Mears helps the elderly to remain in their own homes. Elderly neighbours and relatives have found this service vital when they did not know who else to turn to. The cost is reasonable and the workmen are very good and caring.

Swindon Council plan to Decommission the following five children’s centres currently provided by 4Children service to achieve a reduction in the budget for this service  Drove  Moredon  Gorse Hill  Pinehurst & Penhill  Parks & Walcot East Instead, create a new family support service running from Penhill Sure Start Centre offering targeted help for families with vulnerable children Utilise the remaining four children’s centre buildings for early years’ education and wider community-based services The two family centres at Butterflies in Abbey Meads and West Swindon Family Centre are not affected by these proposals and continue to be funded in 2016/17 as part of the two year funding commitment made in 2015. This will also apply to the Ladybird Centre, Highworth Please also complete the consultation www.swindon.gov.uk/childrenscentres

For those with neurological-developmental disorders, including mild autism and autism without a disability, there are no specialised community services for adults with such disabilities. Social workers and doctors are dealing with those with more mild to moderate learning and neurological-developmental, including asperger syndrome and autism without a learning disability, but have no specialist resources, therapy, or idea on how to support these specific group of adults. I want all local social services and NHS teams through England and in all counties to give adults with autism and asperger syndrome an allocated social worker or doctor that is specifically specialised in long-term developmental disorders. But many people with this disabilities are ignored, given the wrong support, or are forgotton. So the all the government, social services, and MP's needs to implement specialised community teams for adults with long-term and mild to moderate developmental disorders, with specialised social workers, psychiatrists, and advocacy teams. At the moment, alot of high-functioning autistic adults get classed as having more emotional or mental problems, if they do not have a learning disability label on top of their autistic diagnosis - but many autistic adults are not mentally ill, they have a neurological developmental disorder. So the government needs to stop throwing autistic adults into the mental health sector teams and start opening up specialised teams through out the UK that only deal with autism related disorders, including asperger syndrome.. Some areas do have adult clinics for asperger syndrome and mild autism sufferers, but many areas don't - Derbyshire, as I know, do not offer specialised social services workers or NHS staff to adults with asperger syndrome. You can get diagnosed with asperger syndrome now, in Derbyshire, for example...but there are not specialised teams available, so some of us with asperger syndrome get allocated into the mental health system which is unfair, and this means we don't get the proper treatment.. So all local authorities needs to now step up and make it law that all counties must have specialised community teams through the UK and not just in certain parts of the country. So many adults with autism and asperger syndrome, especially those that cannot access learning disability teams, are being left out and not receiving adequate long-term support from their local nhs and social services team. Many autistic and asperger syndrome syndrome adults need more long-term and specialised support, in order to gain the community support that they deserve. This will mean that adults with asperger syndrome and high-functioning autism could access proper treatment and social care. If we could have proper social care teams and NHS clinics that offer specialised support tailored around all areas of the UK, then we could get the right to lead a normal and healthy life. This will improve the quality of families, adults affected with asperger syndrome and autism, and any money can be put into getting adults with aspergers/autism into a good cause.

