Julie Morgan MP

Surgery this Friday

Julie will hold her next constituency surgery this coming Friday, 27 April, from 12.30pm to 1.30pm at Asda Coryton in Longwood Drive. No appointment is necessary.

For more information call (029) 20 624166.

Daily Bulletin: Thursday 26 April

Today, Julie is in the constituency. The business in the House of Commons will include oral questions to Education Secretary Alan Johnson and Solicitor General Mike O'Brien. The main business will be a debate on defence in the UK.

Headlines

The US House of Representatives narrowly passes a war funding bill setting a timetable for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq; fighting continues in the Somali capital; and Burma and North Korea, two of the most isolated countries in the world, have restored diplomatic relations with one another.

Politics

The Government is to investigate evidence from the BBC that there is a new British "underclass" of migrant labourers; the MoD is to review plans to deploy Prince Harry to Iraq; and the Lords have voted in favour of allowing intercept evidence to be used in serious organised crime trials.

Cameron: ASBOs are "gimmicks"

In Hampshire yesterday, David Cameron kicked off his trip by branding ASBOs "gimmicks" and saying that people should be 'encouraged' to behave responsibly.

He told a local paper: "We need to have politicians prepared to do the long-term, patient work, helping to create a culture that is family-friendly and that encourages people to come together and stay together rather, than endlessly churning out new headline-generating gimmicks."

Alan Whitehead, Labour’s MP for Southampton Test, accused Cameron of being "completely out of touch" with the public. He said: "All David Cameron has to offer is hot air and warm wishes. ASBOs have proved very important in helping communities tackle antisocial behaviour, and they need to be supported, not denigrated."

Julie said: "The Tories plainly have no idea what it’s like to live with people with no respect for their neighbourhood — neighbours who give them hell, or gangs causing trouble for vulnerable people. And it's not just the Tories who refuse to help; the Lib Dems too are out of touch with the public on this, so much so that here in Cardiff they've been condemned by the Public Services Ombudsman and ordered to pay compensation to Cardiff North residents."

Vote Independent, get a Tory

Welsh Labour has published a document showing that votes for "Independents" in the Assembly elections means sending just another Tory supporter to Cardiff Bay.

The document focuses on Wrexham's "independent" AM John Marek, who has voted 77 times with the Tories to frustrate the Labour Welsh Assembly Government since the last election in 2003.

John Marek joined forces with the Tories to:

• Block record investment in public services in Assembly budgets
• Undermine the Educational Maintenance Allowance, which helps young people stay on at school or go to further education college
• Protect radioactive substances from the threat of terrorism
• Oppose the introduction of ID cards to keep our country safe from terrorism
• Attempt to prevent the abolition of quangos in Wales
• Impose a large local tax increase on North Wales people
• Hold up the business of the Assembly with political games

To stop the Tories running our schools and hospitals after May 3, the people of Wales have only one option: vote Labour to keep the Tories out.

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Daily Bulletin: Wednesday 25 April

Today, Julie is in the constituency. The business in the House of Commons will include oral questions to Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain and Prime Minister Tony Blair (watch live here from 12pm). The main business will be a motion relating to the Crossrail Bill and opposed Private Business, namely the Broads Authority Bill.

Headlines

Russia is preparing to bury Boris Yeltsin; astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our solar system to date; and a rally is being held by journalists at the crossing point between Israel and the Gaza Strip for Alan Johnston.

Politics

Home Office reorganisation will boost Britain's anti-terror capacity, John Reid says; councils that adopt fortnightly rubbish collections achieve higher recycling rates, a report suggests; and figures publish today show that the Welsh Assembly Government has achieved its target of no longer than an eight-month wait for hospital treatment.

Ex-Tory leader says Welsh Tories have no credibility

Trouble for Plaid Cymru's planned partners in the Welsh Assembly: former Welsh Tory leader Rod Richards has attacked the present leader, Nick Bourne, saying: "I have no regard for him whatsoever ... I certainly won't be voting Conservative because they don't deserve it and have no credibility in my view."

See the full story from the Western Mail here.

