The role of the Conductor is extremely involved, incorporating safety, customer service, and time keeping along with revenue protection / collection responsibilities on train services. Sir Roy McNulty published his report on 19th May 2011 on how to reduce costs and make Britain’s railways more efficient with the Government and the heavily subsidised TOC’s bulldozing the report into the railways currently. This is now putting the safety, a decent level of customer service (especially helping the elderly, anti-social and disabled passengers) and the erosion of T’s & C’s in favour of cheap, untrained agency staff on zero hours contacts. As you can see, this is not just about a grade within the railway but much, much more throughout the industry. The Department for Transport’s consultation on the future of The West Coast & West Midlands railway services could see the successors of London Midland and Virgin Trains being forced to make further cutbacks because of the McNulty Report that Unions are fighting to stop on a large scale. However, be in no doubt the new 2017 franchises on the West Coast and West Midlands could introduce, the closure of more ticket offices with reductions in staff who are safety critical trained at stations. Reduced hours at remaining ticket offices, gate-lines (barrier staff) and revenue protection grades and replacing them with outside contractors on reduced T’s & C’s and a minimum wage. Driver Only Operation, which will see the end of Safety Critical Conductors on the network not for any other reason than cost and to get staff off TOC’s books that, will put safety of the travelling public at huge risk. Two-thirds of the UK’s railway services have a Driver and a Conductor, and for good reason! The Conductor not only opens the doors and sell tickets, but also makes sure the permanent way is safe for their colleague and the passengers. Take for instance any issues which may afflict the service, such as broken down trains holding the journey back; delayed goods trains; or making sure the passengers don’t miss their train – more so at request stops. To deny the Conductor any duties of operating the doors and/or train despatch will reduce the skills and mission critical nature of their job. In the words of one trade unionist several years ago, reducing them to ‘glorified Kit Kat sellers’. What is forgotten about are their other skills which Conductor-Guards possess. One is as a point of contact in the event of a serious incident is protecting the train, arranging for the arrival of emergency services, alternative transport for subsequent journeys. In addition, the use of signal posts telephones and the use of GSMR on board the trains to make the emergency calls. If anybody reading this assumes they only sell tickets, they are wrong by a mile off! Another important aspect of the job is he or she is able to help stop any form of anti-social passengers from getting out of hand. He or she could speak to their colleagues in their respective controls / liaise with British Transport Police so if trains needed to be stopped safely, they can be. Another good example would be for an instance of a lone wheelchair needing to board a service and the Driver cannot leave the cab without causing some delay to the timetable, as there is also no station staff on hand. Hence the need for Conductors! With passengers who are taken ill on train services that before DOO came about, the neighbouring passengers could have given the Conductor a friendly knock on the rear cab door or finding them whilst they are performing revenue duties, he or she would tend the passenger with little interruption to the service. Under DOO, he or she cannot knock on the driver’s door. Therefore, the neighbouring passenger has to pull the emergency alarm, stopping the train. Will staff on board have had the same level of training as the Conductor if there was no Conductor aboard to tend to passengers who are unwell under the new franchise / s? Driver Only Operation not only demarcates the Conductor’s duties. It has an effect on the driver’s role too. He or she should be able to concentrate on the permanent way ahead. As the McNulty, report states; …other staff on-board the train are able to focus on customer service and revenue protection.” Customer service has overtones of ‘is everybody all right’ style. On no account is there within that section any reference to the safety and the welfare of its passengers – which is important. The safety and welfare of its passengers, which has made the UK’s rail network one of the safest in the world. The economies of DOO are a falsehood. Unstaffed stations could lose revenue if there is no Conductor present and passengers, I strongly recommend you make a passionate case against DOO in the future franchise requirements which we could all see be implemented in the near future.

Before the 2015 General Election, the National Audit Office (NAO), asked the DWP to release the costs of introducing Universal Credit. The DWP, needless to say, refused. The NAO then asked a judge to ask the DWP to release the figures. Again, they refused saying that they had to stay under lock and key until after the General Election.. The people of this country need to know the cost of implementing this benefit.

It's official: George Osborne has just announced Britain's biggest ever privatisation. He's going ahead and selling off RBS at a loss of £13bn -- a huge loss to the taxpayer. It's part of the rush to privatise Britain -- an ideological move to hand over power and profit to corporations. Just as he's pushing through £12bn of welfare cuts that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable in society, Osborne is prepared to sell RBS off at a £13bn loss. £13bn is enough to plug the gap, protecting our public services and preventing austerity. We’re already paying for the banking crisis that we didn’t cause, and now Osborne wants to return RBS on the cheap to the people who caused the crisis in the first place. Just a few months ago, George Osborne was insisting we’d get our money -- the £45.2bn spent to save RBS from collapse -- back from any sale of the bank. Now, after the election, he thinks he can get away with selling it at a massive loss by rushing through the sale before we have time to stop him. Let’s prove Osborne wrong.

