The East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust (EKHUNHSFT) is responsible for five hospitals across East Kent. In a recent meeting with the interim CEO of the trust, Chris Bown, 38 Degrees members learned that A&E and maternity services were at risk of closure. He stated that “current provision is unsustainable in East Kent”. He warned that there will be proposals released early next year that will be "radical and substantial". He added that the proposals will be "politically controversial" and that he fully expected public protest. A&E and maternity services were highlighted as particularly vulnerable. Chris Bown’s previous six month appointment at Stafford Hospital resulted in the loss of the hospital’s A&E and consultant led maternity services. He has been given a twelve month contract at EKHUNHSFT to carry out similar cuts. It would be totally unacceptable to close or cut any of Kent’s A&E departments in Ashford, or Thanet They serve a large and growing population and the closure of one, let alone two, would result in greatly increased journey times leading to unnecessary deaths. Likewise, retaining the existing consultant led maternity services at all sites is essential for the safety of mothers and new born babies. Closure of any of the existing services will place unmanageable strain on the rest of East Kent’s health provision. The safety of East Kent residents cannot be allowed to be compromised in this way.

On 14th September the Vice Chancellor and Student Services Director at the Open University announced plans to close seven English regional centres in Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol, Birmingham, Leeds, Gateshead and London. They claim this is with the aim of putting students first and giving them a better support services experience. 500 highly qualified, experienced and dedicated staff members stand to lose their jobs or face having to compete to retain their posts at another location with all the disruption this causes. Worst of all is that their academic and student support expertise would be lost. The Open University has already closed one regional centre and transferred student services from a regional to a faculty based model. This already means that students who once could have all their support needs met in one team might now have to contact as many as four separate teams for this. Increasing reliance on online resources also leaves students floundering when they could previously speak to a student support expert as a first resort. The plans to close offices and jettison staff teams with as much as 190 years of academic and student support experience among them, for new, inexperienced staff working in call centre conditions are only likely to further reduce the quality of service students can expect

In the 18 years I have lived in Norfolk there have been a substantial number of accidents that have resulted in death and serious injury on the A148 due to poor visibility and failure to give way. There have been two serious accidents at this junction in the last week and I have also been personally affected by this issue when my parents were involved in a crash in the same location a few years ago. On the 14th of May 2006 a pedestrian died after an accident and on the 1st of March 2010 a woman died and two others were seriously injured in a collision with a JCB tractor. This is just two of many more fatal crashes on the crossroad and just two of the many people who have been killed. The crossroad is far too dangerous and I do not want to see more people lose their lives and loved ones. A roundabout would calm traffic and certainly reduce accidents.

Hundreds of children and young people with autism/learning disabilities and mental health problems across the uk are being shipped miles away from their families because there are no provisions in their own locality. As Norman Lamb said " we wouldn't ship a child hundreds of miles away for a broken leg, why are we doing to children with mental health problems." This has disastrous consequences for not only the child, but their loved ones. Often families find it financially difficult to travel, emotionally draining having to listen to their loved one heartbroken in an unfamiliar environment 100s of miles from home, their condition often deteriorates leaving their recovery period much longer and more painful, children are often drugged and restrained as a means of treatments (control) This barbaric treatment has to stop, children should be in their own locality and received the necessary treatment they need surrounded by their family. If no such provision is available then bespoke placements should be built around the home locality of that child and specialist experts in their condition be available. Children and young people have a voice and should be heard, they should be listened to and every effort made to adhere to their wishes and feelings and not ignored and dismissed as the NHS says EVERY CHILD MATTERS!!!!

The offer of affordable fresh fruit and vegetables should be available at all hospital sites, surely it's preferable to have a healthy option than having fast food or snacks and chocolates. The fruit and vegetables are sold by local people who are in danger of losing their jobs, but this is also about supporting our local economy.

There are so many unfortunate families out there who struggle to finance healthy, nutritious meals for their children let alone finance any food at all. A daily free school dinner could be the difference between a child surviving and starving to death. Just think how much pressure this will take off the parent who is struggling, worrying, preying for a bit of help, All children deserve a healthy, nutritious diet not just the smaller generation or children who come from more fortunate back grounds. We have homeless shelters and open kitchens for adults and such like so why shouldn't we be giving back to the children too? Children are vulnerable and should not be taken for granted they deserve the option!

