7/30/2019 News Bulletin from Greg Hands M.P. #353

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In this edition:

Greg Hands M.P.s DiaryWebsite of the Week:Fulham Boys SchoolPhoto news:Kensington Prep SchoolvisitWaves of anger at flawedNHS consultationK&C and H&F are two ofonly 9 councils in the UKwhere every secondaryschool is rated "good" or"outstanding" by Ofsted

Photo news:Conference of the German-British Chamber ofCommerceStalking made a criminaloffenceCrime road show rolls on inH&FBest Bar None awards inK&CHow to contactGreg Hands M.P.

Issue 353 Saturday 1st December 2012

Since the last edition, Greg:

Spoke with Government Education Minister Lord Hill to assist

progress on the creation of the new Fulham Boys School, a

Church of England secondary Free School opening next year.

For more about the school, see Website of the Week

Was guest speaker at the Dresden conference of the British

Chamber of Commerce in Germany. For more, see photo

and see www.bccg.de

Attended and addressed the Executive Council meeting of the

Kensington, Chelsea & Fulham Conservatives.

Was guest speaker at the London launch of Open Europe

Berlin, the new Eurosceptic think tank in Germany.Met senior management of the charity HeathProm, which

promotes maternal and child health in Central Asia,

Afghanistan and Russia. Greg is a patron of the charity.

Met representatives of the Plymouth Brethren to discuss the

threat from the Charity Commission to their charitable status.

Visited CDU Members of Parliament in the German

Bundestag, Berlin.

Held a weekly surgeryfor Chelsea and Fulham residents at

the Fulham Methodist Church, Fulham Broadway. Gregs

surgeries are held generally every Monday at Fulham

Methodist Church, or at Peter Jones, Sloane Square. To make

an appointment, email mail@greghands.com or call 020 7219

5448.

Website of the Week:

www.fulhamboysschool.orgComing next year the new Fulham Boys School,a new Church of England secondary Free School forboys in Fulham. Applications for places in September 2013are now being accepted.

Photo news:

Kensington Prep School visit

Greg Hands M.P. with Year 6 girls at Kensington Prep School,Fulham, last week.

Waves of anger at flawed

NHS consultationThe voices of 66,000 west London residents have been ignored in asham consultation designed to justify hospital closures.

The flawed consultation results on NHS North West London's plans toclose A&E services in four London hospitals have been greeted with awave of anger and disbelief in west London.66,000 signatures included in 18 petitions have only been counted as18 responses. Despite a vociferous campaign by local residents'groups and their councils, NHS North West London yesterday tried toclaim of majority support for its preferred option to close services.Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F) Council has vowed to continue itsbattle to protect local health services saying this is another nail in thecoffin for Charing Cross that will eventually lead to the closure of thesite.Cllr Nicholas Botterill, H&F Council Leader, says: It is outrageous thatthe voices of 66,000 people have been silenced.Nobody should be in any doubt that the long-term strategy is theclosure of Charing Cross itself. We will do everything we can to

protect the site and the hospitals future. This includes potentiallychallenging the decision with the Secretary of State.He added: "NHS NWL London may try and silence our residents, butH&F Council will make sure that their voices continue to be heard loud

and clear. We will do everything possible to save our hospitals."The consultation cost taxpayers 7million and, despite being brandeda sham and fundamentally flawed, the results now threatens thefuture of Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals. Former NHSchief executive Timothy Rideout spelt out a series of major concernswith the consultation earlier this year. Describing the business case asunsafe Mr Rideout criticised a failure to explore alternatives to A&Eclosures; failure to independently verify the financial modelling and thefunnel effect of the chosen methodology in the consultation whichknocked out viable alternatives before they had a chance to be fairlycompared.But NHS NWL is using their flawed consultation to justify itspredetermined preferred option of closing four out of nine A&E units.While the council is warning that if Charing Cross A&E is shut parts ofthe site will be sold off for redevelopment eventually leading to theclosure of the whole hospital.More than 66,000 people signed petitions to save the four hospitalswhile the council also points out that:

GPs have publicly stated their opposition to the closure of twoA&E units in the borough as they are not yet ready to providethe alternative care that will be needed.

