Holders of NHS Tax Credit Exemption Certificates are disadvantaged by low incomes and sometimes by medical conditions. This might make keeping track of the certificates expiry date difficult and treatment may be unknowingly accessed when the certificate has recently expired. The current system enforced by the NHS Business Services Authority targets vulnerable people in various ways. Firstly they do not send any reminders when the certificate is due to expire - can you imagine if insurers took the same approach! Secondly if your card has expired and you receive medical treatment, even though you might still meet the criteria to be eligible for free treatment you will still be fined. I found this out first hand. Thirdly this fine is approximately 200% of the cost of the medical treatment. I offered to pay the cost of treatment but that wasn't enough, the NHS are demanding a 200% fine - how is this fair? Lastly when you are told of the fine the letter tells you that if you still met the exemption criteria to call them. I tried this and when you call they reprimand you for the certificate expiring and are not interested that you were still exempt. If the financial industry worked in this way the ombudsman and or government would take action to resolve this. The NHS is actively discriminating against vulnerable people and making their situation worse. How can this be legal? It certainly isn't ethical and I want to start this campaign to protect others who find themselves in this situation. Please sign and demand a fair and just situation for vulnerable people.

If the plans go ahead, treasured spaces to play will be lost. Children’s play is a right not a privilege: the loss of local playgrounds would be to the detriment of our children’s health, safety and their happiness. These spaces are also used by parents and grandparents. You can read about the Council's plans to close the playgrounds here: Hertfordshire Mercury: Plans to axe North Hertfordshire play areas criticised: https://link.38degrees.org.uk/plans5e32

Loftus Library was purpose built for the Community and is centrally located with good access. It has parking for 7 cars, disabled parking and is DDA compliant and also has room out front for deliveries. It is designated a Walkers are Welcome and Breastfeeding friendly premises. It also has a disabled toilet and baby changing facilities. The Library as it stands has 11 public computers giving internet access for those doing job searches, applying for universal credit and other benefits as well as a host of other accessible online services. Citizen Advice hold surgeries twice a month. MIND are in 3 times a week. Learn Direct and other educational agencies use the Library, hold classes and meet with students on an outreach basis to assess their progress. Groups such as the Local and Family History group meet weekly whilst Accord Walking Group meet monthly. The Library welcomes any Voluntary Group or Community group that wishes to meet. They also host Council surgeries. As one of the Headmasters of a Primary school in Loftus has said”' A properly funded and professionally run Library service ensures the development of our education and helps everyone to play an active role in society. A professionally run and properly funded library service alleviates pressures on the most vulnerable by providing them with access to resources they may require. This proposal reduces Loftus Library to a book exchange. A Library is much more than that. Libraries play a crucial role in levelling the playing field and ensuring the everyone has the opportunity to fulfill their potential. For children Libraries provide a safe space to ensure that the poorest have access to the same resources as the wealthiest. This ensures that the children from the poorest backgrounds are not left behind and give us the best possible chance to address poor literacy standards. A good book can spark the imagination of a child. Without a good library , none of these are possible” We cannot emphasise enough the importance of our Library building in our Community. We have little enough as it is - to move the valuable resource to another building with opening hours causing concern and a building owned by a charity who rely on grants and donations do not give our library a long term guaranteed future..

We don't need another large supermarket in our town We need to support our local market and independent shops We have the spirit, skills and ingenuity to run the college as our own training centre and community hub

On 29th March, Citizens UK will be holding a public debate for the West Midlands mayoral election, where they want their 1,000 delegates to be able to meet the potential mayors. But - the 1,000 delegates aren't being allowed to meet the Green Party, Ukip or Lib Dem candidates - they are only inviting Labour and the Tories! The BBC found this shocking and hard to understand, and featured the issue on BBC WM this week. It is accepted by broadcasters in the UK now that Ukip, the Green Party and the Lib Dems are all major political parties and they have been invited to every debate in this campaign so far - dozens of them - with the one exception of the Citizens UK event. In an ironic twist, Citizens UK even used James Burn (Green Party) and Beverley Nielsen (Lib Dems) as part of the advertising for their event held on 19th November 2016. Originally Citizens UK actually invited Liberal Democrat candidate Beverley Nielsen, but after the Green Party complained to their board about unfairly being excluded, Citizens UK outrageously *withdrew* their invitation to the Lib Dems, as if somehow that was better! This is an incredibly wrong-headed way to handle being called out for being undemocratic. Citizens UK are claiming their event is not a debate, but a "private event" that the public can't come to. This simply isn't true. Tickets to this "private event" are freely available to the public - get yours here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/west-midlands-citizens-mayoral-assembly-2017-tickets-30131646566 And even if it were a "private event", surely a grass-roots organisation who claims to champion democracy and equality, that welcomes diversity and speaks up for the most disadvantaged should be inviting all the candidates, not just the establishment, white middle-aged men. To exclude the only woman, the only candidate from the Black Country and the only young candidate, is bizarre at best. If you support democracy, please sign this petition. Citizens UK: please live up to the ideals you claim you stand for.