A large agricultural anaerobic digestion plant is planned in East Lothian, between Longniddry and Ballencrieff on the B1377. The plant will convert energy crops and agricultural by products into gas which will be fed into the national grid. It will be the largest agricultural (non-food) in Scotland and one of the largest in the UK, three times the size of the current largest agricultural plant. We believe the plant will have a detrimental effect on the local environment, and pose serious risks to wildlife. Other issues such as increased HGV traffic, noise, and odour will also be of concern to local residents and commuters along this road alike. The site sits in an area of outstanding natural beauty, with the size, and especially height of the development far in excess of any other nearby structures. It will also sit less than 400m from residential property. The proposals are not yet on the online planning portal, but we expect them to be very soon. There will be a short window where objections can be lodged against the proposal and we will provide more details as they become available.

The establishment of the West Midlands Combined Authority is the most important change in regional local government in the last 25 years. The new authority will have a budget of many billions of pounds. There are genuine concerns about the extent to which members of the new Combined Authority will be democratically accountable to local people in the control of both policy and finance.

Labour is launching a ‘Better Buses for Littlemore’ campaign. “It’s a scandal that Littlemore residents don’t get the same standard of bus service as people in Blackbird Leys or Rose Hill”, says Labour councillor, John Tanner. “With the number 16 only turning up every half an hour, and the T2 every hour with nothing on Sundays, it’s no wonder people get in their cars, adding to traffic on the roads”, says John. “More people are moving into Littlemore and we need a much more frequent bus service”. This petition calls on Stagecoach and Oxford Bus to dramatically improve the buses in Littlemore. “We need a regular 15 minute service with routes serving the centre of Oxford, the Cowley Shopping Centre and the Littlemore Science Park”, says John.

This petition is highly important to myself and my family, our friends and the local community. This is because on 6th September 2015 my cousin Jarrad Joseph Grainger took his own life, he was only 21 years old. I am starting this petition on behalf of my auntie Nadine West - Jarrad's mother. We are wanting to stop this from happening to more people as this is an all to common occurrence these days. We need help in reinstating 24/7 care for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in Kingston upon Hull. Vulnerable patients do often need 24/7 care and sometimes need to stay in units for anywhere between a few days and months at a time, the closest unit to Hull is approximately 42 miles away meaning that when children/adolescents need to stay in the units they are kept many miles away from their families making it hard for them to visit making them feel even more isolated. We need to improve the care that Hull and East Yorkshire currently has to make it ALOT better than it is, patients need better care and for it to be more accessible. People searching for help who contact these Charities are often left for days or weeks without a reply to the shout for help, we need to change this urgently! The stigma surrounding Mental Health and Illness needs stopping, we need to raise more awareness about this to give people a better understanding, the more people that know about Mental Health/Illness the better chance we have at helping those in need. We couldn't help Jarrad and we lost him, we were too late. So we will do this in his memory, we will help those we still can. We will improve the services in Hull and East Yorkshire and we will prevent people deteriorating from Mental Health/Illness and we will save them. Jarrad Joseph Grainger, Forever Young - this is for you xx

1,000 horses are slaughtered each year and more than 370 are raced to death in the UK alone. The Government is encouraging people to bet on horse races and then take tax away from all winnings. Horse racing isn't needed to sustain the betting industry anymore. It kills innocent animals, fuels the rich and takes money from the people betting. The whole system is immoral - for the horses and the people.

The existing school funding model is unfair. The ten best funded areas in England will receive an average grant of £6,297 per pupil this year, compared to an average of just £4,208 per pupil in the ten most poorly funded areas. It means that schools around the country that are similar can get very different budgets, and children with the same needs can receive very different levels of financial support depending on where they go to school. Gloucestershire (including Cheltenham of course) is one of the worst-funded authorities in the country and is a member of F40, a group made up of poorly funded local authorities and has been making the case for a fairer funding system. Ministers have recognised the problem and promised to address it. We welcome this, together with the Government's confirmation that the additional £390 million awarded in 2015/16 as a “down payment” towards fairer funding will be included in the funding baseline for future years. We are now looking to the Government to deliver a truly fair funding settlement. At a time of spending restraint it is more important than ever that funding is allocated based on need. F40 has come up with a formula which would see the funding cake shared much more fairly. This has received a positive response from funding experts at the Department for Education. The f40 proposals would: • introduce a new national formula, based on a clear rationale and geared towards improving educational standards across the country; • include core entitlement at a pupil level, reflecting different needs and costs at various key stages; • use factors to reflect pupil level needs beyond the core entitlement, including deprivation and special educational needs, and reflect the needs of small schools that are necessary in a local authority’s structure; and • continue to use Dedicated Schools Grant, with blocks for mainstream schools, high needs and early years. Local authorities would be free to move funding between the blocks. We believe this formula can help deliver a solution. We want the children in our schools to continue to have a broad range of subjects to study, good resources to use, well maintained buildings, reasonably sized classes and excellent pastoral support. Fairer funding is integral to all of this, and we urge the Government to deliver it.