14/11/2009 by Steve Barclay.

A great night at the Braza Club in March last night with our annual Conservative Ball sold out.  It was especially pleasing to see so many new faces, and a real buzz and upbeat atmosphere. 

Thanks to Debbie and Charlie for organising such a fantastic evening.  There was lots of speculation as to when the General Election will be - whether 25th March or 6th May.  For what it is worth, I am sure the Prime Minister has not decided yet (and he dithers at the best of times).  Given that he dislikes elections, and would not even allow one for the Labour leadership, I suspect he will cling on as long as possible.  If so, the budget will make for interesting reading in March next year - not least hearing about the over £1 billion a week being spent just to pay the interest on the debt he has run up.  £1 billion a week would pay the salaries of a lot of extra teachers, doctors and nurses.

Posted in March, Conservative Party | 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 »

26/10/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Out and about in March and Manea this week-end.  Give the after dinner speech at our March branch Harvest Supper on Friday evening, followed on Saturday by one of my regular coffee meetings held in Manea, and then pop over to March Rugby Club on Sunday morning to watch March Under 17s play a local derby match against Thorney.

The Harvest Supper was held against the backdrop of yet more worrying economic news.  It is now the longest and deepest recession since records began with the sixth quarter of decline.  Despite Labour spending like there is no tomorrow, printing money, and cutting VAT, the economy has still fallen again.  France and Germany are now out of recession - so much for Gordon Brown‘s ridiculous claims that the UK was best placed to weather the storm.  The drastic fall in sterling shows how false his claims are.

The coffee cluster in Manea highlights a range of issues.  It is frustrating that whilst the local GP made a saving of £36,000 last year he only received £8,000 of this to spend in the village.  The rest of the money disappeared once again into the PCT central pot - to be spent in the more affluent areas of South Cambridgeshire.  When are we locally going to get a fair share of health spending? 

Fenland has the highest number of teenage pregnancies, diabetics - especially in March, and heart disease in the County, yet we still receive less funding per head than South Cambridgeshire.  It is typical of the top down command approach of Labour that when savings are made locally we are not rewarded by keeping this money.  Last year of 42 dieticians in the County, only 3 of them were in Fenland and East Cambridgeshire.  Such figures highlight the poor deal residents here receive.  The PCT needs to move much quicker to address health imbalances between the North and South of the county.

Posted in March, Manea | 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 »

18/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

An insight last night into the life of the remarkable Octavia Hill who was born in Wisbech and is of national importance.  Joined a group from March Rotary at her birthplace house on the South Brink for a short talk on her life, ahead of joining the Wisbech Tourism Group for a meeting.  Co-founder of the National Trust, pioneer of social housing and happy homes, advocate of small parks and space to play, , her contribution to society was immense.  It is a remarkable life story told in a beautifully restored building - if you have not yet been I would strongly recommend a visit.

A good debate then followed with the Tourism Group discussion a range of suggestions for Wisbech Castle.  I put forward the ideas received by email from residents following the Cambs Times / Wisbech Standard article, and the committee also set out a number of ideas.  The favourite ideas with the committee were firstly to explore putting a gate in at the rear of the Castle Garden behind the war memorial, to open up the gardens more.  People often feel the house and gardens are private and are reluctant to enter at the front, and this does not have disabled access which a new gate at the back of the garden would offer.  The second idea the committee want to explore is whether day courses could be held in the house, for example RHS flower arranging courses.  With a high number of older people living in Fenland, it was thought this might open the house up more and offer scope to combine with other events, such as visits to the Peckover Gardens, Rose Fair, and Anglia in Bloom.  The committee also discussed opening up the potential of the dungeons under the Castle (and for them to be called dungeons not vaults), and whether there could be use of the facilities to help prepare plants for Anglia in Bloom Plenty for me to discuss with Cllr Jill Tuck and Nick Dawe at Cambs County Council.

Another topic of discussion was the future of Wisbech Institute, which is a building that has national significance.  The Working Men‘s Institutes were the open university of their day, and we need to look at how we breathe new life into this historic building which is not in great shape.  It is easy to forget when a building is on our doorstep that it has such national significance.  At the moment tourist buses from Cambridge often go straight to Stamford for their first stop.  Yet Wisbech could make an ideal first stop as we are nearer to Cambridge.  I toured the Wisbech Institute a few months ago with Cllr David Oliver and it is a gem in the town centre that too many people seem to know little about.  The next step is to get ownership of the Institute changed so it is a charity, and work is on-going on this.  I hope there will be more to report in due course as a renovated and re-vitalised Wisbech Institute would provide a fantastic addition to the town.

Posted in March, Cambs Times, Wisbech | No Comments »

14/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

Flooding, artificial limbs, feet and smashed windows - all in the casework this week

Helping residents with a varied range of issues this week.  A key point we need to address are the recent problems of flooding in Whittlesey. 

