Extract from Commons
statement on the Australian Bushfires
Sir (North East Hertfordshire)
(Con): Does the Minister agree that this is the time not to be
criticising Australia but to be helping them? Does she agree that
we need to see close allies such as ourselves, the Americans, the
Canadians and the New Zealanders coming together to give Australia
the package of help that it desperately needs? Does she also agree
that individual citizens who want to help can look at the appeals
by the Salvation Army in Australia and by the Australian rural fire
service, and make donations to them rather than the sort of dubious
organisations that may emerge?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs (Mrs ): I could not agree more
with my right hon. and learned Friend. My constituent is raising funds for
koala care, and I have made it clear to her that she must send
the money she raises to the appropriate people, exactly as my
right hon. and learned Friend has outlined.
Extract from Lords
debate on the Queen's Speech
(CB): It was great
to hear the strong message of the noble Lord, , on that point. Reform of
adult social care is long overdue. As Age UK informed us,
“the care system is broken”;
it is ignoring 1.4 million people with an unmet need. Spending on
adult social care by English local councils has fallen by 5% in
real terms between the 2009-10 financial year and 2017-18,
according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies in 2018. Recent
research carried out by ILC-UK and the Salvation Army found large gaps between
upper-tier local authorities’ spending power: in 2014, their
spending power ranged from £31,368 in Lambeth Council to £5,762
in Dorset Council. That is totally unacceptable...
