We are getting there

Five facts on the economy

1. This year, the IMF forecasts the UK to grow twice as fast as Germany and three times as fast as France.

2. Since the general election, the private sector has created over half a million extra jobs.

3. Our borrowing costs have fallen to record lows, showing that UK government debt is seen as a safe haven in the global debt storm and saving money for taxpayers, businesses and families.

4. Over the past year businesses have invested £119 billion across the economy, up £3 billion on the year before.

5. The Government’s necessary deficit reduction plan is maintaining Britain’s AAA credit rating, which Labour’s plans would put in danger.

Visiting Houses of Parlement

Cllr Ken Smith with Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans MP

I had the opportunity to visit the House Of Parlement and was able to talk to MPs about the new Localism legislation.

We will all be getting involved shortly with how this is going to be implemented, so this was it was the right place to ask questions and meet some very interesting people.

Mayor 41m for Growth

Mayor announces new £41m capital fund to drive jobs and economic growth in London

16 MARCH 2012

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has announced details of a new £41m London Growth Fund to drive jobs, boost housing and stimulate economic growth across the capital.

Funding has been allocated from central Government after the Mayor successfully bid for a share of the national Growing Places Fund, to free-up potential development. The aim of the capital fund is to encourage private sector investment in key large scale infrastructure and regeneration projects. Applicants must be able to demonstrate how this investment complements their own and how it will be repaid back into the fund over time, to enable continued reinvestment in the capital.

Working with his newly established London Enterprise Panel to approve which proposals will get a share of the funding, the Mayor will announce successful bids in the autumn. Consisting of senior business leaders and representatives from London boroughs, the London Enterprise Panel was set up to advise the Mayor on how best to attract strategic investment to support private sector growth and employment, promote enterprise, increase skill levels and protect and enhance London’s competitiveness.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “Continued investment in London’s private sector is essential if the capital is to maintain its reputation as the best big city in the world to work and do business. This fantastic new fund means we will be able to plough much needed capital into major regeneration and development projects, which are a crucial catalyst for jobs and growth in London."

Local Enterprise Panel Co-chair Harvey McGrath said: “Members of the LEP are enthusiastic about the potential to use the London Growth Fund to fuel the London economy and create new jobs. Unlike many other funds, a key feature of this one is that successful projects need to repay the capital, ensuring that it is replenished as growth is unlocked, which can then be reinvested in other projects with growth potential.”

Ends
Notes to Editors
Applications can be submitted at http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/business-economy/our-investments/inv...
The £41 million for the London Growth Fund has been allocated by central Government from the national Growing Places Fund pot. The GLA submitted a tender for CLGs Growing Places Fund to generate economic activity in the short term by addressing immediate infrastructure and site constraints which promote the delivery of jobs and housing. Subsequently, the GLA was awarded £41m for London in March.

Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) published a Growing Places Fund Prospectus in Nov 2011 with three objectives:
• To generate economic activity in the short term by addressing immediate infrastructure and site constraints and promote the delivery of jobs and housing
• To allow local enterprise partnerships to prioritise the infrastructure they need, empowering them to deliver their economic strategies
• To establish sustainable revolving funds so that funding can be reinvested to unlock further development, and leverage private investment

The London Growth Fund builds on these three overriding objectives through the following criteria against which bids will be prioritised:

• Projects offer large scale impact and are seeking investment of at least £5m from the London Growth Fund
• The project secures match funding or has secured additional up-front investment from partner(s).
• Levers a substantial, quantified amount of additional investment
• Delivers measurable growth and private sector employment in London’s priority locations
• Is supported by a strong business case demonstrating strong strategic, economic, commercial, financial and project management fundamentals
• Demonstrative support from public and/or private sector partners
• Has secured all the necessary approvals and ideally, with planning approval.
• Otherwise be undeliverable within the timescales and on the scale proposed, without support from the London Growth Fund
• Is compliant with EU State aid and procurement rules
• Fosters partnership working and collaboration, and/or show general support for the benefits the proposal would bring
• The business case must demonstrate repayment mechanisms which are guaranteed to at least some level (ideally 100% in real terms). Repayment terms of less than 100% will only be acceptable in the presence of strong benefits that otherwise cannot be captured financially.

