The BBC is a fundamental part of British culture. It has provided the backdrop for citizens lives in this country for over half a century. It is already working to a very tight budget in difficult times. Taking production budgets to pay for a social welfare policy will undermine the quantity and quality of content.

Homelessness is not a crime and affects people from all walks of life and criminalising it is criminal in itself - targeting those with nothing to pay nonsensical fines. It is our duty to care for people who have fallen on harder times and affording Cheshire Police more powers to simply move the 'problem' on beggars belief. Simply having provisions for the homeless who fit the 'ideal' criteria of a privatised 'care' provider (Richmond Court) is not good enough and will disperse the rough sleepers leaving our most vulnerable even further out of reach of help and causing more issues with them, residents and businesses alike.

My son just like many other children like to play under trees in the park. Imagine my horror when I realised that a chemical called glyphosate had been used in the public area he and his friends chose to play in. The tell-tale signs are all around the Wadards Meadow area of Cogges in Witney, but this petition is to ask Cottsway to withdraw its use on every public area managed by they in any part of the district and country. There are many questions about glyphosate's safety and various studies have highlighted many concerns. Whilst glyphosate's safety is in question, we politely and with respect ask that Cottsway Housing Association stops using immediately. Find out more about glyphosate here: http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2379278/glyphosate_is_a_disaster_for_human_health.html

Many of the working poor, sick and disabled are on a knife-edge as to whether they lose their homes, can continue working, end up in hospital, breakdown, die or commit suicide. The DWP have been fighting the figures for deaths of those found 'fit to work'. The media typically don't report the plight of the working poor or those needing benefits (in or out of work). Councils are given more and more responsibility so that their spending power looks good when they cry out about cuts. The government cuts-back the funding before handing over responsibility. Councils then have to hurt their residents. The people must be given a choice. If Greeks can do it, so can the Brits.

The bill in its current form with its definition of psychoactive substances would appear to ban things such as herbal teas, botanical substances and herbal remedies with a long standing tradition of use; for example; chammomile, valarian, lavender, st John's wort and things such as essential oils. These substances have a positive effect on human health and in many instances have proven scientific uses that lessen the need for taking toxic medications; for example sleep aids and relaxing herbal teas. The Psycoactive Substances Bill would criminalise law abiding citizens that look to alternative medicines and further remove our freedom of choice in matters of our personal health and wellbeing. Although there is an exemption for "traditional herbal remedies" once again the definition is very subjective and open to broad interpretation. The definition in the act of a psychoactive effect is as follows; "...a substance produces a psychoactive effect in a person if, by stimulating or depressing the person’s central nervous system, it affects the person’s mental functioning or emotional state..." This extremely loose definition could apply to almost anything that a human can find enjoyment in, from a cup of herbal tea, to watching TV, to enjoying a joke with friends. At the very least these definitions need to be ammended to prevent potential future abuses of this legislation.

This is important for keeping the human rights and dignity, is important to stop these agencies making money from doing nothing. There is a lot of humiliation working as an agency staff - they make you work hard with no reward.

In 2012, the British Government introduced a minimum income threshold of £18,600 for sponsors of a spouse from outside the EU. This was increased to £22,400 for sponsoring a spouse and a child (and a further £2,400 for every additional child being sponsored). People on low income from all communities are affected by these rules. A direct result of this ruling causes families to be divided; sponsors are forced to work more than one job, or move to another EU country where the rules are not so divisive and fairer. British citizens and those who are settled in the UK are denied the right to family life that the British Government is arguably trying to promote. These rules have been condemned by many MP’s across party lines, many religious leaders and organisations like, Indian Workers Association, Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants, Immigrants’ Rights Network and Southall Black Sisters. This discriminatory aspect of the Immigration Act has been challenged in the High Court in a test case. The court ruled against the Government which was unfortunately overturned on appeal by the Government. This is now pending a hearing at the Supreme Court. It is widely accepted that though this may be legal in terms of legislation, it is definitely immoral and unethical to set income limit expectations higher than the national minimum wage. The Supreme Court has granted permission to hear the appeal relating to the minimum income requirement for partner visas in immigration cases. The date of the hearing has not been confirmed but it is likely to be before autumn 2015.

Penkridge Railway Station is in need of some urgent major attention. This appallingly unkempt building is the first thing visitors to Penkridge see as they leave the train to make their way into our beautiful village. Local residents have been patient but enough is enough, now we want some action to resolve this matter please. The building is apparently unstable internally and the question could be asked whether the exterior is entirely safe? Station House has not been used as a residential dwelling for many years and has remained empty and uncared for, resulting in it deteriorating. A complete overhaul is long overdue so it's about time Network Rail addressed the issues surrounding our dilapidated station by putting right what they have allowed to go wrong after years of neglect. Please put this building to good use, perhaps as a cafe with toilets or other such useful facility!