Delph Ward in Whittlesey has seen problems with flooding, and I am working with Cllr Kay Mayor and County Cllr Martin Curtis to ensure this is looked at as a matter of urgency.  Guidenburg Crescent has had problems, and there have been problems also in Coates  - Richardson Way has suffered in past downpours.  The issue came up at one of my regular coffee morning sessions, and I have a site meeting arranged to see first hand on Saturday morning.  Flooding is hugely distressing in causing damage to someone’s home, and when it occurs we need to ensure government agencies respond.  Also liaising with MP Malcolm Moss so we can arrange a meeting with Anglian Water, the Environment Agency, RSPB (some work to provide the ideal environment for wading birds is thought to be one of the factors), and Council engineers as soon as possible this month - more on this in later blogs.  Proposals for another 500 homes in Whittlesey must not be rushed through before we understand better the problems around flooding and the impact these homes will have.

Another issue causing concern locally is the treatment for those needing artificial limbs at Addenbrookes.  It is a world class hospital, but the service offered in this department raises a number of questions.  Issues include ill fitting prosthetic limbs (if an X ray is not taken when fitting an artificial leg then back pain can result), lack of regular skin covers for the artificial leg and a failure to match the cover to the patients skin colour, money wasted on limbs that do not fit (at £8,000 to £12,000 a time, and they apparently are not sent to be used in developing countries as happens in other UK hospitals but just thrown away), a lack of physio when fitting limbs - it is not sensible to expect those in North Cambs to travel for a 30 minute session separately when it could be done at the time of one of the 5 fittings, and a failure to provide artificial sports legs to enable activities like cycling - the rules appear to be that this is provided if the accident is recent but not if the requirement was caused at birth.  Draft a letter to the hospital setting out the concerns raised and seeking clarification.  What is alarming is that a quick internet search reveals another patient flagging many of these same points back in March 2000!  Surely if the problems were known then, 9 years is adequate time to address them?

Catch up again this week with podiatrist Karen Coppin who kindly lets me join her to watch treatments for some of her older patients.  It is helpful to see and chat first hand to those using this service to understand what is needed and the benefits offered.  With over 26 years experience, Karen has a first class understanding which she combines with a great caring touch.  One of the clearest points I take away is the benefit of prevention.  With the cost of a silver dressing at approx £50 a time not to mention the cost and time involved in providing anti-biotics in drips when infections occur, it makes more sense to treat things quickly and nip them in the bud.  The NHS used to offer a one stop shop but this has been stopped.  Training used to be hands on after 6 weeks whereas now some degree courses have no practical training at all in the first year.  Diabetics are involved in 100 amputations a week and are more likely to lose feeling in their nerve endings and so not know if they have hurt their feet.  However diabetics do not automatically have access to NHS podiatrists.  Some operations e.g. for bunions carried out in hospital could be done in Boston quicker and at less cost with a podiatrist surgeon.   Plenty of points emerge which I will pick up as part of my campaign for better podiatry services.

Also pop in to the clothes shop Start Dust in March which once again has suffered from vandalism with a smashed window. As the owner is out, have a brief chat and will go back on Saturday. In the meantime speak with the March Police Sgt who is dealing with the crime.  He confirms that an arrest was made, but that guilty party got just an £80 fine which is far less than the damage caused.  Will go in again on Saturday to see the boutique owner.

Finally this week, a more random discovery.  Was told I am not the first Stephen Barclay in North East Cambs.  Apparently the first Governor of Whitemore Prison had the same name, as did one of the previous local GPs.  From the prison, to the hospital, to potentially Parliament - not sure what to make of this.

Posted in March, Malcolm Moss MP, Whittlesey | No Comments »

01/08/2009 by Steve Barclay.

I call in with MP Malcolm Moss to see Principal David Pomfret for the latest news on the College of West Anglia.  It is clear that the Labour Government’s cuts are having a savage impact on courses and staff numbers.  It comes against the worrying news that unemployment in Fenland is now worse than anywhere else in Cambridgeshire. We are the only district in the County with unemployment above the regional average, and there are 840 youngsters locally not in education, employment or training.  The collapse of firms like March based MBMG which has lost 100 jobs makes the work of the College in offering training even more important.

What is disgraceful is that all of the 13 Colleges which received Government funding are in Labour constituencies.  Labour has turned their back on students in Fenland in what has been a blatantly biased set of funding decisions.  The case for funding in Fenland is strong - 18 out of 25 of the most deprived wards in Cambridgeshire are in Fenland, and less than half of pupils here achieve five or more GCSE grades A to C here compared with 70% in South Cambridgeshire.  The College of West Anglia is crucial to the future prosperity of the area if we are to attract new businesses as they expand from Cambridge and allow the next generation to fulfil their true potential.  Fenland is being short changed.  It is cynical politics of the worst kind by Gordon Brown.

