Full Name: Liz Kendall
Age: 38
From: Watford
PPC for: Leicester West
Website: www.lizkendall.org (launched w/c 1st Feb 2010)
Twitter: @leicesterliz
Facebook: Liz Kendall for Leicester West
Selection Result: 58 to 52
Member of the Labour Party since: 1992. Like many people, I woke up the morning after the '92 election feeling incredibly angry and frustrated that the Tories had won again. Then I remember thinking: “right, instead of sitting here moaning about it, put your money where your mouth is, join the Party and help fight to make sure it never happens again.” So that’s what I did.
CV:
I’ve spent my life trying to help make our society fairer and our public services better. I’ve been the Director of two national charities: the Maternity Alliance, where I campaigned for better rights and services for pregnant women, new parents and their children; and the Ambulance Service Network, which works on behalf of all NHS ambulance services to improve urgent and emergency care. I’ve worked for two ‘think-tanks’: the Institute for Public Policy Research, where I was the Associate Director for health, social care and children’s early years; and the King’s Fund, where I was a researcher on the public health programme focusing on tackling local health inequalities. I’ve also been a Special Adviser to Patricia Hewitt and Harriet Harman, campaigning to help get Labour elected and deliver our policies in Government.
I was inspired to go into politics because:
Politics has always been part of my life. Both my parents are involved in voluntary work in the community, and my Dad was a local councillor for many years. So I grew up discussing and debating politics, and believing you should try and give something back to the community whenever you can.
My main policy interests are:
* Creating new jobs and transforming skills. We need to identify future growth areas for our economy and target help and incentives to encourage new businesses, and give people the right skills, in the areas that most need them.
* Making all our communities safe and providing decent places to live in. Improving social housing, giving young people things to do, and creating greener, cleaner spaces should be much higher up the political agenda. These are the day-to-day issues that matter most to people in constituencies like Leicester West.
* Transforming care for older people. The ageing population is one of the biggest challenges facing our society. We’ve started to make real progress, but there’s much more to do on crucial issues like improving dementia services and shifting the focus of NHS and social care towards prevention and keeping people healthy.
Three things I think should be in the next Labour manifesto are:
1 –
Modern manufacturing:
We’ve been absolutely right to argue that growth is the best antidote to debt, and to emphasise the leading role of Britain’s creative and digital industries, biotech and pharmaceuticals. But jobs in these industries will seem alien to many voters on our poorest estates unless we talk about them in a way people understand, using concrete local examples.
2 –
Extending personal budgets:
These can play a really important role in giving people more of a say, and more control, over the services they use, and ensuring public services meet every individual’s needs.
3 – A National Care Service:
We should be bold in calling for decent care services for older people in all parts of the country. Yes, this has a cost – for individuals and Government. But it’s the right thing to do.
I think people should vote for me because:
I’ve never been afraid to speak out on the issues that matter, and I’ll give a strong voice for the people of Leicester West at the local and national level. I’m passionate about social justice and helping to deliver a fairer society. Above all, I get things done. I’m a tireless campaigner and hard worker, and I’ll get results on the things that matter to local people.
AOB:
We’ve got to change the way we do politics, as a country and as a Party. None of the big challenges we face as a society can be tackled by Government action alone. Whether it's addressing climate change, reducing obesity and heart disease, caring for our ageing population, or confronting terrorism and religious extremism – all these issues will require us to genuinely involve, engage and empower people to take action themselves. This has important implications for the future role of Government and Parliament.
Re-invigorating our Party is a crucial part of this process. Labour Party members are the backbone of our communities – the teachers, social workers, NHS staff, businessmen, councillors, community and voluntary workers who can and do make a real difference to people’s lives. Party members are our best resource: it’s about time we realised this, and used it to our advantage.
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I think you need to localise your views and your vision so it becomes more relevant to your constituents.
Good Luck.
Jo.
I read your CV with interest.
I noted that your history of employment involved exclusively working for organisations that are funded by productive taxpayers.