Ambulance journey times to overstretched out-of-boroughA&Es will increase dramatically potentially endangering lives,especially for victims of stroke.If the current NHS proposals go ahead, the remaining A&Eswould be severely over stretched as they would need to caterfor nearly 400,000 people each at least 50% more than thenational average.No evidence has been provided that moving Charing Crossservices to Chelsea & Westminster Hospital would improveoutcomes for residents.With thousands of new homes and jobs coming to H&F theborough needs more local health care capacity, not less.

H&F Council has been warning for years that Charing Cross is beingsystematically downgraded. In December 2010 the vascular surgeryward at Charing Cross was closed, apparently because of a severeinfection outbreak. All vascular surgery was moved to St Marys, inPaddington, where it remains, apparently permanently. There was nopublic consultation on the move and no clinical evidence presented tosupport the permanent move.In 2009 Charing Cross was overlooked as the major trauma centre forthe area and all six of Charing Cross world famous neurosurgeonswere forced to provide an on call service at both St Marys andCharing Cross without consultation.

If Charing Cross is stripped of its A&E it could free-up lots of room forresidential re-development, according to the council. Charing Cross isowned by Imperial College NHS Trust, which historically has been oneof the most indebted trusts in London. The Trust would pocket thecash from a sale or redevelopment of any part of the Charing Crosssite if they are successful in securing Foundation status.Greg Hands M.P. added: "NHS North West London's proposal to end

A&E services at either Charing Cross or at Chelsea & Westminsterwill have a devastating impact on my constituency. Half of myconstituents will lose their nearest A&E, and the other half will see thesurviving A&E put under severe pressure by the additional admissions

caused by their neighbour's closure. The NHS needs to think again onthis. Their response to the consultation is as flawed as the clinicalevidence given for the proposal in the first place."Cllr Botterill concludes: There is no evidence that the downgrades oflocal hospitals will miraculously lead to improved healthcare for ourresidents. In fact there is a growing suspicion that Charing Cross isbeing drained of life so that Imperial can sell off parts of this extremelyvaluable site and plug the black hole in their finances.NHS bureaucrats are putting the improvement of their balance sheetbefore the improvement of residents health and we are going to fight

them all the way.Join the campaign now by visiting www.savecharingcross.com .

K&C and H&F are two of only 9 councils in

the UK where every secondary school is

rated "good" or "outstanding" by OfstedSecondary schools in Kensington & Chelsea and in Hammersmith &

Fulham are the best in the country, according to a recent report byOfsted.Ofsted, the official body for inspecting schools, released figures thisweek showing that all pupils in Conservative-run K&C and H&F 100per cent attend good or outstanding secondary schools.The boroughs are two of only nine out of 151 English local authoritiesto achieve this feat.Greg Hands M.P. said: "Providing a high quality state education forlocal teenagers should be the top priority for any local council, andthat is clearly the case for my two Conservative councils. These two

councils are at the very centre of schools reform in this country, withnew secondaries like the Chelsea Academy, the West London freeSchool and the Hammersmith Academy opening since the GeneralElection. meanwhile, Michael Gove's school reforms have helped

previously struggling schools to up their game, and we now have asituation where no school is lagging. There is still much to be donehowever. We need more school places, and we need exam reform."Councillor Elizabeth Campbell, Cabinet Member for Family andChildren's Services in the Royal Borough, said: "This is good news forparents and follows on from record GCSE results this summer. Weare very proud of our schools and work is now underway to build a

new secondary school, the Kensington Aldridge Academy, in the northof the borough."Cllr Helen Binmore, Cabinet Member for Childrens Services inHammersmith & Fulham, said: This is a fantastic achievement for theborough, our schools, teachers, pupils and parents. This council iscommitted to providing a borough of opportunity. Providing schools ofchoice is a key element of this strategy which means offering parentsa real choice of good schools. It has been a joint effort to raisestandards in our schools over the past few years and to make them

places where our children, no matter what their background orcircumstances, can get a first-class education and learn skills that arevital for their future and development.

