The Government Penalty Notices Regulations 2013 requires schools to keep a register of young people attending school and where unauthorised absences result in a pupil’s attendance falling below 90%, then Penalty Notices may (in all but exceptional circumstances) be issued requiring parents to pay £60 within 21 days rising to £120 within 22-28 days of the notice. The justification for the Penalty Notices Legislation is for pupils to benefit from education and achieve their full potential through regular attendance. We believe that the issue of regular attendance is not restricted purely to children who we believe can only genuinely learn the value of attendance if those requiring improvements in absenteeism also adhere to the same standards in their own attendance. This petition calls upon the politicians and elected officials in central, devolved and local government to demonstrate an equal commitment and achievement of at least 90% attendance throughout the year for all meetings, committees, sub-committees and other duties required of them in their public role. The purpose of this is to help politicians achieve their full potential within their role as required of them by the British public and demonstrate meaningful commitment to the seven principles of public life - in particular to Integrity, Accountability and Leadership. Data on politicians’ attendance at committees and official duties is already collected and reported at all levels. Penalty Notices should be levied at the same rates and timescales as those issued to parents whose children fail to meet attendance requirements. This demonstrates equity and integrity.

Currently autistic people fall between services in Wakefield, many people with serious need for help cannot access it due to not fitting the current criteria for existing services such as the Community Team for Learning Disabilities (because many of us do not have learning disabilities) or the Community Mental Health Teams (most of us do not have mental health difficulties). Even those of us who are 'lucky' enough to fit in some kind of service, often have our primary needs ignored or misunderstood, often leading to frustration, anxiety and even misdiagnosis. Autism is a serious and lifelong condition that affects a persons communication skills, understanding and often affects ability to live independently in the community. This can be despite having no additional learning or mental health disabilities. It is wrong that currently people who have a serious need cannot access appropriate or any help at all, and is not acceptable.

The community project will create in excess of 80 jobs in an area that desperately needs them. It will also create an attraction that will attract visitors to a beautiful part of Argyll, further boosting the areas fragile economy. The project will do more for the area than anything the council has so far done in relation to the estate. The communities of Dunoon, Innellan and Toward are united behind this project, unlike the council, who have only put obstacles in the way.

Thanet District Council (TDC) say they can’t afford to continue to maintain Pierremont Hall, in Pierremont Park, in Broadstairs and have now asked most tenants to vacate by 3rd January, prior to a decision being made whether or not to sell the building. The Hall is 18th Century, Grade II Listed and the young Princess Victoria is known to have stayed here before she became Queen. More to the point perhaps, the community in Broadstairs is accustomed to Pierremont Hall functioning as our Town Hall, sitting as it does in the very heart of the town, with many key events in the Broadstairs calendar played out with the Hall as the backdrop. The Hall was designated as a Community Asset this year which means that the community have the right to bid and purchase the building, there is a strong case to be made that it must remain in community ownership as that was always the intention of the original owners. The Hall and park are just a short stroll from Broadstairs station, at the heart of this charming town, perched at the top of the high street, with the upper floors enjoying stunning sea views. At present, while the building is not in a good state of repair overall it is an attractive and important amenity within the park and to the town as a whole. The building and public park it sits in was gifted to the people of Broadstairs around 1929, and seemingly designated for community use at that time. The exact terms of any covenants which exist are not known as TDC have so far not released this information. The town’s war memorial sits at the entrance to the park, facing towards the Hall and each year several key community events take place in the park, around the centrepiece of the hall. There is an Easter Food Fair, Folk Week parade and concerts, the Remembrance Day service and Christmas Fayre. We discovered this week (18th December), that several tenants, including local businesses and charities, have been told to leave by 3rd January, some have already gone, others are packing. Two key tenants are not leaving: the Broadstairs and St Peter’s Town Council occupy offices on the ground floor with an eleven year lease so they are very much sitting tenants. They also have use of the council chamber and mayor’s parlour and have functioned as de facto caretakers for the building. Broadstairs Folk Week, approaching their 50th anniversary, also occupy offices and intend remaining, as a move at this time could have a devastating effect on the Festival in 2015. Internationally renowned, Broadstairs Folk Week brings thousands of visitors to the town from all over the world. It is glaringly obvious that should the building become empty it becomes painfully vulnerable and is highly likely to become a target for vandals and worse. Existing tenants have spoken of frequently having to take action to deal with unwanted elements targeting the building even when it is occupied.