Africa Progress Panel

Tony Blair is to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Berlin and attend a meeting of the Africa Progress Panel. Last June Blair established the Panel to hold the world to account for the promises made to and by Africa at Gleneagles.

2005 was a landmark year for commitments for Africa but the most challenging part is implementing what was agreed. Almost two years on there is real progress:

• Increases in global aid (up from $79 billion at Gleneagles to $103.9 billion this year). Aid to Africa up by $10 billion. The figures include significant levels of debt relief, particularly to Nigeria and Iraq, but even without debt, aid is still up from the Gleneagles baseline: global aid is up by $8 billion and aid to Africa by $2 billion
• UK aid is now £6.85 billion, or 0.52% of GNI (on track to 0.7% by 2013), up from £2.5 billion ten years ago
• 22 countries have benefited from 100% debt relief, 18 of them in Africa. This amounts to $38 billion so far. Zambia used its debt relief to abolish health user fees, giving tens of thousands of people access to free healthcare
• On education the UK has committed £8.5 billion over next ten years. Donors have pledged $1.1 billion to the Fast Track Initiative, a significant ramping up of donor pledges since Gleneagles

We have three years until 2010. 2007 is a critical year for making progress. Angela Merkel’s decision to make Africa the key theme of G8 Presidency presents a real opportunity, but G8 leaders must reaffirm their commitment to increase aid, and set out a path showing how they will increase their aid by 2010.

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Daily Bulletin: Tuesday 24 April

Today, Julie is in the constituency. The business in the House of Commons will include oral questions to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt. The main business will be the ninth allotted Opposition Day of the Session, with debates on Modernising Medical Careers and the future of local government.

Headlines

Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin has died; the US has said that it expects Sudan to allow a larger peacekeeping force into Darfur within a matter of weeks; and a Japanese man has been acquitted of the killing of Lucie Blackman.

Politics

Prime Minister Tony Blair is to chair the first meeting of the Home Office's new ministerial committee on security and terrorism; a Private Member's Bill to exempt MPs from freedom of information laws is to be debated again, despite critics thinking they had talked it out; and calls are being made for a "culture shift" in the way older people in care are treated.

Tackling anti-social behaviour

Tory leader David Cameron has criticised the use of ASBOs that have been so important in empowering communities to tackle anti-social behaviour in their neighbourhoods. He said to the BBC: “These things are being handed out like confetti …They’re being breached all over the place, they’re not working and they’re taking away the responsibility from parents.”

A recent NAO report (in December 2006) recognised that Labour’s policy on tackling anti-social behaviour through a twin-track approach of support and sanction is effective. In cases sampled, 65% of people stopped behaving anti-socially after one intervention; 86% of people stopped behaving anti-socially after two interventions; and after three interventions this rose to 93%.

ASBOs are one of the tools in the fight against ASB. Powers to close crack houses have been used more than 500 times; and 800 dispersal zones have been designated, while 13,000 acceptable behaviour contracts have been issued.

Rhodri Morgan rubbishes Labour/Plaid coalition story

Rhodri Morgan has totally rubbished the BBC Wales story that Welsh Labour was considering a deal with Plaid Cymru after May's election.

"This story is rubbish from start to finish. A formal complaint is being made to BBC Wales about their decision to run such a story at such a critical point in the election, despite the story being comprehensively denied by Welsh Labour official sources.

"Neither I nor anyone else acting with my authority has been engaged in any such considerations or discussions. The obsession of the media and the minor parties is with coalition speculation. As previously stated on scores of occasions, Welsh Labour is aiming to form a government based on a mandate from the people of Wales.

"The key dividing line in this election is that the other parties can only form a coalition government. Welsh Labour can form a government based on a proper mandate from the people of Wales. That is what we are seeking. We are certainly not going to be knocked of course by baseless media tittle-tattle."

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Daily Bulletin: Monday 23 April

Today, Julie is in the constituency. The business in the House of Commons will include oral questions to Work and Pensions Secretary John Hutton. The main business will be the Second Reading of the Finance Bill.

Headlines

GMTV suspends phone-ins after a BBC investigation finds callers have been defrauded out of millions of pounds; Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal will run-off to decide France's next President; and sewage which has been pouring into the Firth of Forth for two and a half days "should stop" shortly ...

