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Conservative PCC Brings Firearms Training Back to Staffordshire

Firearms officers are feeling the benefit of a return to their Staffordshire training base after Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis halted moves to join their services with West Midlands Police.

Staffordshire firearms officers had for 12 months made a 70-mile round trip to indoor facilities in Birmingham as part of a previous collaboration programme with West Midlands.  The joint approach was abandoned following the findings of a detailed review by Staffordshire Chief Constable Mike Cunningham which was instigated by Mr Ellis.

As a result, firearms officers last month returned to their firing range at Eccleshall, near Stafford, saving them hours in travel time and allowing them to deploy more quickly in Staffordshire when needed.  The move also means they can train in realistic outdoor settings and has increased police visibility in rural communities surrounding the site as officers travel to and from it.

Mr Ellis said, “This common sense approach means Staffordshire firearms officers, who play a crucial role in keeping local communities safe, are based and train in Staffordshire.  It’s more cost-effective, gives Staffordshire officers more frontline availability and benefits the local business community through investment at the site.

“It’s also part of ongoing work, which is progressing well, to increase the visibility of policing across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.  The proposals to develop joint services with the West Midlands were shelved because they were not the right fit and would not have benefited Staffordshire people.

“I’m all for collaboration when it’s about doing what’s right for Staffordshire and not just doing something because it looks like we’re collaborating.”

Tamworth’s MP Calls for Debate on Job Fairs

During yesterdays questions on Business in the House of Commons, Christopher Pincher, MP for Tamworth, spoke on falling unemployment and called for a debate in the House on job fairs, one of which he is organising to take place in Tamworth in October.

Mr Pincher said, “Unemployment in Tamworth now stands at its lowest level since 2008.  On 12th October, I shall play my own small part in helping to drive it down still further when, with the Tamworth Herald, I will host a jobs fair at South Staffordshire college.

“May we have a debate on jobs fairs to highlight the value they bring by bringing together local employers and jobseekers, and by the practical way they help us to help our constituents?”

The Leader of the House, Andrew Lansley MP, replied, “I am grateful to my hon. Friend. What he is doing in his constituency is important.  He and other colleagues have demonstrated through jobs fairs that there are many practical steps we can take to help to connect those who are without work with the jobs that are available.

“The latest data show that we have near-record levels of vacancies in the economy. Matching people to jobs is vital, as the success of job fairs demonstrates.  I will not reiterate the points I made earlier, but the increase in employment of 935,000 since the election demonstrates that they have the benefits that we are looking for.”

Conservative PCC Announces Fewer Targets and More Policing

Taking the shackles off officers, freeing up their time and releasing them from a numerical target driven culture is the latest radical change announced by Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis.

Conservative elected Mr Ellis said, “I promised I would get rid of most targets and I have.  I am really pleased with the work that’s been done to stop unproductive time officers spend chasing figures.  I want to see officers given more autonomy in how to prevent, tackle and resolve crime to make communities safer, without endlessly aiming to meet targets.

“This is a new approach that will change the culture of policing, remove the conveyor belt of targets and let police officers be police officers.  Targets are unhelpful too often they get in the way of delivering effective services.

“It’s about police officers having the time to make long term visible and sustainable changes to communities that improve people’s quality of life, making them safe and feel safe.  It’s about getting the whole system to work differently, scrapping silo thinking and having  public services working collaboratively to common agreed outcomes that make a difference to local people.”

This move away from numerical targets will not mean that police performance isn’t measured. Instead measurements will be more meaningful, focussing on those things that have the greatest impact on local communities.

Christopher Pincher Speaks on Economy at PMQ’s

During yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons, Tamworth MP Christopher Pincher, spoke on the continued improvement in the economy both in Tamworth and around the country and said those calling for plan B should stop.

Mr Pincher said, “Since we last met there has been a spate of good economic news, both in Tamworth and around the country.  Unemployment is down and the economy is growing.  Manufacturing is up, exports are up and construction is up. Is it not time for those who still propose it to stop messing around, give it up and abandon plan B?”

The Prime Minister replied, “My hon. Friend makes an important point.  We have had welcome news over the summer: exports are up 5.8% on a year ago, business confidence is at its highest level since January 2008, consumer confidence is up and all the figures on construction, manufacturing and services are going in the right direction.  We must not be complacent, these are early days, but it is because of the tough decisions that this Government took that we can now see progress.

“We ought to remember that Labour Members told us that unemployment would go up, but it has come down, and that the economy would go backwards, but it has gone forwards. It is time for them to explain that they were wrong and we were right.”

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Conservative Council Urges Businesses to Boost Skills

Conservative run Lichfield District Council is urging businesses to tender for skills development plan.

Lichfield District Council is part of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).  It was set up in November 2010 and one of its aims is to help create an extra 100,000 private sector jobs across the region by 2020.