Palm Oil production is bad news in so many ways! It destroys wildlife by cutting down the Rainforest to plant palm oil plantations. Many iconic species such as the Orangutan are disappearing at an alarming rate. And that's not all.... it is contributing to increased poverty among local communities who work in the plantations for little return. Only making the big corporations bigger and more powerful at the expense of wildlife and the local population. But perhaps the biggest threat is deforestation - ''According to the World Wildlife Fund, an area the equivalent size of 300 football fields of rainforest is cleared each hour to make way for palm oil production''. This is all adding to the huge problem of Climate Change , due to the lack of trees to soak up the carbon and forest fires emitting huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere. The world is getting warmer, the past four years we have had little or no snow in the winter. We all should be standing together globally to tackle this problem. Although it seems that we are powerless as a consumer , by signing this petition it will show big corporations like Tesco that consumers will not accept palm oil in its products. Tesco should step up its act and be an example to other big cooperation's in it's commitment to ending this madness of using pam oil in products. Please take a minute out of your life to sign my petition. Thank you so so much xxxx

Bill to amend the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 will be debated soon. England and Wales brand young offenders criminals for life. The punitive and penal approach to the rehabilitation of young offenders and disclosers and retention of criminal records is vastly different to many other countries. Below is brief guide of how other nations treat criminal convictions. • Canada permanently deletes records of juvenile convictions once an individually turns 18 or after 5 years of turning 18. Murder, manslaughter and aggravated sexual assault are never deleted. Canada also has a pardon system that allows adults to appeal for their records to be suspended and not disclosed if an individual can show good character and rehabilitation since the offence. Also in the USA individuals can apply to have their records expunged; this is for citizens under 18 and varies from state to state. • Scotland does not disclose convictions if 15 years has passed or if an individual were 18 or over 18 at the date of conviction, 7 and half years, if an individual were under 18 at the date of conviction • Australia expunges juvenile convictions after 3 years of no repeat offending and has a pardon policy for adult convictions • In Spain, conviction records are not erased completely but are ‘cancelled’ in a process known as ‘cancelling a conviction record’. Once conviction records are cancelled, the individual will possess a clean criminal record. Therefore, the record of their convictions will be sealed in the Central Criminal Records Registry and is likely made unavailable to the police. To cancel a conviction record a period of time after having served the sentence must have elapsed (6 months, 2 years, 3 years or 5 years depending on the sentence); no further crime has been committed in the interim and civil compensation has been paid or the person has been declared without money. • Ireland. If 3 years has lapsed juveniles records are wiped clean. • In France for adults once the rehabilitation period has passed (depending on the severity of the conviction either three years for misdemeanors or five years for felony crimes, after the sentence was completed) the records of the convictions will remain on the system but will not show on the request of a record. In the case of minors and children, these are removed once the individual concerned has reached 18 years and/or three years from the date the crime was committed. • In Germany most adult convictions are deleted after 5, 10, 15 or 20 years, respectively.

Its cruel and inhumane! Yes we do need meat but treat them right first!

I have always had a passion for this but after this last week when actually met a homeless person at first I just gave some spare change but I found I could not walk off so I went back and asked them if they would like to come for a cup of coffee which they did thank god because it was freezing outside we ended up chatting in a café for hours and I found out lots about them. the fact is some people just need a little support and encouragement and they can pick themselves up again just by stopping to ask them if they wanted a coffee I actually made a friend and he may now even have a job lined for him my aim is to walk the streets of Swansea giving out warm clothing sleeping bags and bags of food and toiletries ect and just to talk to them and let them know people are listening and they do care this person really had effect on me and I want to carry on helping people on the streets everyone deserves a change help me give it to them

It is important to protect our animals, it appears that it is dogs that suffer the most. A recent case brought to a court in Wales and the breeder got a mere 4 year ban from keeping animals. How can that be right?

The Conservative Government are ignoring the wishes of the British people, the slow and very quiet privatisation is undemocratic!

At the moment there is no set national legislation for rights and responsibilities for taxi companies towards guide dogs and their owners. This is currently dealt with on a regional level and not a national one. Nationally, there are no penalties in place to deter these companies, or their drivers from refusing guide dogs with their owners. Our aim is to impose penalties on drivers and the companies that they work for if they refuse anybody with a guide dog. Refusing guide dogs and their owners by taxi companies leaves individuals in a precarious and vulnerable position, especially if they are out at night. This needs to be stopped.