Politics

Environment Secretary David Miliband says that he never considered challenging Gordon Brown for the Labour leadership; immigration must be "effectively controlled and fair", says John Reid; and Rhodri Morgan has said that the average Welsh family is much better off under Labour since devolution.

Come clean!

Labour in Wales have said that it’s time for Plaid Cymru leader Ieuan Wyn Jones to stop wriggling and come clean on his plans to put the Tories back into power.

Labour’s Rhodri Morgan has stated categorically that there is no way Welsh Labour would ever work with the Tories in government in Wales. Labour do not want a Wales with Tories back in charge of the Welsh NHS, Welsh schools or Welsh jobs.

Yet for months Ieuan Wyn Jones has been refusing to deny that he would allow Tory Ministers to take charge of Welsh public services. Now it is time for him to give a straight answer.

Labour’s Welsh Secretary, Peter Hain said: "Time after time, Plaid Cymru have refused point blank to deny they would put the Tories back in power in Wales and allow Tory Ministers to take charge of Welsh public services. It is no longer tenable for them to refuse to answer the question.

"Only yesterday, Elfyn Llwyd confirmed that Plaid Cymru would seek to agree a joint programme with the Tories. But Ieuan Wyn Jones still refuses to admit to the people of Wales what this would mean — Tory Ministers back in charge of Welsh schools and hospitals.”

Blair on Europe

Tony Blair gave an interview to the Financial Times on Friday, restating the position he set out earlier in the week with the Dutch PM that the treaty the UK will be proposing at the next European Council will be a different kind of treaty — an amending, rather than a constitutional treaty.

Warning of the predictable Tory reaction, he said: “The truth is that the Conservative party will probably argue for a referendum if you move a comma in an existing treaty.” He pointed out the Tories did not hold a referendum on the extensive Maastricht Treaty.

He insisted: “People do understand the importance of Britain being in Europe to a greater degree today ... For Britain as a country and this Government as a government, those days of isolation are over. I mean, when was the last time we went into a European summit with everyone saying 'Britain is on its own'?

There is a changing mood in Europe which is partly about the new members, but it is also partly that I think Europe itself wants to focus on practical policy: the economy, energy, the environment, crime, immigration.

“Europe is moving in a reforming and changing direction and I think President Barroso has made a big difference,” he says, adding that people in Britain no longer “chew their nails” when they receive a visit from the head of the Commission.

Have we missed a story? Want to discuss these issues? Leave a comment below.

Surgery this Saturday

Julie will hold her next constituency surgery tomorrow — Saturday, 21 April, from 10.15am to 11.15am at the constituency office — 17 Plasnewydd, Whitchurch.

No appointment is necessary — for any more information please call 20 624166.

Daily Bulletin: Friday 20 April

Today, Julie is in the constituency. The House of Commons will debate the remaining stages of Tory MP David Maclean's Freedom of Information (Amendment) Bill.

Headlines

Amnesty International has condemned Iraq for being the world's fourth highest user of the death penalty; the inquest into the death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer has been postponed after "significant developments"; and a 'ghost yacht' has been found off Australia.

Politics

Developing casinos across the UK could cause problem gambling, doctors warn; the Government confirms that it wouldn't hold a referendum on a 'less ambitious' EU treaty bringing in some elements of the proposed Constitution; and Barnardos Cymru warns that more money is needed to end child poverty in Wales.

Election warning: Vote Yellow, Get Blue ...

David Cameron and Ming Campbell were exposed on Wednesday as having been holding secret leader-to-leader talks to try and keep Labour out of government in London.

Labour’s Chief Whip Jacqui Smith said: “This is a political shambles. We now understand that David Cameron and Ming Campbell have been holding secret talks to unseat Ken Livingstone as Mayor of London with Greg Dyke as their 'unity' candidate. Their supporters up and down the country will be appalled and what all voters will want to know is whether the Tories and Liberals are in secret talks in their own areas. To add to the shambles, the Lib Dems are now saying that the 'unity' candidate is in fact a declared supporter of their own party, whilst Dyke himself says that Ken has done 'not that bad a job'.  For the Lib Dems to suddenly claim they have pulled the plug — only when they’ve been caught out — will fool no-one and it now seems that those who had intended on voting yellow during the elections may in fact get blue.”

