Today marks 700 days since the Government agreed to bring forward plans to adequately fund and improve the social care system – since then, this has been pushed back time and time again. According to Age UK, more than 50,000 older people have died waiting in vain for care since the Government first said it […]

Earlier today, Surrey County Council approved its budget for the coming financial year.  The Lib Dems and other opposition Councillors did not support the budget as it will result in residents paying more for less. ‪Local Council Taxpayers will face an inflation busting Council Tax rise – a Band D Council Tax bill in Woking […]

Surrey County Council has agreed to my request to help its European Union (EU) staff and children in care apply for ‘settled status’ post-Brexit. Earlier this year, the Government announced that EU nationals would have to apply and pay for settled status post-Brexit, though they have recently waived the application fees.  This ‘pay to stay’ […]

I have today called on Surrey County Council to support European Union (EU) nationals living locally from the damaging effects of Brexit. Before Christmas, the Government announced that EU citizens would have to apply and pay for ‘settled status’ post-Brexit, causing fears that some European workers will leave the UK post Brexit.  Surrey County Council, […]

Tomorrow, I will chair the first in a series of ‘Woking Debates’ – where local people come together to debate key topics. These monthly debates will take place at Christ Church in Woking town centre, on Saturdays between 11 am to 12.30 pm. Tomorrow’s debate is about health and social care – the adequate funding […]

Although it has now been forgotten as a result of the Government’s Brexit woes, earlier this week a 10-year plan for the NHS was unveiled – and like Brexit, I think it has some serious shortcomings. Talk of moving money towards prevention is welcome, but hollow given that the Government has removed £80 million from this […]

Earlier this year, I got Woking Borough Council to exempt young people who have recently left the care system from paying Council Tax until their 25th birthday.  Surrey County Council also agreed a package of measures to support care leavers, including plans to take young care leavers out of Council Tax, at the start of […]

On the same day as the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer said in the Budget that austerity is coming to an end, Tory-run Surrey County Council announced that it will consult the public on plans to cut bus passes, Children’s Centres, Community Recycling Centres, libraries and services for people with special educational needs and disabilities. […]

On 18th June, the Home Office issued a letter to the Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee, regarding Ahmed Hassan’s interaction with the Police and Home Office, prior to the Parsons Green bombing incident in September 2017. For a number of months, the Lib Dems and I have been pressing for a report on […]

The publication today of the Ofsted report into Surrey County Council’s Children’s Services makes difficult reading, and tells a story of a slow, almost dilatory approach to improvement since the last Ofsted inspection. Both the last inspection and the one just published rates Surrey’s Children’s Services as ‘inadequate’. I really recommend reading as much of […]