Sarah Smalley on Religious Education in the School Curriculum

09:20 Monday 17th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[A]NDIE HARPER: How important is it for our children to study religious studies at school? An All-Party Parliamentary Group on Religious Education has stated that the subject is essential to teach children in reducing religious misunderstanding and conflict. It follows sharp criticism from the Church of England that the Government doesn’t place enough importance on the subject. So, what do you think? Is there a place for religious education in our schools? I’m joined now by Sarah Smalley from the Religious Council of England and Wales. Sarah, good morning to you.
SARAH SMALLEY: Good morning.
ANDIE HARPER: Now we very much live in a changed world, don’t we Sarah? When I was at school, it wasn’t a church school, neither was my grammar school as it was then, and then neither were the schools I taught in for many many years. But they had assemblies every day. And very often they were nothing more than a cut down version of Church of England services, because everybody in those days in inverted commas was Christian.
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Tony Benn 1925-2014

10:36 Friday 14th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: We’re paying homage to a truly remarkable man. Politicians of all sides have been paying tribute to Tony Benn, who has died at the age of 88. A former Cabinet Minister, an MP for more than 50 years of course. David Cameron said he was a magnificent writer, speaker and campaigner. Labour Leader Ed Miliband said he was a champion of the powers, a great parliamentarian, and a conviction politician. You don’t get many of those to the pound, do you? And former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was a powerful fearless relentless advocate for social justice and people’s rights. One of the most important figures in the Labour Party for many years, serving in the Wilson and Callaghan governments of the ’60s and ’70s. And he had the unique ability I think, when he talked, even if you disagreed completely, vehemently with what he had to say .. even as a kid I remember sitting and watching his speeches, and being drawn in to this amazing man with a pipe, who apparently drank tea by the pint. Well I’m joined on the line now by Daniel Zeichner. He’s the Labour prospective Parliamentary candidate for Cambridge. Daniel, morning.
DANIEL ZEICHNER: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: A very sad morning. I may not have agreed with what he had to say when I was a kid, but he did have that amazing power, didn’t he?
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John Elworthy in The Modern Newsroom

11:32 Wednesday 12th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[P]AUL STAINTON: On the subject of the internet, which is twenty five years old today, t’interweb, twenty five years old today, this from Robbie, who says “I remember life without it Paul, pre-1989. It was fine. Absolutely fine.” And Brian says, “Thanks to the ‘net, I’m in touch with many friends I was in the RAF with many many years ago. I’ve traced the history of my father, who died in World War Two as well. So it’s incredibly useful.” Of course many professions have changed beyond comprehension because of the internet, this one in particular. Radio, much easier now. It allows people like Steve on the ‘phones to work in the industry. What? Sorry Steve. And others, like myself. No it’s much easier today to find out information than it was when I first joined here, me and Andie Harper first joined here. You had books and things you had to go through and look for contacts, in big thick books. You had to type everything out. People on computers used to type things out. It was remarkable. You used to chop bits of tape with razor blades. Now, these sports boys upstairs, it’s all digital. It’s done in a flash. It used to take all day to take a clip out of tape. Then you’d stick it back together and find out you took the wrong bit. And you’d lost the bit of tape on the floor somewhere. Another man who remembers it back in the day of course, John Elworthy. He is the Editor of the Cambridgeshire Times, Wisbech Standard, Ely Standard. He’s bought the t-shirt, been a journalist since my dad was a little boy. Morning John.
JOHN ELWORTHY: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Different back in the day, wasn’t it?
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South Cambs Agrees Local Plan 2011-2031

17:18 Thursday 13th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: South Cambs Local Plan was passed today, in spite of a vigorous campaign by people in Cambourne and Bourn, because of the development that is planned there. It’s a plan to provide 22,000 new homes, and it’s said 19,000 much needed new homes right across the county. It’s been submitted to the Government for independent examination. Pippa Corney is the Cabinet Member for Planning on South Cambs District Council. Hello Pippa.
PIPPA CORNEY: Hello.
CHRIS MANN: What have you agreed today?
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David Laws on More Money for Cambs Schools