... and the cat's out of the bag in Wales, too

In an interview with the BBC on Thursday, Plaid Cymru Parliamentary leader Elfyn Llwyd said his party was planning a "drastic new solution" — of a Tory coalition after the Assembly elections on May 3.

Labour’s Welsh Secretary Peter Hain said: "After weeks of evasion, Elfyn Llwyd has now admitted that a vote for Plaid Cymru is a vote for the Tories, and that Plaid Cymru is prepared to put Tory Ministers in charge of our NHS, schools and jobs.

"The Tories caused devastation in Wales the last time they were in power. They were responsible for the two worst recessions since the Second World War, soaring unemployment three times higher than it is today in Wales and swingeing cuts to our public services.

"Only Labour can provide a cast-iron guarantee of a Tory-free Wales. Only a vote for Labour can guarantee a Rhodri Morgan-led government delivering free prescriptions, short waits for treatment and record investment in our public services."

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New review should bring more money for ASW pensioners

We had the debate on Report stage of the Pensions Bill yesterday. This was an opportunity for the Government to move further on money for the Financial Assistance Scheme, which is designed to help people such as the Allied, Steel and Wire workers here in Cardiff who lost their occupational pensions when ASW shut down in 2002.

It has taken a long time to extend the Scheme, but we are making progress. In this year's Budget, Gordon Brown announced that the Scheme's funds would increase to £8 billion, which should mean that every one of the 125,000 workers should receive some help. But I felt that the Government could go still further, so I tabled an amendment to the Bill to bring the Scheme's coverage up to 90% of the value of the lost pensions. Here's the speech I made:

Julie Morgan (Cardiff, North) (Lab): I thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for calling me to speak about amendment (a) to new clause 38, and new clause 24. I am also a signatory to new clauses 25 and 26.

The debate is important to the 125,000 people who have been affected by the collapse of their pension schemes. The experience of my constituents who are former employees of Allied Steel and Wire is much in my mind as we debate the subject today. I, along with other hon. Members, have been campaigning for a long time to get justice for the Allied Steel and Wire workers and others throughout the country.

In Cardiff, 893 employees from Allied Steel and Wire lost their pensions when the private company went bankrupt. All hon. Members have had experience of the utter misery that that caused and its awful effect on families. Many people have come to my surgery and spoken about the personal devastation that was brought upon them. Losing their jobs was one thing and losing their pensions came right on top of it. That was a devastating blow. Many had worked in the steel industry all their lives—and we all know that working in that industry is hard.

Some people have never talked about the trauma of what happened to them. A woman came to my constituency office last week and said that her husband lost his job and his pension and had never spoken of it. The overwhelming horror of what happened to him has meant that he has never been able to talk about it. We are talking about those people’s lives today.

It is important to acknowledge what the Government have done to respond to that devastation in people’s lives. The former employees, the unions, especially Community and Amicus, with which I have worked closely, and Members of Parliament, especially, at the beginning, my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, West (Kevin Brennan), led a campaign that resulted in setting up the Pension Protection Fund, which will protect pensions in that position from now on. That was a big step forward. I also applaud the Government’s establishment of the financial assistance scheme and their work to improve it. When it was originally set up, it applied only to members who had reached retirement age or were within three years of doing so. It was woefully inadequate to address the needs of all the pensioners.

The pensions White Paper of 2006 extended the scheme to those within 15 years of retirement, with total funding of £2.3 billion, which the new clause increases to 80 per cent. of core benefits. The FAS has been gradually extended, but the process has been long and tortuous. It has taken five years and it has felt as though the campaigning of Members of Parliament, the unions and others forced the Government to improve the provision in the FAS. Nevertheless, they have done that. Many hon. Members, the Community and Amicus unions and I welcome the major step forward that the Government have taken in recognising that the FAS was not adequate to provide a decent income in retirement for the estimated 125,000 people who lost their pensions through no fault of their own.

