Tag Archives: Upper Calder Valley Plain Speaker

Conflict of interest fears as Hunt appoints NHS adviser with big private healthcare interests

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Unite has today (Friday) called on the Secretary of State for Health to explain why he
has appointed a former M&S boss, with interests in a private healthcare firm that is
eyeing up stealth-privatised NHS contracts, to an influential role in the management of
the NHS.

According to the Guardian, the role is to advise on how to build up new management to
transform failing hospitals. Update: This remit was extended in early 2015 to include how best to equip clinical commissioning groups to deliver the Five Year Forward View.

Apparently what was good for Marks & Spencer will be good for the NHS.
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Yorkshire ambulance staff strike to protect patient safety from effects of £46m cuts

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As Yorkshire paramedics and ambulance staff go on strike for two days,  Unite is calling for an independent inquiry by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) into the long-running Yorkshire ambulance dispute,

Unite, the country’s largest union, said that such an inquiry was needed so the Yorkshire public could judge for itself the impact on patient safety of £46 million of cuts over five years.
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Non-existent Sainsbury’s Local gets its alcohol licence

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Calderdale Council Licensing Subcommittee has approved a licence for the sale of alcohol between 7am-11pm, 7 days a week at Sainsbury’s Local on Valley Road, Hebden Bridge, even though the store hasn’t yet got planning permission.

At the licence application hearing on 13th February, the solicitor representing Sainsbury’s said,

“If you took alcohol out of the store, the incremental impact is very significant. I’m virtually sure that Sainsbury’s Local wouldn’t open this store if it didn’t get the alcohol licence.”

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Demonstrate against ATOS at Halifax Job Centre on Weds 19th February

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Calderdale Protest Against the Bedroom Tax is demonstrating against ATOS at 10am on 19th February outside the Job Centre at Crossfield House, St James Road, HX1 1YS and all are welcome to take part.

Protesters will gather peacefully at the Job Centre which is used by ATOS to carry out discredited Work Capability Assessments.
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New supermarkets destroy more jobs than they create – open letter to Craig #Whittaker MP

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Dear Craig Whittaker,

I question your statement, reported in the Hebden Bridge Times, that a proposed new supermarket to be developed on the Mytholm Works site will create new jobs.

In fact, new large supermarkets destroy more jobs than they create. One source of evidence for this is the paper “Superstores and Employment in Retailing” by Dr David Thorpe, Head of Research, John Lewis Partnership, October 1999.
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Making a difference to the neighbourhood? A new politics? on 20th February

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The International Centre for Participation Studies at Bradford University is holding an event on 20th February: Making a difference to the neighbourhood? A new politics?

The event is a conversation about community organising in Britain. It takes place on Thursday, 20 February 2014 from 13:00 to 19:30 at the Delius Arts & Cultural Centre,
29 Great Horton Road, Bradford, BD7 1AA. (View map)
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Job Centre whistleblower says claimants routinely tricked out of benefits

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This video is from the Guardian. It reports on a Job Centre whistleblower who reveals that it is now routine for Job Centre staff to trick vulnerable claimants out of benefits, and also reports on the experiences of sanctioned claimants in Wigan, who have felt the brunt of this practice.

#Calderdale Cabinet gives green light to Calderdale Community Energy

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On Monday 27th January, Calderdale Council Cabinet voted to accept proposals for the Council to set up a community benefit society, Calderdale Community Energy, in partnership with local third sector organisations like Hebden Bridge Alternative Technology Centre and Pennine Community Power.

Calderdale Community Energy will support the development of community renewable energy projects in Calderdale.

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All in a day’s work: incoherent Coalition simultaneously publishes #CommunityEnergy Strategy and rips up standards for renewable energy in new builds

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David Cameron has announced that his government is ripping up more than 3,000 environmental protection regulations, including building standards relating to demands for renewable energy sources.

Environmental campaigner and journalist George Monbiot tweeted that weakening building regulations in a cold country is a recipe for “either misery or spending a fortune on fuel bills”.

On the same day, Monday 27th January, the Coalition government published its Community Energy Strategy (CES). This requires local authorities to support community renewable energy schemes, provides some increased funding for such schemes, and aims to reduce people’s fuel bills.
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