PUBLIC SECTOR EMPLOYMENT IN CORNWALL
8 January 2016
Here are the estimated figures for 2014 of the numbers of people that are employed in each Cornwall constituency in the public sector, that is in nationalised bodies, central government, or local government. The data is from Public sector employment by parliamentary constituency for UK constituencies from the Office for national statistics (ONS) and House of Commons Library. The percentage refers to all employees working in the constituency.
Camborne and Redruth 4000, 14.3%
North Cornwall 4400, 13.0%
St Austell and Newquay 4900, 14.2%
St Ives 3800, 13.5%
South East Cornwall 3000, 12.2
Truro and Falmouth 10 500, 21.8%
Here is the data
Public sector employment by parliamentary constituency
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FINANCIAL ASSAULT ON POOR ONLY DELAYED
13 December 2015
In his autumn mini-budget George Osborne, the Tory chancellor, abandoned his proposal to cut tax credits for the working poor. The proposal had been attacked by many, including some Tory MPs, as unjust, taking money from those working people least able to afford the loss. Osborne’s decision, whatever its vulnerable cause, is welcome.
However, that’s not the end of the Tory attack on the poor.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and Resolution Foundation have both pointed out that the move to universal credit and the significant changes to it set out in the budget mean the Tories are still going to cut benefit payments for very many.
The IFS sets out the changes in detail in its paper Benefit changes and distributional analysis by Andrew Hood. A press release by the RF explaining that most loss of benefit income has been delayed rather than stopped is here.
Misery and injustice delayed not abolished.
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CORNWALL TORY MPs OPPOSE EU VOTE FOR 16-17 YEAR 0LDS
9 December 2015
All six Tory MPs for Cornwall opposed the Lords proposal of votes for sixteen and seventeen year olds in the EU referendum. Sarah Newton was a teller for the opponents.
See Hansard 8 December 2015 column 881.
In a similar vote on 18 June 2015 the six voted against an EU referendum vote for sixteen and seventeen year olds. In the Lords on 18 November 2015 the four Liberal Democrats from Cornwall, Paul Tyler, Judith Jolly, Matthew Taylor, and Robin Teverson, voted for EU referendum votes at 16 as did Labour’s Tony Berkeley.
UPDATE
The Lords five voted again for EU referendum votes at sixteen in a debate on 14 December 2015 (Lords Hansard column 1865) here.
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AVERAGE PAY IN CORNWALL 2015
21 November 2015
The provisional ASHE data for 2015 has been published by the Office for national statistics (ONS). It shows that the average pay in Cornwall was £23 346 for the year ending April 2015. This is the data for pay given in Table 8.7a, that is, median average, annual, gross, fulltime, all employees, by Cornwall residence. The various ASHE data also gives the mean average pay, and median and mean for each constituency, for males and females, for part time workers, and for different years.
The tables are here here.
ASHE: Annual survey of hours and earnings
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Nous sommes tous les parisiens
14 November 2015
Nous sommes tous les parisiens
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BEREAVEMENT CARE IN MATERNITY UNITS
5 November 2015
The other evening the House of Commons had a civilised and compelling half-an-hour discussion which honoured all the MPs who took part and who were there. It was initiated by Will Quince and Antoinette Sandbach, two Tory MPs who made deeply moving and vastly effective speeches from experience. The minister responded positively and well.
The discussion was about bereavement care in maternity units and the importance of dedicated facilities and understanding, empathising staff. You can read it in Hansard 2 November 2015 beginning at column 844. A few of the examples of “care” given are very distressing and troubling; they are thankfully matched by examples of genuinely caring and supportive staff.
I very much hope we shall see excellent dedicated bereavement care facilities in maternity units in every hospital.
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LIVING WAGE UP
2 November 2015
Today increases in the living wage have been announced. Outside London it rises to £8.25 an hour and in London £9.40 an hour.
Slowly the wage is spreading. 2000 businesses are now signed up to it. They include major national companies like Barclays Bank and Lidl and in Cornwall a growing number of local companies and organisations such as Cornwall Council, Volunteer Cornwall, and St Merryn Holiday Park.
However, a large proportion of workers in Cornwall, fulltime and part time, are paid less than the living wage. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says that last year 31.6 percent of all workers in Cornwall were paid less than the then living wage.
Let us welcome the progress but push for more to get it.
Note that this is the real living wage not George Osborne’s “national living wage” which will be £7.20 an hour for those over twenty five.
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MALNUTRITION IN CORNWALL IN 2015
28 October 2015
The Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) has published data that shows malnutrition, among other diseases we associate with Victorian times, has increased in the Devon, Cornwall, and Isles of Scilly NHS area. You can see the data in the excel file Topic of Interest-Victorian Diseases-Data here.
In the year August 2014-July 2015 the rate of malnutrition admission episodes in Devon, Cornwall, Isles of Scilly NHS team area was 2.4 per 100 000 population, the highest of the twenty five areas of England. This is nearly double the average rate for England of 1.3. There has been an increase of 34 percent over 2010/11 admissions for malnutrition in the Devon, Cornwall, and Isles of Scilly area.
The number of admissions in the area is very small but I think it is troubling that malnutrition is around and increasing in 2015. Look too at patients’ ages. Note too that the numbers are not of individuals but admissions as a patient may be admitted more than once in a year.
The Trussell Trust, which runs foodbanks, has said, “We often see parents who are going without food so that they can feed their children.” In Britain. In 2015. There is a growing food crisis for many in our country and the Tory government is floundering.
Note
The published data does not show how many of the admissions were of people separately resident in each of the three counties in the team area.
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