The new clause means that all those people will get some help. Some were previously excluded. In my constituency, there are people who had worked for 30 years but, until the new clause is enacted, are eligible for nothing because they started work at an early age—some at 14—in the steelworks in Cardiff and were only 54 when they lost their jobs. They were thus not eligible for any of the benefits. Now all of them will get something. That is a big step forward, but we need to go further.

Amendment (a) has the support of the Community and Amicus unions and I pay tribute to their work. They took the case to the European Court of Justice and have worked tirelessly on the issue. The new clause would ensure that those who lost their pensions before the establishment of the PPF receive the same support as those who benefit it from it in future. Amendment (a) does not prescribe where the funding for the PPF level of benefit should come from. Much discussion has taken place about how the £8 billion over 50 years will work out—how much it will cost and whether it will stretch further than we think. I do not know the answer, but there have been queries about how far the money will go.

Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) (Con): Does the hon. Lady share my concern that the review will not report until later this year? There is no immediacy in tackling some of the problems that hon. Members of all parties face in their constituency surgeries week in, week out. Does she also share my concern that there is no obvious legislative time slot to include any outcomes of the review in primary legislation? We could sort the matter out today.

Julie Morgan: I thank the hon. Gentleman for that intervention. I understand from what the Minister said earlier that the initial recommendations will be made by the summer. We certainly want them to be made as soon as possible. We did get a commitment to a time scale from the Minister today, and I welcome that fact that it is to happen by the summer.

The combination of the extra funds already committed by the Government and the review of how best to use the assets of the schemes in wind-up might be enough to fund an increase up to the PPF level. The Government have not given a commitment to do that, but there is a possibility that it will happen.

Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North) (Lab): I am obviously sympathetic to what my hon. Friend and other colleagues are saying. A constituent of mine who is due to retire shortly came to see me in my surgery. He told me that the Armstrong Pension Group, which was connected with Corus, had collapsed, and that he was going to receive only about £2,500 a year instead of the £10,000 he had expected. He was shattered by that. I took up his case and I am glad to say that he is going to receive more money, through the Pension Protection Fund. I am told that it will be about 80 per cent. of what he was expecting to get. I am very sympathetic to the arguments being put about certain other cases, but we should also pay tribute to the way in which the Pension Protection Fund is helping so many people who would otherwise be living in acute poverty. I also raised this case on the Floor of the House before I received that recent information.

Julie Morgan: I thank my hon. Friend for that contribution.

I welcome the review announced by the Government today, and I hope that it will produce the results that we need. My concern, however, is that it will not give any certainty. Amendment (a) would ensure that those who currently receive the reduced FAS level would receive 90 per cent. of their expected pension, capped at about £26,000, rather than 80 per cent. Since 1997, pensions have been index-linked, either to the retail prices index or to 2.5 per cent., whichever is the lower, rather than being index-linked only until people draw them at 65 years of age. According to what the unions have told me, they would then decline by more than a third in the first 10 years, and by more than 50 per cent. should the pensioner live to over 85 years old. Immediate benefits could be gained if we were to adopt the PPF proposals.

Jenny Willott (Cardiff, Central) (LD): Does the hon. Lady share my concern that the proposal to provide 80 per cent. of the expected pension relates only to the core pension benefits? For many of the people getting this support, that would equate to only about 60 per cent. of the amount that they had planned for, which represents a significant drop in their expected retirement income.

Julie Morgan: Yes, that is a matter of concern. Another issue is that there is a provision under the Pension Protection Fund for the payment of a lump sum, which many people were relying on to pay off their mortgages but which they cannot do under the FAS provisions. There would therefore be many advantages to bringing the FAS provisions up to the PPF levels.

We have come a long way, but we need to do just a little more to sort this out in a way that is satisfactory to me and other hon. Members whose constituents have suffered as a result of these problems, and to bring the unions in to support what the Government are doing. If the problem is not sorted out now, there is always a possibility that the Government could be forced, either by the UK High Court or by the European Commission, to introduce PPF-equivalent benefits for those who currently qualify for the FAS. This issue has been a running sore. It has been going on for five years and caused huge anxiety to many people. It would be very good if we could now settle the matter and put it behind us.

