Ed Vaizey

I was delighted to see my colleague, David Ruffley, the shadow police reform minister, call for special constables to be increased and to receive some payment.  Retained firefighters receive payment in return for which they are on call for specific periods.  You will mostly find them in rural areas, and increasing the number of special constables and paying them a small stipend, is an ideal solution for rural policing.  South Oxfordshire, for example, is a relatively low crime area, but we have pockets of anti-social behaviour.  There are never enough Police to provide a visible and high-profile on street presence, and specials would fulfill this role.  Plus it would bring policing back within local communities, something which is very much needed.

Andrew Pierce in today’s Daily Telegraph shows how hypocritical Labour are on election funding.  It turns out the unions gave Labour a whopping £10 million at the last election, and, guess what, they also targeted marginal seats.  The unions, of course, claim that all of this is above board, because their members can opt out of the political fund.  There are two problems with this.  First, a friend of mine who applied to the TGWU recently was sent all the application forms, but not the opt-out form.  He had to ask specifically for it, and it certainly looks like an old post card that hasn’t seen the light of day for many years!  Second, of course, you have no say at all on how the “political fund” is used - and it is only used to support Labour.  I hope the next Conservative government will conduct an urgent review into how trade unions are letting their members get involved in the political funds they control.

It’s probably not wise for me to turn to this subject now that the dust has settled - but here goes.

I’m in the mildly fotunate position of coming fourth out of six in the tally of MPs’ expenses in Oxfordshire.  As I have been outspent by both the Lib Dem and the Labour MP for the county, I should be immune from Lib Dem attacks - but don’t count on it. 

The frenzied attack that accompanies MPs’ expenses is a little unfair.  More than half goes on salaries for staff, which of course the MP never sees (unless the staff are married to him/her).  The most controversial is the accommodation allowance, about which there is legitimate debate.  But while it exists, it seems wrong to criticise MPs for using it.

One point that does emerge adds to my argument about Labour’s cynical attempt to stop Tory donors supporting candidates in marginal seats.  Almost all Labour MPs in marginal seats rack up huge expenses in postage. This is simply electioneering and very easy to do.  For example, I have had dozens of e-mails about the Climate Change Bill from constituents, who have signed up to some campaign.  I could now write, perfectly legitimately, to all of them, every month, with an environmental up-date.

This is clearly what Labour MPs are up to - it is legal, but when they rack up £20,000 a year in postage, it is a little pathetic to moan of their opponent is receiving £20,000 over four years to help them campaign.

The House of Commons is debating its procedures today. W e have just voted on whether MPs should be able to check their e-mails on their BlackBerries.  There was a glorious moment when Gerald Kaufman, who is avant garde on most things except this issue, walked into the wrong lobby and had to be steered in the right direction by Harriet Harman.

Much of the debate was taken up by comments on the steaduily diminishing power of Parliament, or mroe accurately MPs.  It occurs to me that one issue that has been in the news this week, abortion, sums this up.  The Government has announced it is keeping the 24 week limit.  Abortion, while an emotive issue, is not a party political one.  Surely the Government should allow Parliament to debate it and reach its own conclusion? 

A constituent (a cyclist, naturally) has just sent me THIS from the Driving Standards Agency’s website.  I can’t seem to get the link on to this page, so go to www.dsa.gov.uk and look for latest news.

“Despatch Express - Illegal number plates

DSA has agreed with DVLA that our examiners can report illegal number plates on cars which are presented for test. This is in response to concerns raised by a number of our examiners. Our priority is to ensure that vehicles in which driving tests are conducted are legal.  Vehicles presented to test which prima facie have illegal number plates may now be reported to DVLA under the arrangement we have with them, however, it is a matter for DVLA whether they take any action.  As safety of the vehicle is not affected by the number plate, an illegal number plate will not preclude a car from being taken out on test.”