17:07 Thursday 13th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Cambridgeshire’s cash-strapped schools are apparently at the front of the queue for £350 million worth of new funding. The announcement was made in the House of Commons today by the Schools Minister David Laws. He also praised the strong campaigning by the MPs for Cambridge and Huntingdon, Julian Huppert and Jonathan Djanogly. .. That announcement came this morning in the House of Commons from Education Minister David Laws. I spoke to him a short time ago.
(TAPE)
DAVID LAWS: Well we’ve made an important announcement today for Cambridgeshire, which is that we’re going to do what people in the county have been pressing us to do for some time now, which is to move to a fairer system of funding our schools across the country. The system that we inherited from the previous government didn’t really seem to us to be rational. It underfunded areas such as Cambridgeshire. We’ve had lots of complaints from local head teachers, Members of Parliament such as Julian Huppert in Cambridge. So we’ve announced today that we’ve allocated over a third of a billion pounds extra to schools, starting in April 2015, and we’ve announced the areas that are particularly going to benefit from that funding. Because we’ve allocated the money to the areas which we think are underfunded. So for Cambridgeshire the important news is that if we press ahead with this after the consultation, it will mean over £20 million more going into schools within the county. It will mean for every child within Cambridgeshire schools, the school will be getting something like £275 per pupil per year more than they presently get at the moment, a 7% increase. And I think these things will be very welcome in Cambridgeshire, where this has been a hot political issue as you will know for some time.
CHRIS MANN: And it’s been a hot political issue because people felt we were being unfairly treated. Our pupils were getting less money per head than any other pupils in the country. So will that end? And will they now be on the same level with everybody else?
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Martin Curtis Wisbech Rail Summit Progress Update

17:38 Tuesday 11th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: Parliament has been hosting a summit today about the future of the Wisbech rail line. The MP for North East Cambridgeshire Steve Barclay organised the summit. It involved transport bigwigs, council leaders, train operators and most importantly of all perhaps, the Transport Minister Steven Hammond. Let’s find out what’s happened. The County Council Leader Martin Curtis was there, and he joins me on the line now. Hello Martin.
MARTIN CURTIS: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: Still down at Westminster. How did it go? What’s the news?
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Postal Voting and Electoral Fraud

07:36 Tuesday 11th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[S]UE DOUGAN: Is the electoral system safe from fraud? A BBC investigation has found widespread concern about the potential for fraud around postal voting, which since 2001 has been available to anyone entered on the electoral register. Some parts of the country with a significant sized Asian population are said to be among those communities at risk. Election fraud is something we’re familiar with in Cambridgeshire. In May Peterborough was listed by the Electoral Commissioners as one of fifteen areas with a history of cases of alleged fraud. BBC reporter Allan Urry has been looking into the story. What have you found the Allan? Good morning.
ALLAN URRY: Good morning. Well Pendle for example, in East Lancashire, is a pretty typical example. The concern is that in a few wards within the borough which have communities of people of Pakistani origin, activists are calling at people’s homes and putting undue pressure on families, either to vote for a particular candidate, or likely hand over their ballot paper to be marked by someone else. This is illegal. Postal voting should take place within the privacy of our own homes, but visiting teams of party workers are said to be interfering with that. And we interviewed a Conservative activist in Pendle, Abdul Hussain, who told us what was happening.
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NHS Privatisation of Older People Services in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough

17:07 Friday 7th March 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

[C]HRIS MANN: The controversial move to outsource the £1 billion contract to run a large part of the NHS in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is now to go to public consultation. This is the first area in the whole country to carry out the process on this scale, which is for older people’s services. Opponents claim their campaigning has forced the six-month delay, but the people who are organising the bidding process say it was always part of their plan. With me in the studio is Martin Booth of the union Unison at the Cambridge Health branch, and also Martin, part of a campaigning group.
MARTIN BOOTH: That’s right, yes. The Stop the NHS Sell-Off in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.
CHRIS MANN: We’ll be talking to you, getting your reaction in just a moment or two. Stay with us. But first, a short time ago I spoke to Dr Neil Modha, who’s head of the Clinical Commissioning Group. Yesterday it announced the short-list of final solution bidders, with four organisations now bidding. And today they’ve announced this public consultation.
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