Fairer funding for Wokingham and West Berkshire schools

At the recent candidates debate for the Wokingham constituency some misunderstandings about fairer funding were on display.

I have been lobbying for fairer funding, making this clear in private meetings with the Secretary of State, in public debates and on this website. It is true Rob Wilson also took a delegation to see the junior Minister, Mr Gibb. When I heard about it after the event I also lobbied him, telling him of my exchanges with his boss, the Secretary of State.Local Conservative Councillors have been as keen on fair funding as I have been, and have also lobbied.

The main policy issue has been handled by the Secretary of State. I helped secure the place of fairer funding in the 2015 Manifesto, and have been keen to see the government enact it since. I did not agree with the formula proposed in the Consultation document, as I wish to see a higher proportion of the money allocated as an identical lump sum per pupil for every school which will help our schools and seems to me to be fairer. Many of the costs are similar around the country given national pay scales.

If elected to Parliament next week I will press for a better formula and will argue for increases in the total money going to English schools. One way or another I want our local schools to have a real increase to help meet their budgetary pressures.

Published and promoted by Fraser Mc Farland on behalf of John Redwood, both at 30 Rose Street Wokingham RG40 1 XU

Theresa May must turn up to the TV debate

Theresa May called this election, but now won’t even turn up to debate the issues. I think her elusiveness, just like her policies, demonstrates her utter lack of regard for the British people.

She’s clearly terrified of having to defend the cruel and heartless policies in the Conservative manifesto, 20 of which she’s said she’ll review AFTER the election.

This is simply not good enough.

From Brexit to the Dementia Tax, to restricting winter fuel payments and capping energy bills, Theresa May is keeping us in the dark on these issues. What is she plotting? How cold and mean-spirited will her vision for Britain become? The British people deserve to know.

The more Liberal Democrat MPs are elected, the more we can hold Theresa May to account on her yet-to-be finalised policies.

If you support us in our bold opposition, vote Lib Dem on 8th June.

Thank you,

Tim Farron

Shaanxi reports new H7N9 human case

Northwest China’s Shaanxi Province Wednesday reported a new human infection of the H7N9 bird flu virus, bringing the number of infections to six in the province.

The 62-year-old female from Inner Mongolia showed symptoms including a fever and cough after having contact with dead poultry and was confirmed as infected in the city of Yulin Wednesday.

Also on Wednesday, the local government in the city’s Yuyang District reported more than 20,000 chickens had died from an outbreak of H7N9 bird flu at a private poultry company.

H7N9 is a bird flu strain first reported to have infected humans in China in March 2013.

According to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, in March, 96 H7N9 infections and 47 deaths were reported nationwide. In April, 81 infections and 24 deaths were reported.

Nick Clegg: May is snatching lunches from 250,000 children living in poverty

The figures, which have been broken down by constituency and local authority, show 260 children living in poverty are set to lose out in Theresa May’s constituency of Maidenhead.

It comes as Nick Clegg is set to unveil a new, hard-hitting poster attacking Theresa May’s decision to scrap free school lunches.

The Liberal Democrats have also calculated that under Conservative costings of just under 7p per child’s breakfast, each child could expect to receive either half a boiled egg, one slice of bread with 12 baked beans or 37.5 cornflakes and 100ml of semi-skimmed milk.

Commenting on the figures, Nick Clegg said:

“Theresa May’s cruel and illogical decision to take away free, hot lunches for all infants will hurt hundreds of thousands of Britain’s poorest children.

“It’s clear that the reintroduction of means-testing for school lunches will mean many children losing out on what could be the only hot, nutritious meal that they receive each day.

“Theresa May is not only risking the health of some of our youngest children, but she will also create terrible inequality in the classroom.

“The Conservatives’ cynical promise of a free breakfast is clearly not designed to reach all children because they have set aside a meagre 7p per breakfast per child. That’s the price of half a boiled egg or just one slice of bread with 12 baked beans.

“Theresa May insists she wants to govern for everyone. But her regressive cutting of free school lunches is clear evidence she is prepared to ignore some of the poorest and most vulnerable children in our society.

“Just because the youngest don’t vote, it doesn’t mean that Theresa May should simply cast them aside.”

ESMA registers Bloomberg Trade Repository Limited as a trade repository

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU supervisor of trade repositories (TRs), has registered Bloomberg Trade Repository Limited as a TR under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), with effect from 7 June 2017. Bloomberg Trade Repository Limited is based in the United Kingdom and covers the following derivative asset classes: commodities, credit, foreign exchange, equities and interest rates.

EMIR introduced provisions to improve transparency, establish common rules for central counterparties (CCPs) and for trade repositories and to reduce the risks associated with the OTC derivatives market. It provides for the obligation to centrally clear OTC derivative contracts or to apply risk mitigation techniques such as the exchange of collateral. It also provides for the direct supervision and the registration of TRs by ESMA as well as the recognition of non-EU TRs.

TRs are commercial firms that centrally collect and maintain the records of derivatives contracts reported to them. The registration of this TR means that it can be used by the counterparties to a derivative transaction to fulfil their trade reporting obligations under EMIR.

In order to be registered as a TR a company must be able to demonstrate to ESMA that it can comply with the requirements of EMIR, including, most importantly, on:

operational reliability;
safeguarding and recording; and
transparency and data availability.

The Bloomberg Trade Repository Limited registration brings the total number of TRs registered in the EU to seven TRs, which can be used for trade reporting.