Very odd - you can turn up with an illegal number plate and still take a test.  Perhaps it depends on what “illegal” means here - if the size of the letters is wrong, I could see an argument (just) for discretion. But if “illegal” means “false”?   May be I have just got the wrong end of the stick…
 

The Government is asking scholls that have saved money to pay back their surpluses.  One of my local governors got in touch, and skewers the policy very nicely in this e-mail:

“Once again, the basic thought is right that schools should not keep excessive unallocated balances, but the usual sledgehammer approach means that all schools, even the most thrifty and careful, will potentially be hit.  What also appears to being missed is that the revenue and capital budgets are split, and this plan only affects revenue budgets (used to run the schools day to day).  But there is a separate plan for capital budgets that could see “modernised” schools (no definition as yet) lose 50% of their capital allocation. Once again, some schools do carry large forward capital balances, but it is not sensible to hit all schools without reference to why they are accumulating the money,  If you add these two schemes together this could put schools in a financial crisis.  Should the schemes go ahead, I believe that the Schools Forum should be left to decide how the money is redistributed, and none should go back to the Treasury, but stay in the local authority. At the moment, the situation seems confused.  We have to bring more commonsense and less knee jerk thinking into government – after all it is supposed to be about listening to the people.”

I couldn’t agree more.  It is quite right (well, kind of right) that schools should at least explain why they have a surplus, so it is not being accumulated for no purpose.  But if we are to set schools and teachers free, they should be allowed to keep their surplus and spend on what is right for their school.

The Queen came to my constituency last Friday to open the Diamond Synchrotron.  She was fifteen minutes late, and I heard her say to the Lord Lieutenant as she walked in “Roadworks!”.  No one is immune.

But on to more substantial matters.  Her Majesty was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh to open the Synchrotron, a £500 million scientific investment based at Harwell.  It is a gigantic silver doughnut with a 500m plus circumference.  Electrons are whizzed round at the speed of light to create a huge x-ray machine to examine the smallest particles.

As well as helping pharmaceutical development, the Diamond can be put to other imaginative uses.  A synchrotron in the US was used to discover a hidden text in the Archimedes Palimpsest http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5235894.stm.  The UK synchrotron is being used to look at the Dead Sea Scrolls,  to see how they are degrading, and may be used to read the hidden scrolls that cannot be opened because of their state of decay.  I remarked that it was only a matter of time before the synchrotron featured in a Dan Brown or Sam Bourn novel, to be told that Dan Brown had already set a murder at CERN in Geneva.
 

My constituent, Paul Rushton, invited me to attend an event in the House of Commons last week.  Paul works for Stoke Mandeville, and the event was held to publicise an appeal for sporting wheelchairs.  These can cost up to £4000 (at least) and Stoke Mandeville are hoping to fund 2012 by the time the Olympics start.

I was, of course, completely unaware that the embryonic paralympics had started at Stoke Mandeville in 1948 to coincide with the last time London held the Olympics.  They became official in 1960, and are, in effect, coming home in 2012.  Another example of Britain givinga  sporting gift to the world. 

I went to see Anthony Hansen perform in oxford on Sunday evening.  Anthony was a finalist in Any Dream Will Do, the BBC’s serach for a Joseph for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical.  he and his parents did a benefit gig for our two secondary schools in Didcot, which was incredibly kind.

Getting children on the stage is getting more difficult, however.  They have to be licensed, but the procedure is chaotic and varies from council to council, with kids missing out on opportunities.  I am backing Stagecoach (the national theatre school network) campaign to get the system cleared up.  The Government has told them they are not interested in helping, and they have other priorities.  It would take about a day to sort, and help 350,000 kids.

It’s getting odder and odder.  Gordon Brown lambasts David Cameron for his love of “pre-prepared quotes” and then delivers, er, a pre-prepared quote.  Then he says that the tax system supports marriage.  This guy has no shame.  I score it a Cameron win this week, but I did make sure I watched it on telly.

News that Ming will go and work for Brown does not surprise me.  It is a shame, but it will further divide the Lib Dems if he does.