Jo Churchill, MP voted through the cuts to the ESA (Employment Support Allowance) for new claimants in the WRAG (Work-Related Activity Group). It is hypocritical for Jo Churchill to be gaining positive publicity by participating in this organisation's fundraising event for people who may be left worse off by this bill. Headway's Chief Executive states: "Making cuts to benefits for disabled people who have been independently assessed as being unfit for work will cause unnecessary hardship, leading to isolation and anxiety, and potentially increase their long-term dependence on state support." https://www.headway.org.uk/news/national-news/government-forces-through-esa-benefit-cut/

No-one asks to be disabled. My partner has MS and was working right up until the disease struck. She bravely endures her disability, like many people do. Her ESA is a vital element to provide assistance and a small measure of Independence in a life, without which, would rapidly become completely joyless. Many other people rely upon this, too. This is not the action of a humane government.

Large population rely on proximity of Irlam sorting office.

The Bridge is a purpose built place for the Mentally ill people. It's an activity centre and a drop in centre with a cafe. The building is all on ground floor. There are gardens at the back and side for people to relax. The activities include Arts and Craft, Music Learning, Guitar Learning group - 'Dont Fret', Tabla (Indian drums) learning, Library, Choir meeting -- 'More than Just a Choir', WhyFI - for Paranoia, Pilates, Yoga, 30 Clients with Personal Independence Budgets attend for therapy. People with depression, Bipolar, Schizophrenia etc. etc. attend with great benefits to their daily life. The Northwick Park Hospital's Mental Heath Unit refers clients for further support from the services available at The Bridge. I had asked my family, two years ago, to take me to the Switzerland clinic to 'have me put down'. Then I heard of 'The Bridge' and attended the Choir -- ''More Than Just A Choir'' every Tuesday evening. This has turned my life around. The people receiving a great deal of therapeutic benefits will have to revert back to the overloaded GP services and the NHS -- waiting list. The attempt to close The Bridge will end up costing the community far greater!

The families of Corby depend upon the services provided by the local children's centres. Data shows that children in Corby statistically fair worse in education, income levels, life expectancy and health. Childrens centres mitigate against these challenges and further cuts to funding are unfair and indefensible.

Babington Hospital in Belper could be closed and services moved if plans are given the green light. Babington Hospital was completed in 1840 and has provided cherished care for thousands of Derbyshire people ever since, from newly born babies to older people who need care and support. This includes numerous clinics and rehabilitation services for patients, before they return home, in a caring and safe environment. The CQC inspection of May 2014 said Babington is Safe, Caring, Effective, Well-led and Responsive to patients needs. Belper and the surrounding areas NEED Babington Hospital to remain as it is; an NHS service for local people. If these services could be replicated or improved upon, in an equally accessible local place, consideration to such a plan may be possible.

Salford Royal wants to close down its kitchen and get rid of the chefs that prepare food for patients freshly every day. They plan to bring in a company to provide chilled or even frozen food from elsewhere. The hospital says it needs to spend money to upgrade the kitchen but with so-called 'cook-chill' food costing more in other Greater Manchester hospitals it's clear that the refurbishment would pay for itself - without ready meals being inflicted on patients. And ready meals are less popular than freshly cooked food according to patient surveys. Good nutrition is vital for recovery - with a fully working kitchen onsite the Royal can respond to its patients' needs. But once the kitchen is closed down it could be gone for good. Keep the Royal cooking!

GP practice is in decline in Hastings. Appointments are already limited and waiting times long, and why is this? There simply aren't enough doctors. Deficit in training doctors, the unfair terms of junior doctor contracts and the unattractive proposition of a general practitioners workload in comparison to their salaries has meant that there is a shortage in GPs. The lack of doctors and the state of health and healthcare services in a town as affected by poverty as Hastings, should be a priority. Today, checking local job listings, I found 12 positions for GPs in Hastings in just the first search page. Multiple practices in the area are short of doctors and are advertising to no avail, and a few of the remaining practices are currently offering "inadequate" services, not through incompetence but that there is not enough doctors to cover the workload. 5 Practices have been taken over by IMH, a private healthcare provider, these practices are also struggling to recruit doctors and provide care to standard for their approximately 20,000 patients. We need to act now, as the worst end result of this is not privatization but that while conditions are worsening and there is a paucity of care thousands of patients with serious morbidities could deteriorate, unable to be seen. A&Es are not the answer for these people as they are already overloaded and waiting times in Hastings are particularly high. We need to make a stand and we need to do it now, we need to tell the Government that we do not accept these standards of care.