Many involved with the incident in Tunisia will have suffered financial issues far greater than the level of payment offered by the Tourist agents/Travel agents. Many will need assistance with ongoing medical costs, counselling & therapy, other expenses. Holiday insurance does not cover acts of terrorism. To date the majority of those affected were British Citizens and should be supported by the British government to recover from the effects of this horrendous act both physically and mentally.

Many people rely on NHS prescriptions every day in order to stay alive. Others rarely take medicine even when their doctor advises and prescribes it for them. While we agree that there is much to be done to control the waste of NHS prescribed medication we believe printing the cost on packaging will have several negative results: 1. People who are already reluctant to take vital medication will have an even better excuse to ignore their doctor's advice - "I don't want to cost the NHS money if I don't need to..." 2. People who rely on medication to survive and/or enjoy a decent quality of life are already fully aware of how much their medication costs. They have no choice - they NEED the medication to survive & being constantly reminded of the cost will put them under extreme pressure & could have a negative psychological effect by making those people feel ashamed, a burden or worse, not deserving of life. 3. Identifying the most expensive medications in this way will make it easier for anybody with the intention of stealing said drugs, either from a pharmacy or an individual to quickly take & sell the most sought after black market medications. 4. The words "Funded by the UK taxpayer" are very divisive and will only serve to highlight an already widening disparity between those who are earning and those who are unable to work because of sickness or permanent disability. There are other ways to combat the waste of medications, including: 1. Changing regulations to allow unused medications to be returned to a regulated pharmacy in order to be re-distributed to another patient. 2. Encouraging all doctors to only prescribe what is necessary. 3. Setting up a national medication waste database to identify and catalogue which drugs are most often wasted, where and why.

All schools in the UK need qualified teachers to fill in for short and long term staff absence in order to provide the best education and a seamless handover for children in the classroom. In England, the provision of substitute/supply teachers is now administered by private employment agencies. Some agencies take up to 100% mark up on charges to schools for supply teachers. Supply teachers are paid significantly less than their full time colleagues for doing the same job and yet schools are being made to pay more for their services per day because of the expense of the middle man.  This money was ring-fenced for education, but it is ending up in the hands of the corporate shareholders of recruitment companies.  Millions of pounds of public money is being lost to private, profit-making companies. It is not being used to pay for teachers, special needs support staff, classroom equipment, books, computers, children's' services or staff training. Schools are responsible for their financial prudence. Agencies do not have to account for how they deploy the money they receive. There is little or no inward reinvestment from the agencies; they take but they do not give back. That money is gone for good; money that tax-payers were assured was specifically for education not the sales agents and investors and shareholders of the recruitment agency market.  Schools are being asked to cut spending, and yet most schools have no choice but to source supply teachers from agencies who now control over 70% of the temporary and supply teacher market in England and Wales. As teacher numbers dwindle, the need for substitute and short term cover increases. Agencies are cashing in on this. But why should they? They are not publicly accountable and there is no statutory regulator to oversee their business activities. They are not recognised by the Department for Education as approved education service providers, so their candidates, although qualified as teachers, are not eligible for the Teachers' Pension Scheme or included in the remit of the pay review body, the STRB. By contrast, in other parts of the UK, namely in Northern Ireland and Scotland, there are no agencies. Schools do not pay a middleman to source their substitute teachers. They source their temporary staff directly from a publicly accountable central register. Teachers are paid to scale, tax revenue from their pay goes back into public services. No one profits out of schools. The Welsh Government has also recently set up a teacher booking system, leaving England as the only part of the UK that still undervalues and rips off teachers, when there is a national recruitment and retention crisis. To add insult to injury, many agencies insist that supply teachers are paid via umbrella payroll companies. This results in a significant loss of tax revenue, causing further cuts to public services. It is a ludicrous situation that could be reversed immediately if a publicly accountable central register of substitute teachers were in place as it is in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Most supply teachers would prefer to be paid directly by schools and local authorities. They resent agencies charging high fees to schools for their services. What agencies do, does not justify their fees. The teachers do the work in increasingly challenging schools. It's a rip-off. Can the Secretary of State for Education investigate profiteering out of the Education system?  Nearly 5000 signatories believe it is time to stop the rip-off. There is no benefit to children, parents, schools or communities. In a cost of living crisis, we cannot afford their services.  Stop the rip-off in our schools.  Get rid of the agencies and ensure that your money is spent directly on our children.

Many of the road sweepers in Harringey do a great job starting early and having to clear the sort of filth of a streets that im sure you all can imagine, these sweepers are trying to do the right thing by working and paying there way even though the salery is at the bottom end its them who are getting effected by the cuts, I mean at the moment Veolia has 9 chargehands supervising the street sweepers and 9 managers watching the chargehands, This all seems to unfair to both the public and lowend paid street sweepers