Oxfordshire Liberal Democrats

Today Deputy Prime Minister and Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg announced £1,269,847 to get young people in Oxfordshire who are not in employment, education or training (NEET), earning or learning again.

As part of Nick Clegg's Youth Contract, the Coalition Government will, for the first time, target funding through tailored support on a payment-by-results system to 16 and 17-year-olds with no GCSEs at A* - C who are at the highest risk of long-term disengagement.

This will be my sixth year of presenting the Liberal Democrat Opposition budget at Council today. And this year is no exception in bringing new challenges to the job. The landscape has changed nationally, Liberal Democrats are now part of the Coalition government, and we know that the huge challenge for this government is to try and put the economy back on track. Years of the high spending regime of new Labour have ended and now we are having to pay the penalty in local government.

Liberal Democrats in Oxfordshire have put forward alternative budget proposals at the full Council meeting held on Friday 10th February. In Opposition at County Hall, Liberal Democrats put forward proposals to increase outreach youth work, give more support to the elderly and vulnerable and increase road and pavement maintenance through the Area Stewardship funds. There were also measures to support Post Office regeneration, help attainment in schools by providing English classes to parents who do not speak English as their main language, and give money towards family intervention projects which would help towards breaking the cycle of deprivation.

New figures reveal that in Oxfordshire 3,600 people benefitted from an apprenticeship last year, an increase of 42%.

This news comes as the Coalition Government has launched the National Apprenticeships Week, which will seek to build on last year's success with events in schools and businesses.

Commenting, Cllr. Zoé Patrick, Liberal Democrat Group Leader said:

Chairman In difficult financial times I would like to support the Cabinet in providing a Countywide Dial-a-Ride Service in Oxfordshire.

Dial-a-Ride is a much valued and necessary service enabling mobility impaired and frail people to get out and about to do such things as shopping and visiting friends, etc. For many of the people it serves it is the only day of the week that they can get outside the four walls of their homes. The fact that their carer is able to travel free of charge with them makes the service so much easier to use and be enjoyed.

As members of the Cabinet are aware, the Liberal Democrat group have long maintained the value of the Food with Thought service to our schools and for that reason have always called for the Property and Facilities contract to be allowed to have that part of the contract separate. However, we appear to be at a situation now where the Cabinet has now made up its mind to pursue this option of having the service included in the contract as the way forward.

Post Offices in Oxfordshire have been saved by Liberal Democrat Business Minister, Ed Davey.

After ending Labour's shameful Post Office closure programme, which saw more than 7100 Post Offices disappear in their 13 years in office, Ed Davey has announced that a ten-year deal between the Post Office and the Royal Mail has been reached.

Firstly Chairman as I haven't worked in the Real Time Passenger Information market for the last five years I no longer have to declare any interests as I did in the past.

There is no doubt that RTPI produces more passengers on buses given the confidence it gives to them that a bus is on the way. However, Chairman the evidence also shows that this fact is even more so where rural routes have gained RTPI information at the bus stops. It can be clearly argued that passenger usage on routes where the frequency of buses is 10 to 15 minutes is not increased as much as on routes where the frequency is say only 30 minutes or hourly. Chairman to stand at a rural bus stop with the confidence that a bus is coming as indicated by the RTPI display will increase the passenger usage and therefore make rural routes more robust and require fewer subsidies which in the long term will pay for itself. I would therefore hope that we will pay more attention to rural routes in the future.

Chairman this is a very comprehensive document designed so that we will have a chance of achieving our rail priorities in Oxfordshire.

In the executive summary in the first paragraph may I suggest after the words "and for leisure days out" we add "holidays, etc." Merely saying days out does not cover the private use of the rail network.

Hot on the heels of the Coalition Government's approval for the East - West Rail Link and more recently the High Speed Rail 2 proposals, at Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet meeting on Tuesday 17th January, the Oxfordshire Rail Strategy was given the go ahead. This will now go out for consultation in February with a view to incorporate the final document into the latest Local Transport Plan 3. Liberal Democrats have welcomed the strategy as this will bring opportunities for business and the local economy and make public transport a viable alternative to our busy and congested roads in the county.