Because it's a village pub we are a close knit village young and old a like this would tear the heart from the village. We have two lady ladies as present who have made a fantastic change in such a short time. Greene King have sold the lease behind everyone's back after they promised it would remain a proper pub as its a prime site we already have one Chinese restaurant the last thing we need is a Thai less than 100 yards d own the road.

Many Students are going to be priced out of education if this grant is cut, many students will not be able to go, or be faced with enormous debt and will feel frightened of the huge lifetime loans. This grant is a lifeline for poorer students. There are students who have worked hard, they’ve got the grades and now they don’t know whether they’ll be able to go to university. Even if they worked part time whilst studying, it still would not be enough money to live on. Please sign and share so we can stop this madness and help our next generations of students become wonderful teachers, scientists, doctors, etc. Education is for people from all walks of life not just rich people. Being poor should not be a trap preventing a university education. We are one of the richest nations in the world, stopping student maintenance grants would be catastrophic for many generations to come, curbing our future development as a country by not investing in young people. This is the wrong place for the government to make savings. Read more here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-33444557

It helps to increase the national % of renewables. It creates new manufacturing jobs. It upscales production of solar panel tiles reducing the price for home owners in existing buildings to buy and install them on their homes.

In a council estate near mine they are spending 5 million on new roofs kitchens, this I feel is money wasted as in these estates are not going to last long. So instead why don't they invest that 5 million on installing solar panels on every roof in the estate? That way would reduce bills for people and cut emissions this should be a priority for all estates and would help meet our goals of cutting co2 and help people with bills.

There are many children on the Autistic Spectrum in Tower Hamlets who are struggling in their current Education Provisions. This may just be failure to reach their full potential or being very distressed at attending school, which can impact on their mental health. Many parents go along with the struggle as they feel there isn't any alternative, some feel their only option is to Home Educate, some find their child being excluded from school or moved to a Pupil Referral Unit due to challenging behaviour caused by the stress of trying to cope in a class of 30, some children are travelling long distances everyday to attend schools outside of Tower Hamlets that can better cater for their needs and some parents decide to move their child to local special needs schools, but this is not always possible for children who do not also have significant learning difficulties. Children on the Autistic Spectrum can find sensory stimuli overwhelming, this on top of problems with social interaction can make being in a mainstream class of 30 very difficult for them. Please sign this petition if you agree there are not appropriate Education Provisions in Tower Hamlets for children on the Autistic Spectrum who cannot cope in a class of 30 but do not fit the criteria to attend a Special Needs School. Thank you for your support!

Under Protocol 1, Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 we all have the right to education. Article 2 states. No person shall be denied the right to education. In the exercise of any functions which it assumes in relation to education and to teaching, the State shall respect the right of parents to ensure such education and teaching in conformity with their own religious and philosophical convictions. While their proposals wouldn't directly deny access to higher education, they would undoubtedly create a significant barrier preventing individuals from less privileged backgrounds accessing a level of education that everyone should be entitled to. Furthermore this proposition suggests giving students higher maintenance loads resulting in more debt for students. The idea of this is to save the tax payer roughly 2 billion over the next 3 years. This is just debt that will one day be written off and picked up by the tax payer. Don't settle for a quick fix, fight for the investment in our future!

This will have a negative effect on local businesses, and would undo some of the success of the newly redeveloped New Brighton....

The traditional single-storey building at 1 – 6 Canonmills Bridge has found a place in the hearts of locals and visitors to the area, serving as an attractive and popular hub for social life around a busy junction. The proposed redevelopment would loom, large and awkward, amongst the lovely older properties around the junction and bridge, destroying the harmonious character of the area. The current structure allows views of a corner turret, the greenery in the valley of the Water of Leith, plenty of sky and an interesting skyline. The City of Edinburgh Council Guidance on Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas February 2014 states that demolition will only be acceptable in a conservation area if the new development preserves or enhances the area – in the eyes of signatories, this is blatantly not the case in this instance. WE URGE THE COUNCIL PLANNING SUB-COMMITTEE TO RECOGNISE THE VALUE OF THE EXISTING BUILDING TO THE COMMUNITY AND REFUSE PERMISSION TO DEMOLISH IT. Note, if permission to demolish is refused, the redevelopment, as approved, will not be able to proceed.

It's important to the people & the wildlife in Cornwall to KEEP THE BAN! Being torn apart by dogs is barbaric & not 'humane'. Our wildlife deserves to be protected & defended!