The Friary site was gifted in 1920 by Richard Cooper MP for the ‘permanent use and benefit of the citizens of Lichfield’. It’s an important and historic public resource for the people of Lichfield and surrounding areas. It is not just a library building, but a fantastic community hub. The proposals to relocate to St Mary’s in the Market Square would see a drastic reduction in floor size, so the space for books, computers and various community groups will be greatly diminished. Library services are evolving and public funding is being slashed, but the County Council has a duty to ensure an open and democratic public consultation about the future of the site, before any decisions are made on the future of the building. The County has shown a lack of transparency on it's strategy for disposal and some details of the deal have only recently been disclosed. To achieve the disposal of the whole site requires the Library and Record Office to move out. The County Council is obviously motivated by the financial pressures they are under rather than the local community benefit the services and site provide. Once the site is sold, it will be lost to the people of Lichfield forever.

Chancellor George Osborne is committed to cutting a further 100,000 Civil Service jobs by 2020 and shrinking the entire Government Estate by 75% before 2023. Government services that the public rely on are being decimated as a result of job cuts. Examples from the Passport Office, HMCTS, Land Registry, HMRC, DWP and elsewhere show that cuts in the Civil Service are having a negative impact on service users. Communities are being cut-off from local services. The Civil Service is near to breaking point, the digital technology replacing local services untested and unstable making the planned cuts unsustainable. In Stoke-on-Trent the HMRC have announced that Blackburn House tax office will close by or before 2020 with the loss of between 250-300 jobs to the local economy. Locally DWP has lost around a third of its workforce in the area since 2010 to the detriment of service delivery and the welfare of its remaining workforce. The impact of the loss of this significant number of jobs to the local economy and labour market cannot be underestimated. There is no clear evidence that growth in private sector jobs within the area will replace these jobs. We call on the Government to halt the cuts to Civil Service jobs in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire and invest in Central Government services within the region.

At yesterday's Penge Forum meeting which was very well attended, standing room only, residents, trustees and councillor’s agreed to set up an action group led by Cllr Kevin Brooks, to work with and support the Trustees to devise a plan to make the services provided at Melvin Hall financially sustainable. Trustees had given notice of closure to LBB but the portfolio holder for care appeared to have listened to the residents demand to save this vital service in Penge, and he suggested there was a possibility of further rent relief payments and an opportunity of hiring out the halls when not required by Age Concern. This is just a very brief update on our last blog on the possible closure of Melvin Hall. This facility has not yet been saved, there is still a long way to go so work needs to start now to engage with the Trustees and LBB and take this fight forward. Ever since opening at the end of the second world war the Melvin Hall Day Centre’s main aim has been to increase the happiness of the older people of Penge.

Without my car, I'm not safe. I use my vehicle to get to work, the supermarket, the shops, the cleaners, the hairdressers, to visit family, to volunteer, to do everything I need to do. Without my car, I cannot get about. I cannot safely walk to the bus stop, and should I use public transport I have no guarantee that my mobility will remain long enough for me to get to my destination or even get home. I've been stranded in city centres and other places because I used public transport and then wasn't strong enough to return to a bus stop and get home. Many people with motability vehicles rely on these to get by. Without my car, I couldn't work. If I can't work, I can't pay my rent. If I can't pay my rent, I don't have anywhere to live - disabled people are facing these choices today. Many disabled people have 'mild-moderate' support needs. That means, social services cannot afford to help them in this climate of cuts and their only way forward is disability benefits or a motability vehicle. Without the motability vehicle, we become vulnerable. We can exert ourselves, get weaker, get to a place where we become more reliant on the state, cannot work, cannot socialise and collectively cost more in healthcare. That argument doesn't matter though. What matters is that collectively we have a right and a need to access a full and equivalent life and bit by bit rights are being stripped away. Re-evaluate and stop removing people's motability cars.