Campaign

Post Office online consultation

2009-02-14T01:32:00.000-08:00

The Business and Enterprise Committee
has set up an online forum to listen to the
views of individuals and businesses who use post offices.

This is another chance for us all to make sure the Government listen to what we want – a decent spread of outlets around the District offering a wide range of facilities eg Car Tax.

The post office network - now reduced to 11,500 branches - provides vital services. Its importance is reflected in the £150 million public subsidy it receives each year. But many of its services are now also available through other channels, particularly online.

How is the post office network important to you? What services must the public be able to access through the post office network, regardless of whether they are profitable? What new services could help make the network more profitable and help reduce the subsidy it receives?

The forum will run until 10th March 2009 and the posts will help shape the recommendations the Committee makes to the Government.

Come on everyone get online and tell them what you want.

CAMPAIGN SUCCESS

2008-11-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

Well we have finally got what we have been campaigning for. The Post Office Card Account (POCA) has been awarded to the Post Offices and not to PayPoint. See below my Press Release sent to day to our local Media.

Heather Wheeler, Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for South Derbyshire, has given her wholehearted support to the Government announcement today for retaining the Post Office Card Account with the Post Offices and not award it to PayPoint.

She said “I have been campaigning in South Derbyshire for the Government to stop dithering and make a decision in favour of the Post Offices. The indecision over whether the POCA would be re-awarded to our Post Offices was having a destabilising affect. Sub-Postmasters did not know whether to invest further in these vital local businesses. If the POCA had not been awarded it could have led to the whole scale closing of 3,000 Post Offices which would have been devastating. We have suffered the loss of 3 Post Offices (Church Gresley, Egginton and Newton Solney) recently following the sham consultation and this would have been the nail in the coffin for others in South Derbyshire. My campaigning with updates shown on my website heatherwheeler.org..uk has kept everyone locally informed of progress in Parliament and I am delighted that finally we have the right decision.”

Details below of Press Association and BBC Homepage coverage of the issue that has been awaiting a decision since December 2006

Post Office 'to keep card account'
Press Association release 2 hours ago 11.50 13th November 2008
The Government is set to end months of speculation over the future of a card account used by millions of people to receive benefits and pensions, giving an expected boost to the Post Office.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell will issue a statement to the Commons which is expected to signal that the Post Office will retain the contract.
Subpostmasters, union leaders and MPs had warned that thousands of branches would close if the contract was given to a rival firm.
The contract for the Post Office Card Account was put out to tender, with PayPoint and another firm expressing an interest.
The Federation of SubPostmasters said 3,000 branches would close if the contract was not renewed, while leading Labour MP John McFall warned it could be double that.
The Department for Work and Pensions refused to confirm or deny that a decision had been taken, saying only that an announcement would be made "as soon as possible".
The card account contract runs out in 2010 and an announcement had been expected in the summer. The delay fuelled speculation that a rival firm would be given the work.
Two million people signed a petition and 265 MPs from all parties signed a parliamentary motion calling for it to stay with the Post Office.
Earlier this week Mr Purnell told MPs an decision would be made "very soon", but stressed that he must first go through all the necessary procedures.
He told the House of Commons: "The decision has to be taken in due order and I cannot take a decision before all the necessary options have been completed. The worst possible thing would be to take a decision which then got unwound."

