Essex County Council have packaged all their health, well-being and family services for residents from pre-birth to 19 years and have decided to let the contract to run them to Virgin Care. Good childcare is vital for the future of this country and this move can only serve to reduce the quality of childcare in Essex. The services affected include: • Health visitors • Children's Centres • Family Nurse Partnership • The 0-5 Healthy Child Programme • The 5-19 Programme This takeover represents an example of creeping privatisation of services to a situation where there is reduced accountability and a strong possibility of cuts to hard working staff and their employment rights. The NHS and its related services should remain a publicly provided, publicly funded health service for the benefit of all UK citizens, not for the benefit of those who wish to make a profit. Virgin Care Ltd pays no corporation tax in the UK and should therefore not profit from the UK taxpayer. It is part of a group whose ultimate parent company is based in the British Virgin Islands, which is a tax haven. Virgin Care has been quietly picking up multi million healthcare contracts across the UK to run at the taxpayers expense for the benefit of their offshore shareholders. (source: http://bit.ly/virgincareprofile) Help us tell Essex County Council we don't want Virgin Care in Essex.

If Rupert Murdoch has full control of Sky TV then in my opinion too much UK news media will be in the control of one person/company.

We believe that this takeover would not be in the public interest and that the plurality of the UK’s media landscape would be seriously diminished if it went ahead. Our media is already dominated by a handful of very powerful organisations that exert huge control over the national conversation.

There is currently a proposal to make 20 million pounds worth of cuts to the Birmingham Parks Budget . This means reducing staffing in the 6 major parks down to only 2 hubs with these expected to manage every other country park and park space run by BCC in the whole of Birmingham. This will mean no more supported schools groups, a huge reduction and diminishment to our green spaces, no more eco action and nature events ... or secret santa, or nursery for plants to make our city beautiful, no more community action liaison work, no more drug and alcohol support group work, no more keeping an eye on our country parks to keep them safe places for us to visit, reduced visitor centres and significantly less maintenance of these precious spaces across our city. Without regular care will fall into dereliction and disrepair. We need these major parks for our kids to play in, for us to walk in and keep fit, and we want to know they are staffed and safe! Birmingham is the UK's second city with the most green space of any uk city these spaces don't just look after themselves. They need dedicated care to remain the nurturing places we all know and love. Unfortunately central conservative government has slashed the council budget for Birmingham (a labour council) disproportionately compared to say that of conservative Oxford. It's not right!!! The consultation document is worded to try and get those who do respond to agree to these draconian cuts as a good idea...we need to stop them and the consultation is only open to respond to until the first week in January 2017.

I was fortunate as an MP to be sitting near Michelle Thomson MP in the House of Commons, Westminster, London in December 2016 when she spoke of having been raped as a teenager. Her act of speaking up has already had a profound impact. I acknowledge other parliamentarians have also spoken up, but more could do so. Parliamentarians, whether male or female, and regardless of whether they have suffered from violence, should do more to speak up and legislate where appropriate. This petition is a small contribution to allow people to acknowledge the need to support parliamentarians willing to accept their responsibility to do more.

I am begging people to get behind this campaign.My sister who has a spinal degenerative disease and needs regular pain killing injections in order to function has received a letter from the NHS in Blackburn that funding has been refused for ongoing treatment. She is certainly no alone, and there could be many other people affected by this decision. She has had to pay 864.00GBP in order to get a pain killing injection from her specialist today. What is going on? This is not a cosmetic face lift or botox, we are talking about a pain killing injection that is necessary for her to function. Please help me to expose what is happening to innocent people, many of whom are not in a position to pay. They are being referred back to their GP's who are going to be overwhelmed with patients needing this care. Please help. xxx I am not only fighting for this treatment for my sister but to all the other patients who have received similar letters advising them that their treatment is no longer available.

This farm has become an integral and important part of East Birmingham life. It has been visited by hundreds of thousands of families since opening many years ago. It offers an opportunity for children, many of who are from an underprivileged background, an opportunity to see farm animals at very close quarters. They are able to engage with the animals and ask questions of the friendly staff. It is a local institution. The farm also offers a magnificent opportunity for local young adults with a variety of special needs and challenging backgrounds to volunteer as "workers" on the farm. They give their time freely, their only reward being the personal progress they make in terms of independence and interaction with society. It would be a disgraceful reflection on all of Birmingham's Council Tax payers and Councillors for these vulnerable young adults to see all of their hard work dashed and their achievements (both in terms of the farm and their personal development) destroyed.