Have you any experience of actually producing wealth, rather than consuming or administering the distribution of wealth created by the labour of others?
Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence that your constituency questions would ever be answered. Politics as usual, I guess.
For my part, I'm still waiting to the answers to Danny's questions. They're pretty fundamental.
http://www.cooperatives-em.coop/
26 March: "Communities in Control" - Nottingham Conference Centre, Nottingham Trent University with keynote speaker Ed Mayo, newly appointed secretary general at Co-operatives UK.
If you want the more recent poster, I can send it to you.
Dr Ian Campbell is our guest speaker at this year's AGM. Ian is a GP in Nottingham and a prominent campaigner for the prevention and treatment of obesity. Ian is a specialist at the Overweight Clinic, at the QMC, Nottingham, and founder and first President of the National Obesity Forum. He is now the Honorary Medical Director of the leading charity “Weight Concern”, winners of the Best New Charity of the Year Award in 2002 – a charity which works to address both the physical and psychological health
needs of overweight people. He is a tireless campaigner for reforms to the NHS and can be found leading campaigns and lecturing worldwide.
His first book is "Obesity: Your Questions Answered" and he has contributed and written forewords to many others on the subject of obesity.
Ian was born in Scotland, graduated from Glasgow University and now lives in Nottinghamshire.
Greater Nottingham Co-operative Party Council
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Saturday 27th February 2010
Voluntary Action Centre, 7 Mansfield Road, Nottingham
(opposite House of Fraser, Victoria Centre, Mansfield Road)
The talk is an open meeting from 12-1
1) Yes modern manufacturing but countries like Germany still have a substantial base in more traditional sectors like engineering and they provide decent jobs. What was your view when former advisors to Blair advocated living on air?
2)Isn't BSF a PFI-type mechanism lumping costs on a future generation who will have to pay more for their education, pensions, housing etc. What about inter-generational fairness?
3) How would you tackle diversity in Parliament and in particular the fact that 25% of MPs derive from institutions (Oxbridge) where less than 1% of the population of voting age educated?
4) How would you tackle cabals at the heart of the Labour e.g. Miliband, Burnham, Balls were all members of the same football team (you can also add non-Parliamentarians like Ed Richards (chief exec Ofsted)and Tim Allen lobbyist into the equation) or the fact that Harriet Harman believes diversity would be best served by her husband getting a seat?
Sorry to sound cynical but I am! Parliamentary selections seem more like a franchising exercise to this cynic.
Colin
ps Good luck in the election. We need a greater number of women elected.
Thankyou so much for such an excellent explanation; I must admit I'm not at all familiar with local council terminology.
It sounds like you have a lot to offer in terms of expertise on local councils and their functioning?
Maybe you could have role in the next government?!
I too feel very strongly about quality of education, and think it should be big election issue.
As regards Loughborogh- I've heard a very good reputation for schools.
Thanks again John, and it's good to have proper conversation- I know we haven't always seen eye to eye. Blogging is a strange medium.
Anyway- thankyou.
Jo.
When my dad returned from the war, he worked down Snibstone pit; he would commute from Leicester. The Coalville people then, he said, were very close-knit and circumspect about outsiders.
Snibstone pit as you may know has been transformed into a museum and technology centre. You can still get tours from former miners there. We have a season ticket as the kids enjoy it in the summer.
As for the people of Coalville - they voted in the BNP at the last election. The town centre is fascinating if your enjoy people watching. I say people but to be honest Darwin would see living proof of his theory in action not helped of course by the town being "close knit" to the extent of just about everyone being related genetically to each other.
Leicester by comparison is metropolitan
I know who you are - you're one of those monks from Mount St Bernard's, aren't you?
No outing !
Sorry for the delay - trying to earn a living!
I don't really want to reveal what I do however I work in a non partisan role. I do not work for the council (or any part of the public sector) although I have good reach into key organisations.