I am absolutely thrilled that our schools are getting the recognitionthey deserve and that our young people are getting the most out oftheir time in school.The improvement in schools in H&F has been significant - in 2006, sixout of eight secondary schools were deemed to be good oroutstanding, with four out of five (81%) of pupils attending a good oroutstanding school. This is now at 100%.The annual report published all results for secondary schools,including academies, in England, and shows that schools in the

capital are better than the national average. Eighty per cent ofLondons secondary schools are now good or outstanding comparedwith 66 per cent nationally. And 69 per cent of the poorest children inthe capital go to good schools, compared with 45 per cent in thesouth-east.The London local authority to have the lowest percentage of pupilsattending good or outstanding schools is Merton, at 45 per cent, whilenationally it is Barnsley, with only 20 per cent.Ofsteds primary school figures also show that H&F is in the top 20%of schools, coming 29th out of 151 local authorities. Twenty-eight outof 34 primary schools in H&F are currently deemed good or

outstanding by Ofsted inspectors, with 79% of pupils attending a goodor outstanding school in the borough.The report also shows that 83% of all schools nursery, primary,secondary, special and pupil referral units in H&F are good oroutstanding, putting H&F as the ninth best in London.Figures released

on Tuesday 27th November show that Kensington and Chelsea is oneof only nine local education authorities in the country where 100 percent of pupils attend secondary schools judged by Ofsted to be goodor outstanding.

Photo news:

Conference of the German-BritishChamber of Commerce

Greg Hands M.P. in Dresden this week with fellow speakers atthe Conference of the German-British Chamber of Commerce.

L-R: Simon McDonald (British Ambassador), Bob Bischoff (German-British Chamber), Prof Michael Stuermer (Editor, Die Welt), Greg

Hands M.P. and Thomas Kielinger (London correspondent, Die Welt).

Stalking made a criminal offenceTwo new laws to protect the victims of stalking came into force thisweek, alongside a package of other measures designed to tackleviolence against women and girls.

The Home Office estimates that one in five women, and one in tenmen, will be affected by stalking at some point in their lives. The newoffences of stalking and stalking involving a fear of violence wereintroduced through the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012. Police andprosecutors have been given specific guidance and training onstalking, as well as new powers of entry to secure evidence.The Home Secretary, Theresa May, said: Stalking is a sickening andcowardly crime. Too many women live in fear, forced to lookconstantly over their shoulder. We need to end their suffering. That iswhy we are acting now.These new laws send a clear message that stalking will not betolerated. This shows just how serious we are about tackling violenceagainst women. Our priority is the victims and we will do all we can to

protect them. Stalkers will not get away with it. They must be draggedout of the shadows and brought to justice.Greg Hands MP added: Stalking is abhorrent. It is a crime thatshatters the lives of its victims, and for too long it went untackled. ThisGovernment will not stand by and see peoples lives ruined.

These new laws are very welcome. They will help bring peace ofmind to victims in Chelsea and Fulham and across the country.

Crime road show rolls on in H&FFrom rough sleeping and burglaries to reckless cyclists and the tragicmurder of a council street sweeper residents got another chance tovoice their crime-fighting priorities to police and local authority topbrass last night.More than 40 people, from Hammersmith Broadway and RavenscourtPark wards, braved the blustery November conditions to hear

presentations from the Police Borough Commander and CouncilDeputy Leader before running through their list of priorities.The meeting, which took place at West London Free School thisweek, was the latest in a series of How are we doing on crime roadshows that are touring Hammersmith & Fulham (H&F).Understandably the murder of council street sweeper Piotr Mikiewicz,who bravely challenged a burglar, was on peoples minds. Ch SptDOrsi said: Our use of covert sting houses and sting vehicles meansthat burglary is falling significantly on the borough. The murder of thecouncil street sweeper was a one off and an arrest of an individualand subsequent charges have been brought.