Lost beds in Derbyshire could mean that people are sent home to recover from illnesses rather than being kept under observation. Let’s make sure that our NHS doctors can make decisions they think are best for patients. Our NHS is already being starved of funds. The percentage of Government spending on healthcare in 2015-16 was 6.6%. It used to be close to 10%. We are now spending about the same as Slovenia and Iceland and behind Greece and Belgium. While there is a need to join-up care in Derbyshire this is being done in the context of £22 billions cuts in the NHS and may well result in loss of nearly a third of hospital beds in Derbyshire. How can we afford to lose more beds? This continued degradation of the NHS will foster the call for further break-up of the NHS and selling off to the private sector. Created on behalf of the Derbyshire NHS SOS Campaign

The global grass roots Fair Trade movement is under threat and we need to act now to dispel the myth that the Fair Trade global movement is coming to an end. In light of the Fairtrade Foundation's announcement that they are proud to be partnering with Cadbury, to expand their cocoa sourcing program - Cocoa Life - which will include a FAIRTRADE Mark on a product that does not contain FAIRTRADE cocoa. We the undersigned call on the UK and European Fair Trade movement to unite in expressing our grave concern that this is a further watering down of the Fair Trade Principles that underpin the global Fair Trade movement. Gaining access and winning over the big players of the market was never the intention of Fair Trade. We call on ALL the Fair Trade players, in the UK and Europe, to resist the downgrading of Fair Trade by the dominant players, to a market driven charity! We call on all Fair Trade stakeholders, in the UK, including the Fairtrade Foundation, to unite under one banner to form a constituted National Platform, representing the voice of the whole UK movement. A platform that empowers the producer to set the price - a bottom up approach that is based on a social and environmentally responsible economy. A special place where producers set their price and engage in a sustainable mutually rewarding relationship with their customers and which encourages responsible consumers.

A UK Cross Country network requires that passengers and potential passengers have to make as few changes en route as possible. If Aberden passengers and passengers between Aberden and Edinburgh have to chage trains at Edinburgh Waverley rail travel is no longer attractive. Connections will be missed. It wil be difficult for passengers with a lot of luggage, children, or are disabled or infirm to move across Edinburgh Waverley to find a so called connecting train or in many cases impossible for people to use the trains if they have to change trains. Chaining trains is not attractive to passengers.

A short while ago I had a nusance neighbour and was asked to provide information to the police by a housing association every time the neighbour caused a disturbance on the 101 service It wasn't until I got my bill that I found out that was charged every time I had called. Ordinarily a one off charge once in a blue moon but on one occasion I had phoned in 7 -8 times a day This soon adds up. Luckily for me it was only for a few weeks. The person was later charged and moved to a different location. And my family was thanked for their help. The crux is that if I called 999 every time I wouldn't have been charged. As yet I do not know if the other networks charge for connecting to the 101 service or even the 111 service

Don’t stop the 2 bus from Hopping: maintain the 2 bus service at three buses an hour. A plea to Stagecoach (South West), to restore the regular three buses an hour to and from Exeter and Dawlish and Teignmouth, and to introduce an express bus service which only calls at bus-stops on the A379 during peak commuting times. The current bus timetable, which commenced on 3rd January 2017, features a drastically-reduced bus service between Dawlish and Exeter, especially during the peak commuting times. For people who work in Exeter between the Topsham Road, Barrack Road, Heavitree Road, and the Exeter bus station, the two buses an hour during peak times is an insult to hard-working people who are suffering from having to stand on double-decker buses. Similarly, for the schoolchildren and young people who use the ‘Hop 2’ bus * to attend schools and colleges in Exeter, many of which are accessed along Barrack Road, and Heavitree Road. (The 2b bus service does not service these bus-stops.) The cuts in service greatly affects not only the working population of Teignmouth, Kingsteignton, Bishopsteignton, Dawlish, Cockwood, Starcross, Kenton, and Exminster, who use the ‘Hop 2’ service to get to and from work, for example at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital – both sites, and at Devon County Council’s HQ at Topsham Road; the school-children and young people who use the Hop2 service to get to and from school or college. The cuts in the 2 service affects all sections of the communities of Dawlish, Cockwood, Kenton, Starcross, Bishopsteignton, Kingsteignton, and Teignmouth; not only from the reduction in the number of buses on in the reduced Hop2 service, but also from the resultant over-crowding of the buses that are running on the 2 bus service. If, as Stagecoach maintain, the route is not commercially viable, we urge that instead of cutting the service, that Stagecoach South West looks at ways of making the 2 bus service viable. If a town in East Devon is allowed to maintain its service of four buses an hour, we urge that Stagecoach explore options to better the current service, and increase viability for the Hop2 bus service, for example with express buses that only stop at bus-stops on the main route, the A379. The people of Dawlish, Teignmouth, Kingsteignton, Bishopsteignton, Starcross, Cockwood, and Kenton, deserve equal treatment. Furthermore, with all the new housing developments, planned and in progress, there are many more people looking for ways to get to work, the shops, and to colleges. We urge that Devon County Council keeps to its plans for sustainable transport for all, and to work with the Stagecoach, the local bus operator to improve the public transport bus service in the Hop 2 area. A well-maintained, Hop2 bus service, with increased efficiency, and an express bus service, will increase opportunities for all in our communities. We, the undersigned urge that Stagecoach improves the current Hop2 bus service, with an express bus service and 3 buses an hour during peak commuting times and the busy season on the number 2 route. ‘Hop 2’ bus is the name that is used on all vehicles running on the 2 bus service route. *