Frank's Westminster Blog

The local elections last week in Wirral gave us a foretaste of the general election.   I thought David Cameron immediately after the last election would have gone for a short-term arrangement with the Liberal Democrats while awaiting another election six months hence. I was wrong.   Instead the Prime Minister formed his coalition. The original Tory decontamination strategy has failed. Decontamination would now be continued by joining up with the Lib Dems.   I had always...

Friday was a return visit. I had already been to The Lauries to meet ‘Get into Reading’.   I met, yet again, a wonderful group of young people. All of them had an extraordinary tale to tell.   Some months ago I was invited to speak at the National Literacy Trust’s conference. The intention was to speak on the ‘foundation years’ report but the other speakers were so good that I stayed for most of the day.   The organisers asked the assembled...

The Duchess of Cornwall visits the Tranmere Community Project this week. The purpose is to see at first hand the innovatory work the centre is undertaking. How can we ensure that very young mums and dads build the best possible world for their child? For children the best start in life requires two parents. That is why this project attaches such importance with the young dads. Their absence has a big effect on their child's life chances. It also is likely to have a big effect on...

THE Children’s Commissioner for England has released a report on school exclusions. I have written to David Armstrong, Wirral’s Chief Officer, to ask how Birkenhead schools fare. Governments insist that schools ensure that an increasing number of pupils leave with minimum school leaving requirements. Michael Gove tells heads to crack down on disruptive pupils. But schools get a bad mark for excluding the troublemakers. So what do schools do? According to this...

A highlight for me last Friday was the meeting in Oxton on how to deal with the owners of dogs who foul our pavements. This little summit was called by Matthew Patrick who heads the Labour Action team in the area. The widespread publicity for our meeting had already galvanised the Council into action. There will be a doubling of the numbers of the officers on dog patrols.   The meeting asked me to follow up on four issues. Does the local authority already have the power to fine dog...