The proposals were developed in consultation with the local community, prioritising feedback from rough sleepers at the group's weekly Love Kitchen. Love Activists hope to gather 1250 signatures to force the council to debate the proposals at a full council meeting. Reasoning/Rationale: 1. In May, the Supreme Court ruled that when local authorities make vulnerability assessments, a 'homeless person' should be compared with an 'ordinary person who is at risk of becoming homeless'. There is no doubt that any homeless person is 'significantly more vulnerable' than an ordinary person, therefore everybody living on the street should be assessed as being in priority need. The judgement also made it clear that while councils are often under huge financial strain, this must not be used as an excuse for avoiding their legal duties. To guarantee duty of care and legal obligations are met, all local authorities must provide permanent housing for anybody living on the streets. 2. Housing first pilot project had a 70% success rate in Brighton & Hove - helping 7 out of 10 people with high support needs into accommodation. 3. Extended winter provision: additional services provided over a period of time e.g. every night from November to March. If the material resources exist to provide shelter from a severe weather emergency, economic arguments against keeping the shelters open are not as powerful as the humanitarian ones for opening them. (Copy & pasted from 'Homeless Link') Humanitarian Response: SWEP should be applied responsibly to prevent death at all times; 3 consecutive nights at zero or below is the minimum requirement. Local authorities should consider factors such as wet weather and wind chill, snow coverage and duration of extreme weather when looking at provision. Preventing deaths on the streets is the aim of the protocol, so if this demands more beds and a longer response the local authority should do everything it can to prevent harm to individuals. Economics cannot change the weather any more than economics can determine people's relative vulnerability to each other. 4. It doesn't have to be severely wet to have a severe impact if you're sleeping on the streets. Severely windy, wet weather is an emergency, as is extremely hot, dry weather. Homeless Link offers advice and guidance to BHT, St Mungo's and Brighton & Hove City Council. Currently their minimum definition of severe weather is when the temperature drops below zero for three consecutive nights. (Copy & pasted from 'Homeless Link') There is no strict definition of what counts as ‘severe weather’. Local authorities should proactively identify any weather that could increase the risk of serious harm to people sleeping rough and put measures in place to minimise this. This includes extreme cold, wind and rain. It is important not to presume when, or in what form, severe weather will occur. Sleeping rough is never comfortable, but the suffering is exacerbated by all elements It doesn't have to be severely wet to have a severe impact if you're sleeping on the streets. ('Homeless Link') http://www.homeless.org.uk/sites/default/files/site-attachments/Winter%20provision%20guidance%202015-16.pdf 5. If this doesn't happen there will be no truly affordable places to live and more people will inevitably become homeless. 6. This would make use of empty properties, keep people safe and avoid waste of tax payers money, private money and time spent on security, policing and court costs. (Copy & pasted from 'Homeless Link') In addition to the direct risk associated with severe weather, local authorities should work alongside other local statutory and voluntary services to identify and mitigate actions taken during severe weather that can increase risk for those sleeping rough. For example, people may choose to sleep in riskier places, such as in bins, where they can find cover. They may also enter buildings or property illegally, or increase their substance use as a coping mechanism. 7. No single authority can successfully move to implement all of these measures, because if they 'move first', their service capacity would risk being overwhelmed by people migrating to that local authority. Therefore, we must work towards implementing these measures nationally. [email protected] twitter.com/loveactivists_ facebook.com/loveactivistsbrighton

We think there are 10.2 million hypothyroid patients in the UK so this is a significant number. The NHS won't prescribe (see research links on Prezi below) anything other than Levothyroxine because Levo costs £26 a year and T3 costs £1300 per patient per year. This is a case of mindset myopia because our research indicates that the long term cost to the NHS and taxpayer is much higher through prescribing extra medication and hospitals referrals required due to associated conditions such as high blood pressure, heart problems and mental illness etc. The lack of interests from GPs has pushed many hypothyroid patients to self-medication because they are fed up of feeling ill. This means patients are taking strong hormones with no supervision. My Prezi contains the full list of links for the research to put my presentation together - http://prezi.com/0ljwmhl87lnv/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share

Given the choice between purchasing eggs from caged or free range hens, the British public have proven that they care enough about animal welfare to have this inform their purchasing decisions. Independent research has found that 79% of UK consumers take animal welfare into account when shopping, yet most of the method of production labelling in this country is still voluntary and insufficiently regulated and enforced. http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/foodlabelling/works Requiring those manufacturers who source meat from intensive "factory" farms to declare this on their packaging by law would help consumers make an informed choice at the point of purchase, while encouraging people to think about where their food comes from and the quality of life the animals involved receive before they become our dinner. The research indicates that 8 out of 10 British shoppers would support this, and the "Labelling Matters" campaign offers a tool for lobbying DEFRA and the EU as individuals with regard to chicken meat: http://www.rspca.org.uk/getinvolved/campaign/foodlabelling/takeaction http://www.onekind.org/campaigns/food_labelling/ It is our opinion that this does not go far enough; and we think that pigs, sheep, cows, and fish deserve the same consideration as chickens. In addition, the meat industry is a major contributor to climate change, and intensive farming methods exacerbate this. While it is unrealistic to expect people to stop eating meat all together, this move would give consumers an indication as to how much their purchasing choices contribute to this global crisis. http://www.cowspiracy.com/ http://www.fawf.org.uk/documents/FAWF_Labelling_Food_FINAL.pdf

This is important because these are vulnerable people who often don't have a voice. Clearly the city council just want to get rid of them from the city. Everyone surely has a right to bedding! Rather than criminalisation, the council should do more to help.

