Petition Tag - southampton

In two weeks time the FA will decide on which cities it will put forward with its bid to host the World Cup in 2018. The South is not represented! After Pompey pulled out it is left to SOUTHAMPTON to represent the South (Milton Keynes is hardly the south) as a host city for England's 2018 World Cup bid.

We weren't on the original list due to Southampton FC's financial woes in the summer but now we're set to step up and be counted.

The FA simply has to allow the city to bid. We have the facilities, both in footballing terms and the ability to welcome the world's football fans to our great city.

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The Tory Council wants to privatise our leisure centres, Labour are campaigning to stop them and need your help...

PUBLIC - Built and refurbished with public money, our leisure centres belong to Southampton's people.

AWARD WINNING - The Tories want to privatise the centres despite the fact they're award winning!

PRIVATISATION - The leisure centres being privatised will mean prices will go up, standards will drop and staff's jobs will come under threat.

PURE IDEOLOGY - Conservative council leader Alec Samuels has made it clear that he wants to privatise facilities as a matter of priciple.

(Southampton Labour Party, John Denham MP or Alan Whitehead MP may contact you with the information you provide.)

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End the postcode lottery for Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hampshire
residents when it comes to IVF funding and to ensure that current guidelines for IVF funding are adhered to by Oxfordshire PCT, Buckinghamshire PCT, Milton Keynes PCT, Berkshire West PCT, Berkshire East PCT, Hampshire PCT, Southampton City PCT, Portsmouth City Teaching PCT and Isle of Wight PCT.

NICE clearly state in their guidelines for fertility;

“Couples in which the woman is aged 23-39 years at the time of treatment and who have an identified cause for their fertility problems (such as azoospermia or bilateral tubal occlusion) or who have infertility of at least 3 years’ duration should be offered up to three stimulated cycles of in vitro fertilization treatment.”

Unfortunately, many PCT’s do not adhere to this, leaving many couples facing a tough financial commitment or the bleak possibility of having to wait until they are old enough to meet the PCT’s criteria. Whereas some PCT’s do not offer funding for treatment at all.

Please note: Waiting for treatment reduces a women’s fertility rate.

It seems that funding for IVF is not given on the basis of fairness, but on where you live.

For example, if you are in the east of England, your local PCT may follow nice guidelines, however in Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hampshire your PCT use their own rules which in some cases makes you wait until 35 years old. At this age success per cycle drops to only 23.6% (HFEA 2006).

This discrimination is unacceptable as National Health Insurance is not dependant on where you live, so why should healthcare be?

Former Secretary of State for Health, Dr John Reid, said that he wanted “all PCTs, including those who at present provide no IVF treatment, to offer at least one full cycle of treatment to all those eligible. In the longer term I would expect the NHS to make progress towards full implementation of the Nice guidance”. His deadline for this was April 2005, but little has changed

All we are asking for is - End the postcode lottery for Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Hampshire residents when it comes to IVF funding and ensure that current guidelines for IVF funding are adhered to by Oxfordshire PCT, Buckinghamshire PCT, Milton Keynes PCT, Berkshire West PCT, Berkshire East PCT, Hampshire PCT, Southampton City PCT, Portsmouth City Teaching PCT and Isle of Wight PCT.

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In a pre-statutory consultation exercise early in 2006, Southampton's stakeholders in education were asked to respond to a set of 3 alternative proposals concerning the future of Millbrook Community School and Oaklands Community School.

All 3 proposals involved the merger of the two schools to form a new school. This was accepted as necessary given the falling rolls across the city.

On 25 May, the Southern Daily Echo reported that the proposal had been changed, without consultation, to one in which only Millbrook closes. Many of the arguments used to back up the proposal are ill-founded and prejudiced.

Closure only of Millbrook will ensure that the pupils and staff there will not get a fair deal. As staff look for a new employment they will leave and will not be replaced except by supply staff. Pupils' quality of education will be adversely affected. This is unfair to pupils who have helped the school become one of the 100 best schools in the country for pupil progress between Years 7 and 9.

Southampton City Council must demonstrate that "every child matters" by not allowing any proposal to be considered that sacrifices the education of one group of pupils for any reason.

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