As regards your comment about councils wanting to reflect the needs of people - thats true to a degree however specifically with the Loughborough case the council cannot please everyone. A certain section of the community are fighting the council on the options presented and I have sympathy for the case they put forward however the bigger picture is that the whole of the area has the potential to benefit from £80 Million to transform learning. We will not allow that objective to be hijacked by anyone - political or otherwise. If we don't receive the money it will be nothing more than the governments fault. I would like to give more details but this is not the right platform.
You also mention local politics. The LEA has some exceptional talent in it with a vast depth of experience however I agree that local politics has some very average people in it in general. Some are just plain incompetant. My local BC is Tory controlled now and they are just as bad as the Labour lot. One exception is my former Labour councillor for the ward who is exceptional. Sadly he had no influence or money.
At County level the main problem is that they are hamstrung by central government. Millions gets wasted because the government demands XYZ. It really really cannot go on like this.
For example in relation to housing the government demanded councils carry out a certain task. Funding would not be provided and the council estimated this task would cost £750,000 to complete so they refused which caused even more trouble.
Our whole system needs de centralising and in my opinion if a pledge is made centrally (lets say more police) then the government should fund it fully instead of funding it for a few years then telling councils that t needs to come out of their pot. Council tax is a massive burden and it has shot up in part due to this trick of Browns.
Anyway - back to BSF
BSF is a Labour policy and Dave has posted a summary. It has a great many pro's but also a great many cons due in part to the complicated bidding and funding process (basically yet more PFI)
I understand the frustration of Derby - been there myself. I dare not insinuate that Blair used BSF to buy off Labour strong holds - I will leave you to draw your own conclusions if you want to research it.
From my perspective regardless of which party wins the election the days of BSF are numbered and this really is our last chance to make a real difference to children's education.
Fingers crossed.
Good post on BSF. Nay, better than that, very good. As it happens, my degree in Civil Engineering came from Loughborough and I got to know a few watering holes around there.
Your comment "Some are just plain incompetant."
I can second that. A couple of years ago, a County Councillor asked me if "I'd ever thought of being a councillor." I replied "No, because - especially at County level - a lot of ability and knowledge, as far as I could see, was required and I wasn't sure that I had that ability and knowledge."
"Well," he replied, "it (lack of ability and knowledge) has never stopped anyone in the past."
As for District Councillors - don't ask ....
Thankyou too very much- I've never heard of BSF.
Is that all led by Labour?
It certainly does reflect a great commitment- although I don't know the pros and cons?
Certainly locally here there is a desperate need for new secondary school buildings- and decades overdue.
I heard one head teacher comment on the outskirts of Derby that they had been applying for funding for many years- but always miss out compared to other schools.That is very unfair.I don't know if it is a bit like a lottery, with some geographical areas favoured over others?
Thankyou again too!
Jo.
Thankyou so much for that explanation- it makes things much clearer.I don't know the history of which political parties have run LCC, and who did what,and when?
I have actually taped the BBC Politics Show, as they contacted me to ask I would join their emailing list some time ago.
May I ask what is your role- and do you work for LCC?
My only experience in education is as a parent, and both my parents became scondary school teachers- so I've heard a lot.
I certainly find the general picture of local politics rather depressing, as portayed in local papers.
We seem to lurch from one extreme "regime" to another- it so destructive over time.
On a general level,I've yet to see a great council that truly reflects the needs and wishes of local people.
Having said that, I saw some councillors being interviewed over the development of the Curve Theatre in Leicester about 2 year ago, and I was struck by how innovative and forward thinking those individuals were- it stuck out a mile.
Having said all of that- Arts Council funding across the region- extremely controversial...but that's another story.All about policis and funding- as ever.But Leicester's been very fortunate in its regeneration funding so I hear- and that's a good thing.
I've gone off the point- but thanks for filling us in.
Jo.
Better secondary school buildings to support educational reform
Building Schools for the Future (BSF) represents a new approach to capital investment. It is bringing together significant investment in buildings and in ICT (Information and Communications Technology) over the coming years to support the Government's educational reform agenda.