To do this, some parts of the GBSLEP work through Employment and Skills Boards to deliver a range of initiatives and programmes to boost local skills, employability and job opportunities.

In southern Staffordshire, there is a need to understand what type of skills are required across the area, and Lichfield District Council is calling on local businesses to tender for a skills development plan.

The plan will include carrying out an employer skills survey, reviewing baseline skills data, reviewing economic strategies and skills plans in South Staffordshire and across the GBSLEP area, developing a skills position statement, and creating a skills plan for the South Staffordshire area.

The skills plan will include a map of key stakeholders and communication/engagement channels, identification and initial engagement with strategically important businesses, and scoping existing business networks.

Councillor Mike Wilcox, Leader of Lichfield District Council, said, “This is an important piece of work, and will help us to understand what skills we excel in and what skills we lack in across the area.  The aim of the work is to boost skills across southern Staffordshire and ultimately help to create thousands of new jobs.”

Find out more about the tender process, but visiting www.lichfielddc.gov.uk/skillstender.  The deadline for detailed proposals is Thursday 5 September 2013.  To find out more email oliver.dove@lichfielddc.gov.uk.

Conservative PCC Supports New Young People’s Crime Fighting Scheme

Staffordshire’s Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis is backing a new scheme which urges young people to do the right thing, set for launch in the autumn.

The scheme, part of Crimestoppers’ ‘Fearless’ campaign, will give non-judgemental advice and information to young people in schools to help them make the right decisions in difficult circumstances.

Mr Ellis met with regional Crimestoppers’ representatives to discuss the plans this week.

He said, “Tackling the root causes of crime by intervening early is a central part of my new Safer, Fairer, United Communities strategy.  Positively engaging young people is key to this – as we’ve already seen through the launch of the young Police Cadets initiative which I’ve instigated in Staffordshire.

“This Crimestoppers’ scheme will better equip youngsters to make the right choices and make it easier for them to report crime anonymously.  This follows a call to action issued to all Staffordshire people earlier this year when I decided, for the first time, to include direct promotion of Crimestoppers in all 500,000 council tax bills.

“Using the population’s eyes and ears is immensely powerful and could see Staffordshire become as close to a no-go zone for crooks and criminality as is possible. It’s about galvanising community pressure and knowledge and making criminality an unwanted and antisocial thing to do. Crimestoppers provides anonymity so people can do their duty for Staffordshire in the fight against crime.”

Crimestoppers is the only charity that guarantees complete and total anonymity for anyone who contacts them with information about crime or criminals. And usually there’s a cash reward which can be claimed secretly by the person providing information.

More information on the Fearless campaign – which urges young people to be “fearless against crime” – can be seen at www.fearless.org.

Eric Pickles Tells English Communities to Create and Fly Your Own Flags

Local communities across the country should create and fly their own flags to help them maintain their sense of civic pride, Conservative Minister Eric Pickles has suggested.

Mr Pickles, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, said villages, sports clubs and community groups should now design and fly their own flags after he relaxed planning rules.

Planning regulations which require express consent for flag flying will be scrapped in England from October 12. Currently, securing the permission costs as much as £335.  Rules on the number, size and siting of flags in all areas away from sensitive sites such as national parks or areas of outstanding natural beauty are also being relaxed.

Mr Pickles has welcomed a new guide launched by the Flag Institute which outlines how local groups can design and register a flag.  The Communities Secretary will this month display two flags, created by members of the public from the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, outside his Westminster office.

He said that community flags show that people’s “sense of belonging can’t be wiped out by a bureaucrat’s pen stroke on a map”.

“As a proud Yorkshireman, I’m delighted to see my compatriots in the Ridings are renewing their sense of local pride with these newly designed flags.  These new designs are absolutely great.”

Mr Pickles added, “This proves that your sense of belonging can’t be wiped out by a bureaucrat’s pen stroke on a map.  The new guide from the Flag Institute, the UK’s national flag charity, will lead to many more local flags being designed and registered and I look forward to flying them on the streets of Whitehall.”

Current rules technically require express consent for any flag attached to buildings under planning regulations in the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) (England) Regulations 2007.  Express consent is obtained from local authorities but typically requires a fee to be paid. Separate rules apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where the relaxation will not apply.

Last year the Union flag was flown permanently for the first time from Parliament.

Conservative PCC Scraps Policing Charges for Community Events

Policing charges for community events in Staffordshire have been scrapped by the county’s Conservative Police and Crime Commissioner.

Matthew Ellis, Staffordshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), said events with no commercial interest that “benefit the community” were now exempt from the charges.  He said the costs for events that require a police presence can reach up of £7,000, depending on their size.

Mr Ellis said. “The expectation is people will act as stewards, but there will still be police on site.”

He added the safety of community events would not be compromised.  Mr Ellis said residents already paid for policing through local and national taxes so did not see the value of them paying “a third time”.