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Recently I had the pleasure of visiting the ‘Sure Start’ Centre in West Street, Erith, and helped with the opening of the new Neighbourhood Nursery, where I was able to talk to local familie, to find out how they are getting on, and what more can be done to help them give their children the best start in life.
As a parent of three children, and grand-parent of six, I know how rewarding bringing up a family can be, but how demanding it can be too. That’s why I’ve always done everything possible in Parliament to make childcare, education and children’s health a top priority.
All the evidence suggests – and it’s commonsense really - that if you bring parents and children together in one place for education, childcare, healthcare and advice, the children do better and the parents can be helped to go back to work if they wish.
The Children’s Centre at West Street, Erith is a good example of this theory in action. Week after week you can see small toddlers turning into confident young children ready for school, and young mothers and fathers taking charge of their children’s upbringing with confidence. It’s making a real and lasting difference in Erith.
But we need more help for families across Bexley and Greenwich.
Childcare should be available to everyone, and affordable. Every community in our area should have SureStart, like the one in West Street. Others are in the pipe-line for Slade Green, Thamesmead & Abbey Wood and Plumstead.
I welcome the new Childcare Bill that was launched on 8 November, which commits the government to help under-fives and parents.
It’s going to mean that families get the help they need from the moment their child is born, so they have good childcare and good education running side by side. And it is going to give parents information and help as their child grows up.
Already, the government has guaranteed free, part-time childcare for every three and four year old whose parents want help – that’s 525,000 extra childcare places nationally. In addition to the Sure Start Centres, paid maternity leave will be extended from 18 weeks to 9 months by 2007; and every family is being helped with extra cash through the Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit.
When the new Bill becomes law it will:
• Ensure the council has to improve care for young children, making childhood services integrated and accessible. Putting a SureStart Children’s Centre in every community in our area will be central to this.
• Ensure affordable and good quality childcare is available to all parents.
• Give parents access to the full range of information about local and national services they may need as a parent, and help find the right childcare for them.
• Set new education standards for the under fives, so that they are already learning by the time they reach school.
I believe it will transform lives. That’s why I’ll be proud to vote for it and help it deliver real changes for young families in our area.
Every child matters, and every family should have help to get the best start in life.
If you want to find out more about the new Childcare Bill , contact me at:
John Austin MP, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA or email austinj@parliament.uk
2005 seems to have gone by remarkably quickly and preparations for Christmas and the New Year are in full swing.
Like most people, the end of the year for me is both a time for reflection and a time to think about resolutions and priorities for the year ahead.
It has been another really busy year in all parts of Bexley, with new schools, libraries and leisure centres being opened.
Well over 100,000 tonnes of rubbish collected, more being recycled in Bexley than ever before and making us number one in London for recycling.
Academic results up, police numbers up, crime down, awards for many of our parks, Danson House back in use, Erith Town Centre opened and transformed, over 20,000 new members of the library service, two million calls answered by the Council, standards of care for older people independently recognised as some of the very best in Britain - and the list goes on.
There have been frustrations and sad points as well, the battle to combat disorder and graffiti, with some success, but more still to do, the sad death of Sir Edward Heath as well as local people serving in the armed forces like Fusilier Stephen Robert Manning from Erith, and racism, bullying and domestic violence still a part of too many lives.
The highlight for many was the visit by Her Majesty The Queen, marking the 40th anniversary of our borough.
While it is wonderful to reflect on these big public events, we should also thank the people in Bexley, paid and volunteers, who have done much this year to maintain and improve the quality of life for all of us who live in the borough.
I have said before that, despite the size of Bexley Council, we can never do everything we would like to.
We work closely with others such as the police and health providers, but we rely on the goodwill of hundreds of local people, young and old, who give up their own time to help others. Let’s hope those people continue to do just that next year.
My resolutions for next year are many, some personal and maybe familiar, like the need to eat a bit less and exercise a bit more, for example. Others are resolutions to redouble my efforts to provide an even better chance for our young people in schools and youth provision, while not forgetting the families and older people in Bexley who deserve a good deal too.
I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and rewarding 2006.
I often find the way we talk about politics quite amusing. When speaking of national issues, most refer to anti-social behaviour (meaning young people) and hoodie-crimes (meaning more young people). Happy slapping, loitering, and “those ones who hang around by Tescos” seem to be our biggest issues of debate at the moment. If truth be told, between the media and Westminster, it’d be quite easy to build up a case for the complete eradication of all young people. Take our borough for example, our town centres are packed with tens of young people shouting at each other from weekend to weekend and it’s not exactly like we have a lack of youth centres, just look at our “What’s On” magazine. Indeed, it seems that you can’t trust anyone under 30.
Well that’s one point of view – one I detest with all my heart, soul and strength. Another, more accurate view is that we, for years, have glamorised hooliganism so much that it has almost become an expectation. We plaster the unruly on the front pages of our local papers and give the young pioneers of our community the little column on the 10th page. And it’s not just the fault of the media, in our culture and in the way we do things generally, we’ve become incredibly failure-focused to the point that, instead of rewarding the good, we become amazed at one who manages simply to stay within the bounds of common law. Forgive me if I laugh when the same folks who complain that young people are loitering on the streets, also refuse to engage in civil conversation about acceptable alternatives. The correct solution: Give young people a real say in what goes on! That, my friends, is exactly what Bexley has done.
In January, the Council set up an active forum, which would represent the views of young people to our local area. Bexley Youth Council was created as a place where any person who lives/studies between 13-18, with a real commitment and interest in bettering their community can discuss and act on the issues of young people in the borough. We meet one Wednesday a month at the Erith Cyber Café (connected to the library) and give those who wish to be included chances to do many other things, like Duke of Edinburgh awards weekends away to do team-building projects and activities. I myself am Bexley’s UK Youth Parliament Representative, shouting for us on a regional and national level as well as a local one. The difference between our council and many others is that Bexley really does listen to its young people and isn’t reluctant to hear and consider your views. All it really takes for things to get better for all of us is for more people to get up and get involved! The truth is simple and clear, unless people stop complaining and start acting, we will not have a community to protect!
Dayle Barrett, Bexley’s Youth MP
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