St John Ambulance

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Wednesday 22nd January 2014 Westminster Hall

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Turner. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Thanet (Sir Roger Gale) on securing the debate. I should state at the outset of my speech that I served on the county management board of St John in Suffolk from 1991 to 2010. I am also a holder of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

My observations are very much Suffolk-orientated. They are based on my direct experiences up to 2010 and feedback that I have subsequently received from former colleagues. It is important that we pause and reflect for a few moments to salute those front-line St John staff who turn out at all hours of the day and night, in all weathers, and give their time to help and support others.

I was with members of St John in Lowestoft on the night of the storm surge on 5 December at the rescue centre set up at the Water Lane sports centre. I saw and spoke to them in the evening and in the morning, although I have to confess that, unlike them, I went home to bed in between, and they were cheerful, committed and resolute. These volunteers are doing brilliant work, notwithstanding the restructuring of the governance arrangements of St John.

My direct experiences of St John in Suffolk took place between 1991 and 2010. I was on the management board and my role as county surveyor was to advise on its properties. With the benefit of hindsight, I look back on a well-run organisation. Yes, problems arose, but when they did, we held emergency meetings and addressed them head-on. We ran a balanced revenue budget each year. We had a successful fundraising programme that paid for capital improvements and equipment, and our fundraisers knew where the pockets were to be picked. We had notional reserves of more than £700,000. The number of cadets and recruits remained steady. We had high standards of clinical governance, as endorsed by the Care Quality Commission. We ran the most successful patient transport in the country. Our properties were in good order and well used. Our senior volunteers were at the top of their peer group, and St John was widely respected throughout the county.

St John in Suffolk, although not without its challenges, was run well and was achieving its charitable goals. That said, I am aware that that was not the situation in all counties across the country and, by 2011, an £8.9 million deficit had emerged. Yes, there was a case for restructuring. There were 41 headquarters across the country. There were probably too many people involved in governance and there was a need for a flatter management structure. There was a need for more co-ordination between divisions with regard to fees and charges, equipment and training. One could argue that the fact that St John is budgeting for a small surplus in 2014 justifies its restructuring, although from the feedback that I have received, it is clear that something has been lost along the way.

The priory has failed to take a significant proportion of those previously involved in the governance of the counties along with it on what was always going to be a difficult journey. I do not know the circumstances, but is it right that at a meeting of the chairmen of the eastern region earlier this week, two of them could not attend as they were suspended?

The feedback from Suffolk is not quite as good as it was. Yes, all are working hard to ensure that the front line is not affected. The ambulance services themselves continue to run well. Equipment is provided efficiently, and patient transport is still being run from the former county headquarters, although the service now covers the whole eastern region. However, charges for attendance at events have gone up and, although I understand the need to maximise earnings, bookings as a whole are down. Although financial performance across the country as a whole is improving, in 2013 the eastern region had a deficit of more than £1 million—£825,000 worse than budget.

Fundraising has ceased, at least in the short term. That is probably the most serious effect of restructuring, as the county structure was well established and well suited to fundraising. Recruitment has been hit by the fact that cadets have to pay for their own uniforms, and the hardship fund—in Suffolk, at least—is not working as well as it should.

Some sort of restructuring was necessary, but the fact that Governments of all colours have received bloody noses when they have set about abolishing county councils should have sent a clear warning to the priory to think carefully before abolishing the county structure. As I said at the outset, we must air our concerns and it is important to be transparent. The restructuring of St John Ambulance must be seen as work in progress. The priory must accept that mistakes have been made along the way and it must not adopt a siege mentality against its critics. It must listen to criticism with an open mind and move on quickly from the agenda of suspensions and disciplinary proceedings.

The Order of St John has a proud and illustrious history that stretches back more than 900 years. It is vital for the United Kingdom that the order continues to carry out its good work. It has an important role to play in 21st century Britain. It works alongside the NHS to provide medical care and it gives volunteering opportunities to young people in areas that are often deprived and challenging. We need to move on, and I hope that this debate can be the beginning of the healing process.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Tuesday 15th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Rehman Chishti (Gillingham and Rainham) (Con)]

5. What recent discussions he has had with the Director of Public Prosecutions on the prosecution of cases involving allegations of domestic violence.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

8. What recent discussions he has had with the Director of Public Prosecutions on the prosecution of cases involving allegations of domestic violence.

[The Solicitor-General (Oliver Heald)]

The Attorney-General and I regularly discuss the effective prosecution of cases of violence against women and girls, including both domestic violence and rape, with the Director of Public Prosecutions. Discussions also take place between the DPP, the police and the Home Office. In 2012-13 the proportion of such cases resulting in conviction increased to 74.3% for domestic violence and 63.2% for rape.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Solicitor-General]

My hon. Friend has a strong record of campaigning on this issue and he is absolutely right: it is of concern that young people are perpetrating domestic violence. The Government’s action plan for violence against women and girls includes a programme to increase understanding and awareness of these issues, and the DPP’s national scrutiny panel last year focused on teenage relationship abuse. The CPS is putting together specific training for prosecutors on issues to take into account when they are prosecuting cases and also to support the victims.

