These Tory cutbacks in care funding are KILLING people. Already thousands of people all over Britain who have had their care funding slashed or cut off and who are too ill to work or even to look after themselves properly are thought to have seen no option but to commit suicide because they can see no other way out. As the Tory 'Austerity Measures' cut ever deeper, there will be thousands more. Even the DWP have been obliged to admit that since 2012, up to 60 people have killed themselves as a direct result of cutbacks in care and benefit funding, and there are thousands more they will not admit to. Every week, there are stories of yet more disabled people denied the care they need, who are dying. There will be tens of thousands more who will be forced to live in worsening squalor and neglect because they can't pay for the care they need. The story of double amputee Mark Cotton, reported in the Telegraph and Argus on 15th November 2014 is just one of many. I am affected too; I have moderate to severe ME and am too ill even to shower without assistance, and have just had all of my care funding cut off. Many more people I know, members of Hampshire Friends with ME - some in even worse health than I am - have been denied any care funding at all. There will be a rise in hospital admissions as peoples' health is affected by neglect, leading to secondary problems and even malnutrition. At the same time, care companies are going out of business because people who need their help cannot afford to pay for the care they need; the latest casualty in my area is Both Worlds. If you are healthy and working now, but being paid so little that you cannot afford to save for retirement or emergencies, and you lose your health through accident or chronic illness, YOU COULD BE NEXT. You may need help, and find that there is none. The money exists, but the one percenters want to keep it all themselves in legalized tax dodges and corporate tax cuts amounting to billions of pounds. Don't believe the lie that there is not enough money, when the government does not hesitate to bail out the banks with billions of pounds of taxpayers' money while allowing global companies like Vodafone, Starbucks and Amazon to pay negligible tax on the profits they make in Britain. ORDINARY PEOPLE ARE DYING WHILE THE RICH MAKE THEMSELVES RICHER, and the gap between the wealth held by the richest and the poorest people grows ever wider. THIS INSANITY MUST END. CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE KILLER TORY CUTBACKS.

diabetes affects all ages, sex and ability/disability however when having the screening done everyone is rendered almost sightless for a few hours and therefore extremely vulnerable - if they have to travel to another town to get this screening it they would either have to have an escort and take several buses or an expensive taxi and some diabetics are old and disabled plus they may be alone therefore having the test done locally would suit all concerned

Because these people are youngsters

This is important for the fact children all over the country up to the age of 18 are being left to themselves to deal with a mental health condition. Having to wait months or even years to be seen for a review or a meeting. People aged 16-18 being left because they don't know what to do with them. With teachers not seeing that a child is self harming and trying to kill themselves which could help prevent anything drastic happening. The fact that mental health is still a taboo and the answer you get from a doctor when you speak up is it's exams or teenage angst is not professional in the slightest and is not right. This is the next generation now and we need to help them before its too late some funding for children's health services was cut 90% this is not okay.

For the last 5 years, pathology services at Guy's and St Thomas and King's College Hospital's have been managed by Viapath, a for-profit company formed between SERCO and the two hospital Trusts. Since the takeover by Viapath, the service has been plagued by problems; chronic understaffing, inability to recruit and retain, reduced training, closure of vital services and massive financial losses. Now the remaining NHS staff in the service face being transferred out of the NHS on the 1st January 2015. We oppose the transfer of staff and believe that to guarantee a quality and safe service for patients, the staff should remain part of the NHS, and all pathology services should be brought back into the NHS. The alternative is a the running down of a vital service for patients, and the loss of highly skilled and experienced staff. SERCO is a company notorious for poor services, bad employment practices and is being investigated for defrauding the government on other outsourcing contracts. Their involvement in the NHS can only jeopardise patient safety and damage the hospital’s reputation.

The Disabled Student’s Allowance (DSA) is a fund that covers the additional costs of attending university with a disability. It has enabled many thousands of students in the U.K to access higher education where this otherwise would not have been a possibility. A key part of the allowance goes to providing the assistance of support workers. Support workers see students regularly, depending on the student's needs, and are one of the most important aspects of support for students with disabilities at university. The government are proposing a cut to DSA that would remove the funding for a support worker (for full details of what aspects of DSA are being cut and which are remaining in place please see the link below(2)). According to a 2014 study by Randstad: “More than one in three students with a disability (34%) say they would definitely not have attended university without DSA support, while a further 36% are unsure if they would have originally attended. Less than one in three students with a disability (30%) would still definitely have decided to go to university without the support of the DSA.(1)” I am a support worker myself, and two of the students I support have said that they would not have made it through the first year of University without the support they received. I have seen first-hand what a difference the presence of support workers make to students’ experiences of university. It is in the Government’s interests, also, for the funding for support workers to be in place. In the long term, there is much more money to be saved by enabling a large proportion of people with disabilities to enter into work, and hence less reliant on the welfare system, by providing access to higher education. Disabled students who are granted DSA, assigning them support workers, are much more likely to complete their course and get a higher grade(1). The government are defending their decision to make cuts to DSA based on the fact that Higher Education Institutions would be obliged to fund support workers. Although, in theory, this is a legal requirement on the part of Higher Academic Institutions, this would create a market where admitting students with a disability would cost the university a great deal more than non-disabled students, and would result in some universities not providing the necessary quality or quantity of support. For more information on this issue please visit (1) http://www.disabilityrightsuk.org/news/2014/november/fight-dsa-cut and for the original statement from David Willetts see (2) https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/higher-education-student-support-changes-to-disabled-students-allowances-dsa. If you agree that a cut to DSA funding of support workers is unacceptable, please sign this petition. I will be writing to the three Brighton MPs for delivery on the 20th November, asking them to please vote against this decision, so the matter can come up for debate, and hope to have a wealth of signatures to back my request. Many Thanks, Priya.