The Government is committed to devolve significant funds — about £3 billion in 2005-06 — to local authorities (LAs) and schools to spend on maintaining and improving their school buildings. But it also wants to promote a step-change in the quality of provision. That is the focus of Building Schools for the Future (BSF).
BSF — worth £2.2 billion in its first year (2005-6) — aims to ensure that secondary pupils learn in 21st-century facilities. Investment will be rolled out to every part of England over 15 waves, subject to future public spending decisions.
* By 2011, every LA in England will have received funding to renew at least the school in greatest need — many will have major rebuilding and remodelling projects (at least three schools) underway through BSF and the remainder will have received resources through the Academies programme or Targeted Capital Fund.
* By 2016, major rebuilding and remodelling projects (at least three schools) will have started in every LA.
Through this investment, BSF aims to drive reform — such as Academies, new options at 14-19, provision for special needs and extended schools. Innovation in delivery, through the creation of a national delivery partner for schools and LAs, Partnerships for Schools will bring greater value for money, as well as effective implementation.
This is an exciting and inspirational programme. It is based on strategic partnership between all sections of the educational community. DCSF and PfS look forward to working on it with you.
This makes the 'backbone' of the communuty overwhelmingly those who rely on the public to pay their wages.
I particularly like your last paragraph about Labour party members being the backbone of the movement.
I saw an interview between Andrew O' Neill and Betty Boothroyd on BBC Parliament, and she was saying in the past, MP's were much more diverse as a group, and more reflective of society.For example, a cross section of people from industry, public services, and business.
Nowadays she thought many just come straight from Uni, with a brief time in a job like PR, so little life or working experience background.
Sometimes that might be OK, depending on the quality of the candidate.
But I do think far more of a mix needed; certainly when I look across to the Tory benches!
I'm glad to hear you have in fact had some wide experience, and a lot to offer your prospective constituents.
May I also ask as a separate point- apparently one of the Tory led councils in Leicestershire has been reported to threaten closure of up to 3 schools- including ?one secondary school that is highly rated?
This was apparently covered by the BBC Politics Show(East Midlands) on Sunday; I will try to find out more details.
Thanking you- and good luck again!
Jo.
I'm closely involved in the Schools program in Leics. The potential school closures is a result of the council being guided by the BSF team as part of its forthcoming bid.
Leics CC has been trying to get £80 million of BSF funding to transform learning in Loughborough, Quorn and Barrow and have been invited to bid in March. As part of this bid you must demonstrate that you're transforming education.
Leicestershire is unique in being the only county in the UK that has a full middle school system. (11-14) The campaign has been based on moving to a one through school model of 11-16 as lobbied for by parents.
Although KS3 has good results and the council is noted as exceptional KS4 is barely above average. In part this is due to children being disrupted at 14.
The plan most likely to succeed would close 2 middle schools - one will re-open in a new school (the closure is due to the regulations regarding competition) while the other would close. This school would be replaced by a brand new post 16 centre on the old site with a new UTC opening at the University.
The other closure would be a high school that has been put in special measures again. No big loss to anyone.
I would prefer that the middle school most affected could be relocated or rebuilt but the figures just don't add up. The council don't really want to close it either and have spent a great deal of time and money trying to come up with an alternative. All of these have been rebuffed.
Finally - this really shouldn't be a party political issue. Its BSF money that's prompting all this after all. Typically the BBC would like to spin it that way hence my refusal to appear on camera this weekend. The head of the threatened school also refused to go on the program. I'm disappointed that Labour has tried to make it party political although Andy Reed the MP has softened considerably in the last few weeks which I thank him for.
If we don't get the money though LL should be under no illusion that the CC will have done everything they have been asked to do and throughout the area the blame will be laid at one door and one door only............................
Isint Liecster west mr Vazs seat?
A few policy questions if i may , What are your views on the welfare reform bill? The part privatisaion of the royal mail(delayed not scrapped) , id cards , And if elected will you follow your voters views or the whips?
Thanks , and good luck
Danny