Community and Amicus took their cases to the European Court of Justice, and might be intending to go the High Court here. However, they have not started any such court action yet, because they are waiting to see whether we can sort the matter out politically. They were confident that a Labour Government would be able to sort out the different levels of the benefits.

The High Court ruled in February this year that the Government should not have rejected the report by the parliamentary ombudsman, Ann Abraham, on pension schemes that had collapsed. The Government were asked to reconsider; they have now done so and come back with their proposals in new clause 38. The High Court decision did not mean that the Government had to compensate workers for their losses, but the ruling by Mr. Justice Bean meant that they had to rethink the issue of compensation. That has been done, and we have made huge progress, but I would like to see this go one step further so that full justice can be done. The injustice suffered by Allied Steel and Wire workers in my constituency has made me see at first hand how awful this situation has been. Thank goodness it is unlikely to happen again, now that we have the Pension Protection Fund in place, but there is still a defined group of pensioners whom we need to help.

I am considering what the Minister has said today at the Dispatch Box. I was pleased that he guaranteed that Community and Amicus would become involved in the review process and that they would be consulted about it. I am also glad that there was a definite commitment to ensuring that the available funds would be applied to supplementing the FAS provision, to get it nearer to 90 per cent. I realise, however, that that was not a guarantee, and that some uncertainty therefore remains. I was pleased that the Minister said that the review would make its initial recommendations by the summer, and that it would report publicly. That also represents a big move forward. I know that Community and Amicus now want to work with the Government to ensure that the 80 per cent. figure moves closer to 90 per cent., which is what most hon. Members want.

The past five years have been a sorry time for those pensioners. We have had a lot of improvements from the Government, but I want things to go a step further. However, I am considering what the Minister has said today at the Dispatch Box.

In the end I did not press my amendment to a vote, as we have a guarantee that we will have the review and that it is likely that more money will be found. We now await the report of the review in the summer — and I will pushing hard for that money to be made available to those who have suffered through the loss of their pensions.

Daily Bulletin: Thursday 19 April

Today, Julie is in the constituency. The business in the House of Commons will include oral questions to Environment Secretary David Miliband. The main business will be motions to take notice of reports from the Public Accounts Committee, followed by a debate on the marine environment.

Headlines

The student who killed more than 30 people at Virginia Tech sent a package of videos and images to NBC in the middle of his attacks; Iraq's PM has condemned Baghdad bombings which have killed nearly 200 people; and a large UK study has found that using hormone replacement therapy significantly increases the risk of ovarian cancer.

Politics

Elderly people with dementia could be tagged to make it easier to trace them, a Minister suggests; Britain's envoy to Australia causes controversy there by saying that the war in Iraq is not part of the 'war on terror'; and Greg Dyke reveals that he was approached by the Tories to stand as their candidate for London Mayor.

Cameron: Welsh Tories' NHS plans would be a 'disaster'

Labour in Wales has launched a major attack on the Tories' health policies for Wales, quoting David Cameron in branding Welsh Tory plans as a "disaster".

On the BBC over the weekend, Cameron stated that another health reorganisation "would be a disaster". But the Welsh Conservatives health manifesto promises to:

• Scrap the local health boards and replacing them with an all-Wales commissioning body — taking local decisions away from local communities
• Establish 22 unified care agencies based on local authority areas to provide community health care and adult social care
• Revert to the days of GP practices playing a direct role in the commissioning of secondary services
• Break up the NHS by using the voluntary sector to deliver core public health services

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said: "I never thought I would ever say this, but I agree wholeheartedly with David Cameron's warning that another NHS reorganisation like the one proposed by his own party in Wales would be a disaster for our NHS.

"It took Labour years to sort out the mess the Tories left behind in the NHS, with the number of doctors in training halved, crumbling buildings, out-of-date GP facilities, cleaners contracted out privately and cripplingly long waits for treatment. 

"Now with Labour in charge of the NHS no one waits longer than a maximum of eight months for treatment. Free prescriptions for all have been delivered and cleaners in NHS hospitals will be employed by the NHS. We have invested more than £700m in new hospital buildings and facilities, far exceeding the £550m promised in our previous manifesto. We have doubled the intake in our medical schools. We have massively increased the numbers of nurses being trained.