Statement on BBC Homepage 13.07 13th November 2008

Post Office card contract renewed

The Post Office will continue to run the card account which distributes benefits to 4.3 million claimants.
It had faced competition for running the Post Office Card Account from a private firm, but ministers have decided to close the bidding process.
Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell told MPs he would do "nothing to put the network at risk".
The National Federation of Sub Post Masters had warned 3,000 post offices would close if the contract was lost.
The account, used by more than four million people, was brought in to end the need for giros and payment books for pensioners and benefit claimants, while still allowing them to use post offices to collect money.
The Post Office had faced competition to run it from the private company PayPoint.
'Viability'
Mr Purnell's announcement comes two weeks earlier than expected after criticism from MPs that delays in deciding if the Post Office would retain the contract were "destabilising".
He told MPs the account was "central to the viability of the network" and said the next contract would run initially from April 2010 to March 2015 with "the possibility of an extension beyond that".
Mr Purnell added that PayPoint would be "compensated their reasonable costs".
For the Conservatives, shadow business secretary Alan Duncan said the announcement was a "humiliating climbdown for the government, who have done everything they possibly can to find a way of awarding it (the contract) to somebody else".
Earlier, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told peers: "I believe very strongly that we have an opportunity here for the future of the Post Office - one that has been enlarged by the turbulence elsewhere in the financial services sector."
He said the government's closure programme, which will see 2,500 branches shut down by the end of year, had not been painless but "had placed the entire network on a much firmer footing".
'Nebulous' plan
In a letter to the prime minister leaked earlier this week, Lord Mandelson said he believed post offices had a future as "trusted" sources of financial products and government services, with the face-to-face contact they offer "becoming an increasingly important and reassuring factor for many people".
And he told peers: "I am going to convene a group of government departments to identify the potential additional work the Post Office may do. I think there are opportunities there and I want to examine them closely."
But Tory peer Lord Hunt said the government's proposals were "nebulous" and "raised more questions than they answered" and he called for more detailed plans and for the publication of the Hooper report into the future of the network. Lord Mandelson replied that the Hooper report would be published "very shortly".

Saving our Post Offices by Safeguarding POCA

2008-11-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

Our policy is to extend the POCA account which leads to plans to cut household energy bills by £100

An update on the POCA account and saving our Post Offices campaigns

George Osborne and Alan Duncan have announced plans to reform the Post Office Card Account (POCA) and potentially reduce the energy bills of up to four million people by £100.
Under our proposals, families without bank accounts will be able to use their POCA to pay utility bills using the equivalent of a direct debit. This will enable them to benefit from the lower energy and water tariffs offered to customers paying by direct debit.
This measure, which has support from leading utility companies, will generate significant savings for energy companies through lower collection costs, which can be passed onto consumers in the form of lower bills.
George, the Shadow Chancellor, stressed reforming the POCA would tackle the unfair situation whereby the poorest households end up paying more for their energy and water bills.
And Alan, the Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, described the measure as “a significant weapon for attacking the growing pain of fuel poverty.”
Our Conservative policy to save our Post Ofices by extending the POCA account is the way forward. This dithering Labour Government should listen to us and adopt this policy. Yet again it is only the Cosnervatives who have the polices to safeguard the most vulnerable in society. Time for a change Gordon.

Post Office Card Account (POCA) update on the campaign

2008-10-26T12:53:00.000-07:00

There are rumblings in the House of Commons because of the delay in the Government awarding the contract to deliver services, either through POCA or Pay-point.
If POCA does not get the nod then that is another nail, possibly the fatal one, in keeping our Post Offices viable.
There are two Ministries involved in making and announcing the decision: Department for Work & Pensions and Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform.
Patrick McFadden (Minister of State (Employment Relations and Postal Affairs), Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) has been telling the House how important the Post Offices are, how much the Government values them but actually that they still have not concluded the their deliberations and have not awarded the contract yet!
This seems to have been going on forever. The Sub-Postmasters are desperate to know because it affects their plans for future investment in their businesses.
These delays help no one. Yet another case of dithering and not knowing what is best for small businesses and local communities.
Come on Labour sort yourselves out.

Broadband Blues Update

2008-10-11T23:52:00.000-07:00

Thursday, October 9, 2008

BROADBAND BLUES THINGS ARE LOOKING UP

I invited Tom Hamilton, Regional Manager BT, to a meeting and the latest news is that the engineers have been successfully working on issues raised in the Case Studies given to us by you. Particularly those getting their service from the Chellaston Exchange the engineers have been able to rectify most matters and local people should be getting a better service now.Other news regarding lifting South Derbyshire up the priority list for replacement/renewal work on the Broadband service by BT is also encouraging, but of course this is a more longer term matter as we are talking many millions of pounds.Next year, it is hoped to be confirmed shortly, there will be 75 exchanges put through in an early tranche to be completely upgraded with the newest fastest state of the art equipment. Tom is hopeful that the Swadlincote exchange will be in that list, so at least 20,000 homes could benefit by next summer.I will keep lobbying to make sure this happens and should there be any slippage in the programme that other exchanges, that service South Derbyshire, be added to the list.As you know the Government are imposing an extra 15,000 homes on South Derbyshire having talked this through with Tom and what this means for BT coverage and service I have had an undertaking from Tom that where new developments are built for 1000 properties and more from day one BT will put in a decent Broadband service, which will help the existing parts of South Derbyshire still creaking along with what we have now.We are not there yet but with all this intensive lobbying of BT they know we exist and they know we deserve decent coverage.I continue to work hard to make this a reality.