We are currently seeing an ever growing number of homeless sleeping on the streets of ALL of our local towns just before the weather makes a turn. We cannot hide from the fact we are in the middle of a national social housing crisis. Pressure is needed to do up derelict homes and building and fill them not to mention our social housing stock increased. Those that are eligible for social housing have to 'bid' for their new property and each will be issued a priority rating. This can be different in different councils, so some may be on a point system of like our council, Thanet - a banding between 'A' being highest priority, and 'D' lowest. What has caught my attention more than anything is how the priority for homelessness in many districts has gone from an A to an automatic 'C' for instance here in Thanet, leaving people on the streets or in bed and breakfast costing 4 - 5 times as much per week to the tax-payer as the rent for a bedsit or 1 bedroom flat. We deal with those that are homeless and those facing homelessness day in day out with more rough sleepers than ever in our towns, cities and seaside areas. We see young and old, able and disabled, those from many backgrounds or situations. We see families torn apart, we see children infested with bed bug markings from poor quality but expensive B & B temporary accommodation. People will be placed for months, often years, on that Band C waiting to be housed. This involves paying rent for that room at 4 - 5 times as much as the average rent for a property. The cheapest rate being £35 per night at a B&B facility works out at £1050 pcm Local Authority allowances would pay a maximum of £350 pcm rent for this person when in premises. A huge difference of over £600 pcm being spent awaiting a tenancy. We are asking our Prime minister and council leaders to consider this alternative option At around £20,000 per container that comfortably sleeps 10, this will not only provide temporary shelter while the country plays catch up on previous failures of keeping up with housing needs for a growing and ageing population. These will allow people facing homelessness to be able to register themselves with doctors, be able to set up and access a bank account, and claim the benefits they need to get them on their feet in many cases. These have already proven a huge success in Brighton. It will keep people rough sleeping facing enforcement notices for rough sleeping on council. It will improve the health, prospects and chances of people facing rough sleeping and give voluntary organisations like the one I volunteer with, a better chance of more effectively working with clients to support them in successful tenancies in the future. It will also save a great deal of public money as will be spent more effectively. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-28035388

This once again will hit the poorer families and the sick and disabled! Why do this section of the public have to suffer to repay the monies stolen/lost by the bankers? Yet MP's find its ok to give themselves an 11% pay rise. Their 'Rich' friends lost the countries money they should be made to repay it by increasing their taxes! Let those who can afford pay! This section of society are already struggling, many have committed suicide as they can no longer cope with the stress of all the cuts and reductions in their income. Its discrimination by the Government to Cut only benefits that the poorer people are entitled to claim!

It's important as twice myself and my fiancé have had to scrip and scrap to have enough money just to get to and from the ATOS assessment centre in Hartlepool when I claimed ESA and we have to do the same again for my PIP assessment this Thursday as I cannot walk to the assessment centre as it's too far away from where me n my fiancé live and also because I have mobility problems with my left leg.

It is estimated that supermarkets waste around 180,000 tonnes of food each year, with far higher waste in the supply chain caused by their unnecessary cosmetic standard policies, which contribute towards waste of around 3 million tonnes in the supply chain. In Norwich there are over 7,000 children living in poverty, with the effects of childhood malnutrition lasting a lifetime at a significant cost to the taxpayer, with increased spending on social services, criminal justice, healthcare and extra educational support arising from an upbringing below the breadline. The need to redistribute unsold food to those who can’t afford to feed themselves has become so urgent that a number of organisations have recently joined together to form Norwich Food Hub – which aims to collect food from supermarkets, bring it to a central city-centre location for sorting, and redistribute it to community groups helping those in food poverty. Since forming we’ve been in contact with over 15 organisations interested in receiving food, including 6 breakfast and after-school clubs for young children. By supplying to these groups alone we could be feeding over 250 people each day. Using food waste to feed the hungry is not a solution to food poverty. That should be addressed through fair and sustainable welfare policies. However whilst both food waste and food poverty co-exist we need to organise so that this food can be used to help people in need. Support from the Council would go a long way to achieving our aims and reducing food poverty in our city.

The amount of homeless people on Newcastle's streets has risen visibly and dramatically, particularly in the last year. When temperatures in the city inevitably reach freezing this winter, I want to be able to offer them a shelter in unused and empty buildings. Please do your bit now and sign this petition.