the temporary stall outside the spar for a chat and to play my part in buying local raffle tickets.  There were also plenty of firm views expressed on Gordon Brown which despite the light rain put a spring in my step.  Afterwards we rounded off a productive morning with a bite to eat at the Anchor Inn at Sutton Gault.

In the evening, Karen and I headed over to Peterborough for a farmer’s dinner.  The food in particular was excellent - with so many local farm producers present you would expect it to be locally sourced after all.  After a fun night, on Sunday I headed over to Cllr. Pete Murphy’s who kindly hosted an association get together at his home in Chatteris.  It was the perfect venue as I had no need to take the car to get there and could just have a pleasant short stroll in the sunshine from my own home in Chatteris down the road.

Posted in Chatteris, Sutton | No Comments »