Cardiff Council is currently consulting on their proposed budget plans for 2015/16. These plans include a major attack on the city’s library service. Under the current proposals some libraries will stop receiving any council funding at all, which means that if “community groups” cannot be found to take over the running of Cathays, Radyr, Rhydypennau, Roath and Whitchurch libraries they will have to close completely. Others, such as the Central Library, Llandaff North & Fairwater will be forced to become “hubs” and share premises with officers administering and giving advice on housing benefit, council tax and loan services. Many of the Libraries already provide these services so the addition of these “hubs” would mean a non-efficient public library service. If Cardiff Council proceeds with its plan to continue running down the city’s library service, it will not only mean that less people in the city will be reading – it will be depriving residents of a place to meet and study, imposing further job losses on council staff, and making it harder for unemployed people to search for work. Rather than closing libraries or running them down by forcing them to share premises with other inappropriate services, the council should find a way of living up to its legal obligation to provide a comprehensive and efficient service throughout the city.

Freedom of speech! Chris Spivey is an independent journalist, with a website where he publishes articles based on his own research. Chrisspivey.org Since the summer of 2014, he has been a victim of ongoing police harassment, such as an illegal entry without a warrant and personal belongings being taken and is currently still on bail for dubious charges. There is also what appears to be a coordinated attempt by social services to intimidate Chris, by questioning his grandson's health and well being .

As a resident, garden designer and green-space design student, I often find myself in conversations with tourists and residents alike over the lack of breathable green space in the centre of such a historic green city. Nick Davis ( The Development Director) has said " the final exterior design of the car-park is currently being progressed in close consultation with stakeholders and will utilise high quality materials to reflect the rest of the Buchanan Galleries Development and present a seamless link to the redeveloped Queen Street Station." The exterior to the existing car park is less than inspiring given Glasgow's aspirations to be a global tourist destination. In fact the bland, blonde and red brick building is the first thing many people see when arriving at Buchanan Street Bus Station or Queen Street Station. With Glasgow city council setting ambitious sustainability, health and environmental targets, wouldn't it be truly inspirational to install a 'living wall' as part of the redevelopment. These walls are becoming commonplace in some areas of the far east, France and the US. They demonstrate a city's commitment to the environment. I'm unaware of any initiatives that are bringing this global idea to our city and yes it may be challenging in our climate, but I expect the city to innovate! After the George Square controversy, I encouraged the the city planners to take a dynamic lead in showing it's green credentials - To reflect the 'dear green place' and put as much thought into the exterior as the interior.

New guidelines (NICE) says that this must change and more support for new mothers and families must now be in place.

In 1978 I like millions of others were told we would retire at 65 if we signed up to the 1978 Pensions Reform Act. Indeed the UK Government forced every Company offering pensions to prove their scheme was equal to, or exceeded the Pension offered by the State. I like millions of others were told we would retire at 65 now the UK Government has arbitrarily renaged on that undertaking and is making people born after 1955 retire later and later, despite giving an undertaking in 1978 that we would retire when we reached 65

We the undersigned urge the Governors of Sheffield City College to cease their redundancy programme, to reject profiteering and campaign with staff unions for public investment in FE that enables long term planning and the provision of a broader menu of further and adult education.

In the light of recent events many ethnic minorities and religions are being targeted with vitriolic hate. People with differing sexual preferences are targets and there are more and more calls for violence against people who stand up for common decency standards. Comments such as "let them die because they will only grow up to be future terrorists" after the recent massacre of children in Pakistan are not seen to violate the current standards yet someone who has posted a photo breastfeeding their child is removed. Pages that posts, often incorrect, photographs targeting religions that then incite a whole raft of comments such as "drag the lorries over razor blades" in relation to a photo about illegal immigrants (which was actually refugees in a totally different part of the world), "maybe a sniper aimed at Downing Street/The White House will do the job" and "put them on a boat, tow them out to sea and let the Navy have target practise" are all acceptable according to Facebook's Community Standards yet a brave lady who tattooed her body to try and remove the taboo about a mastectomy isn't. A page that suggested that anyone who is gay should be ostracised, allowing boys to play with dolls will "turn them gay" and is "psychological abuse" is allowed to continue spreading hate. There are many more examples such as these but they don't violate the Community Standards! One photograph (whilst innocent enough) had the names of people opposed to the page in the comments with the suggestion that the page's likers "fight fire with fire - go get them" didn't initially break Facebook standards (until they were pushed to look beyond the photograph. Even then it had taken a week and the people listed had received hate mail and threatening, abusive comments from followers of these pages). I am asking Facebook to reconsider their community standards because I believe there will be more and more violence towards innocent people simply because they are part of a religion or their sexual preferences are different or they have a different point of view. To me this is totally unacceptable and needs to be looked into however a big company such as Faebook won't do anything about it unless enough people tell them it is unacceptable.

Nature and wildlife is being increasingly scarce due to our constant need to build more houses. We are having increasing flooding issues due to all our natural drainage being built upon. Wildlife is dying out due to the habitat in which they live being destroyed. children have less places to play and miss out on the enjoyment of nature at its best because we keep building on all the beautiful areas of our country. Without the countryside, without trees and without the wildlife there will be no need for housing because the human race will eventually die off. Please help us save this land, it may not be a huge piece of land but in our area it is a very special piece of land for many reasons.