Posted in Labour Failure, March, Malcolm Moss MP, Wisbech | No Comments »

12/06/2008 by Steve Barclay.

A visit to McCains provided a fascinating look behind the scenes as to how the famous oven chip is prepared and packaged.  First stop in the morning however was to Wisbech for another of our working meetings on the issue of homelessness in the town.  With help from the Ferry Project, we are pulling a paper together to give greater visibility to this issue together with some options for what might be done.

Then it is off to Whittlesey where local dignitaries had assembled for the switch on of their new wind turbines which can be seen dominating the landscape.  The switch went perfectly to plan - had it already been working? After the fun of the reception, it was down to business with a meeting with the management at McCains and a tour of the plant. An issue of frustration raised was how another unelected Government quango, in this case setting food guidelines in schools, is failing to reflect the health evidence on food and simply applying catch all rules. Rather than assessing the specific differences between the fat in an over chip and that of fried food as a whole, all chips are treated the same. After the meeting, we put on hair nets and white coats before heading into the heart of the plant to see the end to end process, from watching the arrival of a lorry load of potatoes and their quality being tested at one end to the more familiar pack you see on the shelves at the other.

Then a change of issue as I head to a meeting in March with a group of young carers.  It is good to see a facility where young people carrying out so valuable a role caring for family members can have a break and come to play and have fun with those of the same age.  The discussion about the challenge of looking after those with illness or a disability puts my later evening’s discussion in context, as I head to London to chair a meeting in Soho Square of the Governance Committee of Dimbleby Cancer Care, a key aim of which is to provide support to ease the suffering of those fighting.

Visiting the McCain plant in Whittlesey

Meeting Young Carers in March

Posted in Ferry Project, March, Whittlesey | No Comments »

01/06/2008 by Steve Barclay.

A varied brief is one of the interesting elements of being a Parliamentary Candidate, and the last few days has been no exception. Yesterday included a wide range of meetings, including our Homeless Action Group in Wisbech which continues to make good progress.

This group was set up in response to a plea for help from Church leaders having to cope with a number of homeless people being brought to them by the local police when they had no where else to go.  We met again at the Police Station in Wisbech, with the group comprising experts on the subject of Homelessness from the Ferry Project, the police, Citizen’s Advice Bureau, a local councillor, and the Catholic and Protestant Church representatives.  If nothing else I am determined that the issue of homelessness is not ignored or swept under the carpet.  The real test though is whether more help is available for people sleeping rough next winter.  There are no easy answers, and it is a complex issue - not least as there are different types of situation behind the homelessness from those hitting some temporary personal hardship at one end to those with more serious additions and complex problems.  Our proposals should help push this issue up the agenda of political priorities and I feel that is itself important.

By contrast tonight I was in the beautiful setting of March Golf Club for a much happier subject - presenting the golf prizes.  A great day’s golf involving over 100 competitors was generously supported by Selby & Taylor, our local pharmacist based in March.  The club has a particularly welcoming atmosphere and the members kindly went out of the way to make Karen and I welcome.  I think the secret of presenting prizes at such events is to keep the speech very short (after a long day on the golf course I cannot imagine much appetite for speeches), before dishing out the well deserved silver.  With such a hot day and large field, winning the awards was no mean feat.  Afterwards Karen and I headed over to the home of Geoff and Judith Harper in Doddington for a lovely dinner and a catch up.

Posted in Ferry Project, March, Homelessness, Doddington, Wisbech | No Comments »

06/05/2008 by Steve Barclay.

Pizza, Politics and questions about ice cream were all part of a night in March with a large group of first time and younger voters.

The event was organised by our Conservative Future team (under 30s) and aimed to encourage young people to find out more about politics and vote.  We met at the Town Hall and it was great to see a large turn out - clearly much work had been done in local schools in getting the message out - or perhaps it was just the prospect of free pizza?!  Malcolm Moss kicked proceedings off with a chat about his role as Member of Parliament, covering both the important issues together with some lighter moments.  This was then followed by a debate about the merits of internet file sharing, with some passionately held beliefs clearly evident.  After the two speakers on either side had spoken for and against the motion, we had an impressive array of contributions from the floor (all of whom seemed to know far more about file sharing than I did) before a vote.

There was then a question and answer session for Malcolm and myself as MP and Parliamentary Candidate, although very wisely Lucy arranged the break for pizza just beforehand to ensure the audience was in good spirits!  Questions raised ranged from key local issues (such as the lack of government funding for the Fens), to national and international issues (how we address the cost of oil) to the fun (what is our favourite ice cream).  For the record mine is mint chocolate chip…..  Tonight was perhaps my most enjoyable night since being selected as candidate.  An event organised by and for young constituents, interested and engaged in their community, and who had a wide range of thoughtful comments and views.  It bodes well for the future.  Leave feeling really upbeat.

Posted in March, Conservative Future | No Comments »