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council is attempting to save money by drastically cutting the staffing levels of its library service to the point where we question whether it is in danger of breaching its obligations under the Public Libraries and Museums Act 1964. It is proposing to reduce the opening hours of libraries at a time when it is also requiring Wirral residents to communicate with the authority digitally via the internet. Residents who cannot afford broadband must rely on computers in their local libraries. The people who are trained to help them are the very librarians whose jobs are under threat. These proposed cuts will disproportionally affect the poorer people of the borough and also young people who use libraries for research and as a safe,supportive and quiet place for completing.homework and projects. At a time when the NHS is flagging up that the underlying cause of many illnesses is isolation and loneliness, our Local Authority is planning to restrict access to a valuable service which provides community cohesion and support to thousands of the most vulnerable people in our borough.

The Prime Minister has pledged that everyone should be able to see a GP 8am-8pm seven days a week. Despite this, NHS England have decided that from next September, two GP practices in Tower Hamlets which currently open these hours, the Barkantine Practice and St Andrews Health Centre, will only open 8am-6.30pm Monday-Friday and 9am to 1pm on Saturday. Similar cuts will affect hundreds of practices nationally. Along with 30-40% funding cuts, this means that these practices and others will struggle to stay open at all. Please do not allow these surgeries to close. Reverse the cuts and allow GP Surgeries to continue to provide the excellent services their patients benefit from.

Councillors have drawn up and progressed this option with no consultation or briefing with school staff, or any regard whatsoever for the 300 children who will be directly affected if the MAE becomes a residential or commercial property. We are alarmed by the speed of Merton's decision-making and distressed that Councillors have failed to consult - let alone consider - our school community in moving forward to identify their preferred option in isolation. We, the parents, carers, relatives and friends of Joseph Hood Primary School, demand that Merton rethink their "preferred option" until a full consultation has been carried out with the parents and staff of our school as well as with the school's neighbours. #JoHoSaysNO

Like many other people who watched the news on Wednesday 5th November, I was shocked by the article on children and young adults with autism locked away by councils in institutions across the country, far away from their families, where they were bullied and mocked by staff and in one case attacked by a fellow inpatient with a history of committing murder. As a nation we should protect these doubly vulnerable young people: under age and with mental health issues. We need to increase spending in this area so that preventative care can be given in the community; so that care homes are radically improved, and made available locally where needed; so that the people working in them can be properly vetted (salaries in the care industry generally need to increase hugely - not just those of managers, but workers on the ground) and finally so that there are sufficient facilities that children can be housed according to their needs, e.g. children with records of violence (especially of murder) housed separately to those without histories of violence. If bullying does take place the staff involved should be sacked, not simply 'retrained', but this can only happen if staff are paid a higher wage, their working conditions improved and there isn't such a dearth of people in the sector. On a separate but related note: the law which prevents parents from visiting their own children in these institutions should be reconsidered.

On 5th November 2014, Falmouth University announced the closure of their Contemporary Crafts degree. This degree, with historic roots in pottery & ceramics, is vital to the Cornish economy & creative culture. Let's not lose something with such personal, regional and national importance. There has been a ceramics/crafts course attached to the Falmouth School of Art since 1976, when Tom Cross was appointed Principal and the School continued to develop its resources by improving its sculpture studios and creating a new studio for ceramic sculpture. Adding ceramics to Falmouth School of Art, founded in 1902. The links between ceramics and crafts at Falmouth School of art and the wider economy cannot be underestimated with ex graduates flourishing both county, country and internationally. As we, as a society, increasingly lose the skills to make things and forget that not everyone wants to pursue academic studies, this is a course which applauds creativity and talent and maintains the nation’s skill bases. How can it be appropriate to close down one of the countries few excellent facilities? Again, a price has been placed on a course without considering the long term future of the individuals and future generations. How disappointing! The Contemporary Craft course isn't just about learning and training in a skill, it is about pushing boundaries, discovering new processes, working with inspirational peers and lecturers, and most of all a chance to explore who you are as a maker. We demand Falmouth School of Art reconsider this closure for the betterment of the school and the wider community. The cultural enrichment of ceramics and craft courses to both Cornwall and the wider community and the contributions Falmouth School of Art graduates make to the cultural development of the county, cannot be measured by spreadsheet. Sometimes the right choice is not about money and we would hope that upon realising the support for these courses both county and country wide, the University and its Director, Vice-Chancellor & CEO, will reconsider severing the ties between the vibrant crafts community and the university. as 38degrees petitions require a UK post code, if you are outside the UK and want to sign please send your name and comment to [email protected]

For 46 years Stonebridge playground has served the community. It has supported 3 generations of children and young people with special events, camping trips, and opportunities for fun and learning. It’s well-used and well loved. The playground has been crucial in the integration of many different ethnic and cultural groups including children with special needs. The playground has a lot of support not just from the community. Former Olympic gold medalist, Audley Harrison MBE, who attended when he was a boy, has championed our cause. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83x9Z61Edkk&feature=youtu.be And the local paper the Brent & Kilburn Times is behind the campaign: http://www.kilburntimes.co.uk/news/environment/stonebridge_adventure_playground_campaigners_reach_their_1_000_signature_petition_target_1_3826047 But we are a small charity fighting a large organisation, Brent Council. They want more homes and more school places for children. We say what happens after school, at weekends and in school holidays? Not just for the children of one school, but for many in this area; when there is nothing for them, nowhere to meet their friends, We need to save this sanctuary in the midst of a concrete jungle for children and young people!