BROADBAND BLUES UPDATE ON THE CAMPAIGN

2008-08-28T01:31:00.000-07:00

I have an update on the Campaign for better Broadband coverage in South Derbyshire.
Since the piece in May over 120 ‘case studies’ have now been sent to BT showing clearly where we were being let down by the company.
Tom Hamilton, Regional Manager for the East Midlands from BT, has stated how helpful this information has been in lifting South Derbyshire up the priority list for replacement/renewal work on the Broadband service by BT.

I started this Campaign because so many people had contacted me to tell how bad their service was and we needed to get the evidence together to push BT into lifting South Derbyshire up the priorities list. Thank you for getting in touch.

The results from this intensive lobbying is that rolled out from the Autumn onwards different pockets of South Derbyshire will see BT engineers working away replacing and updating the infrastructure that serves us.

It will not be 100% across the whole of SD, everyone understands that BT has a budget like everyone else but this is a start.

As well as BT replacing infrastructure South Derbyshire District Council and the Derby and Derbyshire Economic Partnership are working together on a couple of pilot areas to see about putting in a Wireless Free zone. This is groundbreaking partnership working. When I have more news on
progress on these pilot schemes I’ll report again on the Campaign section of my website.

POST OFFICE CARD ACCOUNT UNDER THREAT

2008-08-24T01:06:00.000-07:00

The Post Office Card Account (POCA) is a basic cash account run by the Department for Work and Pensions, which can only receive welfare, state pension and tax credit deposits.The current Post Office Card Account contract ends in 2010. Gordon Brown’s Government is replacing it with a new contract (so-called ‘POCA2’), but due to EU rules, it has to put the new contract out to competitive tender. The National Federation of Sub-Postmasters has stated that 3,000 post offices will forced to close if the Post Office Ltd loses its contract for the Card Account. The Card Account is used by 4 million people each week to access pensions and benefits.A Conservative Government will expand and widen the role of POCA, both enabling it to accept additional deposits – including housing benefit and any weekly wages – and create sub-accounts which can be used for direct debit payments on a full range of public and private sector bills, including utilities.With our under Conservative proposals fees from utility companies for this POCA functionality are projected to generate £20 million in additional revenues for post offices each year. Post Office Ltd makes a saving of approximately £18,000 from the closure of each individual post office. The £20 million of additional revenues could therefore help to keep more post offices open and help suspend Labour’s programme of forced post office cuts.These plans will also bring in additional revenue for Post Offices, helping maintain our important network and stave off more Labour cuts.

Broadband Blues

2008-05-23T01:05:00.000-07:00

In South Derbyshire it is noticeable how variable the quality of Broadband connectivity is. In different locations people have complained to me saying that their complaints have fallen on deaf ears with BT.Because of these concerns the Scrutiny Committee at our Council started an investigation, calling Tom Hamilton, Regional Manager for the East Midlands from BT to answer questions about broadband access.At the February meeting Tom Hamilton told the Scrutiny Committee that only 90 specific properties in South Derbyshire were unable to get a broadband internet connection. We were concerned about variability in quality as well as lack of service. These issues all seemed to be a surprise to Mr Hamilton.We have asked people to contact us to put together a dossier of Case Studies to present to BT. If they know the facts they can then get on with fixing the problem.If you live in South Derbyshire and are having problems with broadband access, please contact the District Council by the end of May. Please outline the specific details of any problems you are experiencing and the broadband provider you use and either email broadband@south-derbys.gov.uk, or write to Broadband, Customer Services, South Derbyshire District Council, Civic Offices, Civic Way, Swadlincote Derbyshire DE11 0AH or by phone Customer Services on 01283 595795. It is interesting that this is not just a problem in South Derbyshire as Simon Hart of the Countryside Alliance writes ….. Rural broadband revolution? “Reports that 59% of rural people are now connected to broadband in comparison with 57% of their urban counterparts confirmed the rural digital revolution, but fails to examine the full story. While broadband use within the British countryside has recently soared, the figure quoted fails to take connection speed into account. Most consumer broadband providers offer 2mbps or 8mbps, with those who cannot receive these connections required to pay the same price. Large parts of rural Britain are unable to receive faster connection speeds and as such, are stuck paying higher prices for lower service. BT's own research confirms that people who are living just three of four miles away from the local exchange will probably receive actual thoroughput speeds in kilobites that than megabites per second, while still paying exactly the same price as those who receive the same services but much faster. There was also comment on the variety of services used over the internet, with rural people mostly making use of banking, shopping and entertainment sites. This comes as no surprise to those of us who have been campaigning long and hard to protect rural bank branches, the post office network and championing local food providers. What other options do those in rural communities have when banking services may be several miles away and only open during the working day? The closure of local services within rural communities have made the internet more vital than ever, and means that slow connectivity is even more of a problem than within some urban areas. The digital revolution is readily welcomed in rural communities, and is a great step forwards for rural enterprise, but such unfairness in connection speeds must be addressed by broadband providers. Rural people deserve the same service provided in urban areas, and should not have to suffer simply because of their location. “Simon Hart How I agree with that.