The Mayor is committed to openness in all aspects of his administration and is committed to making the work of this Panel transparent. Agendas and papers for the Panel and any Working Groups will therefore be posted on the GLA’s website at least two clear working days before the meeting to which they relate. Papers will be released with the agenda except in those cases where the Secretary reasonably considers that information contained in the papers may be exempt from disclosure under an applicable exemption under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Message From Bob Niel MP

Bob Neill MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Communities and Local Government Eland House Bressenden Place

London SW1E 5DU

Tel: 0303 444 3430 Fax: 0303 444 3986 E-Mail: bob.neill@communities.gsi.gov.uk

www.communities.gov.uk

As part of the Government’s transparency drive I want to highlight the importance of your council giving citizens the opportunity to access and experience their local democracy using modern communication methods. It is essential to a healthy democracy that citizens everywhere are able to feel that their council welcomes them to observe local decision-making and through modern media tools keep others informed as to what their council is doing. The mainstream media also needs to be free to provide stronger local accountability by being able to film and record in meetings without obstruction.

Councils are now faced with important budget decisions affecting the day to day lives of people living and working in their communities. Council meetings have long been open to interested members of the public and recognised journalists, and with the growth of online film, social media and hyper-local online news they should equally be open to ‘Citizen Journalists’ and filming by mainstream media. Bloggers, tweeters, residents with their own websites and users of Facebook and YouTube are increasingly a part of the modern world, blurring the lines between professional journalists and the public.

There are recent stories about people being ejected from council meetings for blogging, tweeting or filming. This potentially is at odds with the fundamentals of democracy and I want to encourage all councils to take a welcoming approach to those who want to bring local news stories to a wider audience. The public should rightly expect that elected representatives who have put themselves up for public office be prepared for their decisions to be as transparent as possible and welcome a direct line of communication to their electorate. I do hope that you and your colleagues will do your utmost to maximise the transparency and openness of your council.

I do recognise that there are obligations on whoever is filming or publishing information – be it the council itself or a citizen or mainstream journalist – under the Data Protection Act 1998. But I do not see these obligations as preventing access for journalism. Nor are there grounds for any councilseeking to obstruct a citizen or other journalist from processing information. The Information Commissioner’s Office has told us that:

‘ In the absence of any other legal barrier to comment, publication, expression and so on, the Act in and of itself would not prevent such processing of information.

In the majority of cases the citizen blogging about how they see the democratic process working is unlikely to breach the data protection principles.

In the context of photographing or filming meetings, whilst genuine concerns about being filmed should not be dismissed, the nature of the activity being filmed – elected representatives acting in the public sphere – should weigh heavily against personal objections’.

Moreover there are within the Act itself exemptions from the data protection principles which might apply in the circumstances of the citizen journalist. The first exemption relates to processing of information for journalistic purposes (section 32), the second for the processing of information for domestic purposes (section 36).

In short transparency and openness should be the underlying principle behind everything councils do and in this digital age it is right that we modernise our approach to public access, recognising the contribution to transparency and democratic debate that social media and similar tools can make.

I copy this letter to your monitoring officer given their responsibility for advising on your council’s procedures and decision-making arrangements.

BOB NEILL MP

Postal Voting

Postal Voting useful information

NOTE - the deadline for applying to vote by post at the Mayor of London and London Assembly elections is 5pm on Wednesday 18 April 2012.

If you are a registered elector you can choose to vote by post instead of at your local polling station. If you choose to vote by post, your ballot papers will be sent to you by first class post for you to complete and return. Once you have applied for a postal vote you cannot vote in person at your polling station unless you cancel your postal vote, in writing, by 5pm on the eleventh working day before election day.

Under legislation introduced on 1 January 2007, anyone choosing to vote by post must provide a signature specimen and their date of birth. These Personal Identifiers are securely stored. Each time you vote by post, your signature and date of birth provided on the postal voting statement will be checked against these identifiers to ensure your postal vote remains secure.If an elector is unable to sign in a consistent or distinctive way because of any disability then they may be granted an exemption from doing so. For further information on this, please contact Electoral Services on 020 8547 5026.

If you wish to register to vote by post, then please download and complete the Postal Vote Application form below. You should then return the form to the address below, or alternatively it can be faxed or scanned and emailed back using the details below.

Contact Us

In writing:Electoral ServicesRoyal Borough of Kingston upon ThamesGuildhallKingtston upon ThamesKT1 1EUEmail: electoral.services@rbk.kingston.gov.ukTel: 020 8547 5026Fax: 020 8547 5099

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