[Peter Aldous]

Taking into account the gravity of the offence, there is a concern that too many cautions are being issued in domestic violence cases. If this is established to be happening, will the Solicitor-General work with the Home Secretary to address it?

[The Solicitor-General]

My hon. Friend raises an important point. As he will know, the Secretary of State for Justice has announced a wider review of out-of- court disposals, but at the recent meeting which I mentioned, convened by the Director of Public Prosecutions, it was agreed that there needs to be a closer analysis of domestic violence figures and how out-of-court disposals are being dealt with. That is ongoing.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Wednesday 16th January 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I think the most dangerous thing for this country would be to bury our head in the sand and pretend there is not a debate about Britain’s future in Europe. The most dangerous thing for this country would be to see the changes taking place in Europe because of the single currency and to stand back and say that we are going to do nothing about them. What Britain should be doing is getting in there and fighting for the changes we want so that we can ask for the consent of the British people to settle this issue once and for all.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

Q13. Will the Prime Minister tell the House what the Government are doing to keep pensioners warm in this cold weather and will he join me in congratulating the Suffolk Foundation on the great success of its “surviving winter” campaign?

[The Prime Minister]

This Government have given the biggest increase in the basic state pension—an increase of £5.30 a week last year. We have kept the winter fuel payments, we have kept the cold weather payments at the higher level and we are replacing the Warm Front scheme with the energy company obligation, or ECO. Although the Warm Front scheme helped some 80,000 houses a year, the ECO could help up to 230,000 houses a year. That is what we are doing, that is how we are helping old people, and it is a record we should be proud of.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Tuesday 5th July 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The House of Lords will clearly enjoy greater democratic legitimacy if it is wholly or largely elected, but that does not call into question the primacy of this House. Bicameral chambers all round the world manage this relationship perfectly adequately, with two directly elected chambers that have a relationship of subservience between the one and the other. That is precisely what will continue under the reforms that we have proposed.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

T7. Later this week, I shall attend a meeting of Waveney youth council in my constituency. Given the declining proportion of young people voting at recent elections, I would welcome an update to pass on to the youth council on the steps that my right hon. Friend is taking to ensure the early registration of young people and their active engagement in the political process.

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

We hope that the process of individual electoral registration that we are pressing ahead with, and particularly the practice of comparing existing databases with the electoral register, will enable us to identify voters, old and young, who should be on the register but are not.

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Wednesday 27th April 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

No, I think the hon. Lady is wrong. This is a genuine exercise in trying to ensure that we get the very best out of these reforms. We are looking specifically at areas such as public accountability, choice and competition, education and training, and the patient involvement aspects of the reforms. Of course we have to go ahead with driving out the bureaucracy and additional costs from the NHS. We inherited from Labour, I think rightly, a £20 billion efficiency programme, and we have got to take that through, but there is a genuine opportunity to make these reforms better still.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

Q4. Suffolk is among the worst-served areas of the country for broadband, and the commonly cited final third of premises beyond the reach of commercial broadband deployment is more like a final two thirds in that area. Given that nearly one fifth of all Suffolk premises receive a speed of less than 2 megabytes per second, does the Prime Minister agree that investment in broadband in Suffolk is essential to boost our economic recovery?

Oral Answers to Questions

Peter Aldous Excerpts

Wednesday 2nd March 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

Of course I understand why the hon. Gentleman is so outraged by the idea of people with party affiliations fulfilling a public service vocation, because of course none of that ever happened under his party’s Government—a Government who, with the hon. Gentleman as one of the principal operators, distinguished themselves by their approach to cronyism.

I can tell the hon. Gentleman that anyone who has been appointed to a civil service role has passed all the appropriate tests, which, as he will know from his experience as a Minister in my Department, are extremely rigorous.

[Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)]

4. What progress his Department has made in establishing a big society bank.

[Miss Anne McIntosh (Thirsk and Malton) (Con)]

5. What recent representations he has received on the big society bank; and if he will make a statement.

[The Minister for the Cabinet Office and Paymaster General (Mr Francis Maude)]

Sir Ronald Cohen and Nick O’Donohoe are working with us and with the banks to develop a proposal for the big society bank. As I have said, it will initially be capitalised by an investment from the mainstream banks. We are currently seeking to secure state aid approvals from the European Commission so that money from dormant bank and building society accounts can be directed towards the big society bank. Nothing along those lines had been done when the Government took office. In the meantime, we are working with the Big Lottery Fund to ensure that interim arrangements are in place by April, so that we can make early investments as soon as the first round of dormant bank account money becomes available in the summer.

[Peter Aldous]

Youth clubs such as the Metro, Boston Lodge and Colville House play an important role in my constituency. What guidance and financial assistance will be given to them, and to those operating new voluntary sector schemes whose aim is to take over the running of other local services such as crossing patrols and libraries, and when will that guidance and assistance be available?

[Mr Maude]

As my hon. Friend will know, a key part of our approach to public service reform will be encouraging voluntary and social enterprises to bid for the delivery of public services. They are being given a massive opportunity to develop different revenue streams and deliver public services in a responsive and agile way. The big society bank will deliver extra wholesale funding to the social investment market for start-up and development capital for such organisations. In the meantime, for some organisations the transition fund will provide bridging finance until those revenue streams become available.