Eco Town Rejected

2008-04-03T01:03:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to let you know that the proposed eco-town of Grovewood has been rejected by the Government. Grovewood will not now be one of the first new towns to be built in England in 40 years. We knew all along that this was a bad idea, wasting excellent farm land, demolishing swathes of The National Forest. It was announced following zero consultation with local people.I have been able to meet so many residents fighting this proposal. They all felt that they were being ignored and their wishes over-ridden by developers from the North East. We have lobbied extremely hard in Westminster against this proposal and I am delighted for everyone involved. I believe it proves that, when South Derbyshire folk come together and put forward a good argument, we can fight to save what is special about where we live."

Speed Watch

2008-03-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

The speed at which drivers are travelling through two South Derbyshire villages are being monitored over the next three months by volunteers from the villages concerned.And those found to be breaking the speed limit will receive a warning letter from Derbyshire Constabulary telling them what has happened and advising them further action could be taken.The speed monitors are being used in Coton-in-the-Elms and Linton, chosen for the scheme following a number of requests at the Safer South Derbyshire Partnership’s Safer Neighbourhoods meetings in the area.The police have organised and provided training for volunteers in the villages and identified locations in which the equipment can be safely operated.Fourteen residents have been trained in how to use the hand held speed devices, health and safety issues, minor dispute resolution and safe operating practices. Having completed the training volunteers have taken to the streets with the equipment for the first time this week and already have details of dozens of vehicles to pass on to the police. Keith McLaren, one of the volunteers, said: "The scheme is needed in this area. It is a visible deterrent and we hope that it makes a difference."Being the Chair of the Safer South Derbyshire Partnership, I went along to Coton-in-the-Elms to watch the volunteers in action at 8.15 this morning. (Monday March 3). The Partnership is pleased to have helped respond to requests from residents in these villages and we hope that the scheme will raise awareness of the dangers of driving too fast

Your Air Ambulance visits Pingle School Swadlincote to say thank you

2008-02-25T01:01:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful event. The Air Ambulance came to visit Pingle School in Swadlincote to say thank you to Danial who has done so much to keep it flying in Derbyshire.With the District Chairman Cllr Mick Bale I had the pleasure of meeting the Headteacher Mrs Tabberer and the children. Everyone congratulated Danial and he even go to go for a flight with them.Check out this website for wonderful photos click hereA day he will remember for the rest of his life.

Post Office Closures - replacement service

2008-01-19T00:59:00.000-08:00

I have blogged before about the closures of post offices in South Derbyshire. Now the day has arrived and we are seeing the closure of Church Gresley, Egginton and Newton Solney.I do not need to go over again how ridiculous this whole process has been. So many people have said to me that is clear they had no intention of listening to the public.So what to do now?I have had detailed discussions with a Community Group the 50+ Forum. They have offered to receive calls from people who would be interested in a weekly bus service running from outside the old post office in Church Gresley direct to Swad post office, waiting for the customers and droping them back off again outside the old post office. The offer is to run this service on a Wednesday morning.If anyone is interested in taking up this offer they should call the Chairman of the 50+ Forum Gill Farrington direct on 01283 219996. Gill would also like to hear from people in Egginton and Newton Solney to run a similar weekly service for the elderly and vulnerable to their local post office, also on a Wednesday.This is not the only plan I am working on for a replacement service but this is an immediate offer to people so badly affected now. Please call Gill at the 50+ Forum to discuss this offer on 01283 219996.