Across H&F crime is falling with 489 fewer crimes compared to lastyear. Crime is falling in both wards but the authorities are determinedto drive crime down even further.Hammersmith Mall resident Stephen Claypole said: There have beena lot of positive steps taken to stop people sleeping rough in FurnivallGardens but we still have a problem with reckless cyclists boltingalong the river path and scaring pedestrians.South Black Lion Lane resident Elizabeth Devereux said: We had a

problem with criminals using some sort of blocker that stopped car

fobs working. My car was broken into four times in 18 months but Ihave seen a huge improvement recently. I would encourage everyone especially visitors from out of town to beware of leaving valuablesin their cars.There was praise for the police cadets who have delivered more than5,000 hours of volunteer work already this year. They have deliveredleaflets, helped with the Olympics and helped the council withlicensing stings on premises selling alcohol or knives to people whoare underage.Councillor Greg Smith, H&F Council Deputy Leader, said: There is alot of good work happening and between us and the police we now

have more useful intelligence which will help us keep our foot on thethroats of the criminals. At the start of the century there were around29,000 crimes every year and we have managed to drive that down toaround 23,000 a year. But there is more to do and meetings like thisare extremely useful to get a handle on residents issues street-by-street.Rylett Road resident Tony Twiss, 66, said: I think these meetings arevery valuable to help coordinate the good work of the various councilofficers and police and make sure they are focusing on what mattersto us the residents.

The road shows, which are supported by the boroughsNeighbourhood Watch Association and are organised by the council inassociation with the Mayors Office for Policing and Crime, willcontinue to tour the borough in the New Year.For more information email:hammersmithandfulham.police@met.police.uk or Tweet:@MPSHammFul. To read more about crime and antisocial behaviourin H&F visit: www.lbhf.gov.uk/crime.

Best Bar None awards in K&CThe Drayton Arms, a south Kensington pub has scooped the covetedBest Bar None `Overall Winner' for 2012 at the annual awardsceremony at a packed Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.Beating off stiff competition to the overall title, in what the judges havesaid was the most competitive year to date, it was also named `BestPub'. The pub has been a strong contender in Best Bar None sincethe competition began in 2008, being `Best Pub' runner up that yearand overall winner in 2009.Councillor Nick Paget-Brown, K&C Deputy Leader and Cabinet

Member for Environment, said: "The Best Bar None Awards havegone from strength to strength in the borough and it is good to see a

pub that has been involved since the start taking the prize. LeighPhilips, the landlord of The Drayton Arms, also deserves credit fordoing well every year and for being the first person to win the `OverallWinner' award for a second time."This borough is a great place to visit and live, part of that is down tothe quality of management in all our licensed premises. Accreditationthrough Best Bar None shows a commitment to high standards thatappeals to residents and patrons of all the establishments involved."

A further 47 pubs, bars and clubs across the borough gainedmembership of the scheme, with the category winners as follows:Best Pub runner-up - O'Neills, Earls Court Road, SW5 9BQBest Bar- Juju, King's Road, SW3 5UHRunner up - Janet's Bar, Old Brompton Road, SW7 3DLBest Club - Supperclub, Acklam Road, W10 5QZRunner up - The Roof Gardens, Kensington High Street, W8 5SABest Bar None in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea issponsored by Diageo GB with support from various partner agencies

including NHS Kensington.To find out more about the scheme, and current members, go towww.rbkc.gov.uk/bestbarnone or call 020 7341 5708.

All the premises are judged on a range of criteria including safety,training for staff, security, drugs policy, litter disposal, noise controland much more.

5 ways to contact Greg Hands M.P.:

By Phone: 020 7219 5448

By email: mail@greghands.com

By post: Greg Hands M.P.House of CommonsLondon SW1A 0AA

In person: Click here for details of howto book an appointment atGreg Hands M.P.s weeklysurgery

www.greghands.com

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