"Labour is delivering record investment for our NHS. And we are getting results.” 

At PMQs, Tony Blair attacked the Welsh nationalists, saying that their planned coalition with the Tories would be disastrous for the health service in Wales.

More energy-efficient homes to help the environment

Most first-time buyers purchasing a home with a 'E, F or G' energy rating could soon benefit from grants to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) — A-G energy ratings for homes similar to consumer friendly fridge ratings — will be part of Home Information Packs (HIPs), which will be required for all homes being marketed from 1 June.

Subsidies of between £100 to £300 are typically available from energy suppliers to help fund the costs of insulation, and other energy efficiency improvements. In addition some first-time buyers could be eligible for Government grants of up to as much as £2,700.

But the Government wants go further to make it easier for homebuyers to access grants for energy efficiency measures, linking them to new EPCs. Housing Minister Yvette Cooper said: "We want homebuyers with poorly rated homes to be able to get extra support. From 1 June we want homebuyers to have easy access to help so they can make changes recommended in their EPC. Average homebuyers purchasing E, F or G rated homes should be able to qualify for £100-£300 support to help with better insulating their homes. Depending on their personal circumstances or the nature of the improvements needed, they may be able to get even more help."

Have we missed a story? Want to comment on these issues? Leave a comment below.

Daily Bulletin: Wednesday 18 April

Today, Julie is in London. The business in the House of Commons will include oral questions to Social Exclusion Minister Hilary Armstrong, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott and Prime Minister Tony Blair. The main business will be the remaining stages of the Pensions Bill.

Headlines

An official inquiry is to be launched into claims Sellafield nuclear power plant kept the body parts of workers; an independent inquiry into how NHS patients were given contaminated blood has opened; and a professor at Virginia Tech says that she warned officials about the shooter who killed 32 people at the weekend.

Politics

Debate continues about the loss of occupational pensions as the Pensions Bill returns to the Commons; a points-based system aimed at restricting immigration to the UK to those with needed skills will start later this year; and talks are being held at Downing Street ahead of the planned restoration of devolution to Northern Ireland next month.

Tackling gun crime

In encouraging figures, according to the British Crime Survey, violent crime has fallen 43% since 1995 and 34% since 1997.

Overall gun crime nationally is improving — total provisional recorded crime firearms offences are down 14% in the 12 months to September 2006. The 50 homicides involving firearms in the year ending March 2006 are down 36% from the previous year — the lowest recorded figure since 1998/99. The stats show gun crime is low in volume, big in impact and confined to certain areas in the country.

In London where the most recent media focus has been, the most up-to-date police figures show gun crime is down 13.7%; violent crime is also down 5.2% in London (April 06-Jan 07 compared to previous year). Julie said: "These figures are very encouraging. Labour has done a good deal in government to try and tackle gun crime. In 1997 one of the Government's first Acts was to bring in the ban on handguns, following Dunblane. Minimum sentences for certain firearms offences were introduced in January 2004 through the Criminal Justice Act 2003, with five years imprisonment for 18+ year-olds. In addition to this, the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 introduced a ban on self-contained gas cartridge guns; raised the age limit for having an air weapon and made it an offence to have an air weapon or an imitation firearm in a public place without a reasonable excuse." Other measures include:

• The Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 introduces: A new offence of using someone to mind a weapon; Banning the sale, manufacture or importation of realistic imitation firearms; tougher sentences for carrying imitation firearms (increased from a maximum of 6 months’ imprisonment to 12 months); air weapons can only be sold by registered firearms dealers
• Operation Trident — has a 100% success rate for detection of murder. In 2005-2006: Trident criminals were sent down for a total of 852 years including 12  life sentences; 117 firearms and 1781 rounds of ammunition were seized; 712 persons were arrested

Julie added: "It is crucial that as well as toughening up the law on offences we work hard to tackle the causes of crime. The Government has since May 2004 disbursed £1.25 million in grants through the Connected Fund to local community groups. From 1997 to 2003, it distributed £120m to help schools make themselves secure, and over £1.6 billion a year is spent on services for young people such as Connexions, Positive Activities for Young People and the Neighbourhood Support Fund."

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