A consultation by Buckinghamshire UTC

I was recently made aware of a consultation taking place regarding the plans to open a new 14-19 college in Aylesbury. Those wishing to respond to the consultation or obtain more information can do so by clicking here.

A letter from Alison Munro regarding HS2

In my blog post of 26 January I posted a letter I had written to Alison Munro concerning a full bore tunnel in the Chilterns. I have now received a reply and have enclosed this below.

Information from Buckinghamshire County Council regarding scam emails

I received the below information from Bucks County Council regarding Trading Standards’ scam emails which I thought may be of interest to constituents.

“Incidents of scam emails being sent from hacked email accounts is on the rise, says Buckinghamshire’s Trading Standards team, who are reminding members of the public to be aware.

 The fake emails, which look like they have been sent from the genuine email address of a friend or a family member, are sent to all addresses in the address book of the hacked email account. The email will usually be titled “I need your help” or “I’m in trouble”, and will ask the recipient to send a ‘loan’ in excess of £1,000. The cause of these types of emails is usually that the sender’s email address has been hacked into by a cyber criminal.

 Martin Phillips, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement, said: “If you receive an email of this nature, we advise you to try to establish if your friend or family member really is in need of help. If it’s your email account that has been hacked into in this way, contact your email service provider who will be able to restore your email address for you.”

 All major web-based email service providers are aware of the problems with account hacking and now offer a system to quickly restore email addresses if they are hacked.

 For more help on email scams check with your email service provider or visit the Trading Standards webpage at:

http://www.buckscc.gov.uk/bcc/trading_standards/coldcalling/scams_cons.page”

You can now follow me on Twitter

I have now set up a Twitter account and you can follow me by clicking on the relevant link on my Twitter page which can be viewed here.

A Letter to Justine Greening Concerning HS2

As you may be aware, an article recently published in the Sunday Telegraph alleged that the Department for Transport had commissioned research into potential issues that caused be caused by vibrations of the train tracks HS2 is due to run on. I was contacted by several constituents on this matter and have therefore written to Justine Greening to seek clarification on issues they raised and have enclosed a copy of my letter below.

A Letter Concerning Aylesbury Crown Court

I recently wrote to Ken Clarke, Secretary of State for Justice, concerning the future of Aylesbury Crown Court and media reports that the scheme to replace it may not proceed. I have now received a reply which I have enclosed below.

A Video Concerning the Paralympics and Stoke Mandeville

I recently filmed a short video in my role as Minister for Europe marking 200 days until the start of the London 2012 Paralympic Games. As you may know a torch merging ceremony is due to take place the day before the start of the Paralympics in Stoke Mandeville. To watch the video please click here.

Information Regarding Broadband in Bucks

I recently received an update from Bucks Business First concerning local broadband that I thought  may be of interest to constituents. Therefore, I have posted the information below.  

Residents and businesses across Bucks and Herts can expect to see their broadband speeds soar over the next few years,after the government announced today (16 February 2012) that it has approved a joint application, fromBuckinghamshire and Hertfordshire County Councils, for £3 million funding to support the roll-out of superfast broadband across both counties.

The announcement moves Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire County Councils a step closer to rolling out next generation broadband to communities and businesses by 2015. Over the upcoming months, a variety of activities will get underway working towards procurement later in the year, focused on extending the coverage of superfast infrastructure.  The dual county project will then be put out to tender to bidding suppliers, with groundwork expected to begin in 2013.

The government, through its Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) initiative, is investing £530 million nationally to ensure the UK has the best super-fast broadband network in Europe by 2015. It wants every UK resident to be able to access 2Mbps broadband speeds and 90 percent of the country to get super-fast broadband, defined by Ofcom as 24Mbps or above.  Both Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire are hoping to exceed these targets, through the delivery of this joint project.

From BDUK’s funding pot, the county councils have been awarded £3.07 million, of which Buckinghamshire will receive £1.96 million and Hertfordshire £1.11 million. These amounts will be supplemented by substantial contributions from councils in both counties and the private sector.

Slow broadband speeds mean that many residents in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire have experienced ‘digital exclusion’ where they are unable to utilise services such as video streaming, BBC iplayer and online tools for home education. Meanwhile, businesses operating in the across the counties have been unable to use essential tools such as video conferencing, Skype and office collaboration tools, develop e-commerce sites or cloud computing, all of which are essential for competiveness, development and growth.

Martin Tett, Leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, said: ‘This is fantastic news, and essential for making Buckinghamshire a place to start and grow a business in the 21st century. There’s still work to do in getting match-funding, but this supports our commitment to make the county a great place to do business and to live.

David Lloyd, Cabinet Member for Resources and Economic Wellbeing at Hertfordshire County Council said “Rolling out high-speed broadband is as important for us now as installing mains water was in the 19^th century; it’s a vital piece of infrastructure. Hertfordshire’s businesses need good broadband access to be competitive and keep pace with other parts of the UK. There are certain parts of the county, even business parks and urban areas, that have struggled to get good broadband speed and access. I’m delighted that we’re now able to do something to rectify this.”

 It is expected that the procurement programme will begin later this year, with both counties inviting tenders from suppliers through a government framework. It is anticipated that physical implementation of the superfast broadband network will begin by mid-2013.

A Letter from the Chilterns Conservation Board

I recently received a letter from the Chilterns Conservation Board which they sent to Justine Greening concerning HS2 which may be of interest to constituents. Therefore, I have enclosed a copy of the letter below.

A Parliamentary Question on HS2

My colleague Steve Baker recently obtained an answer to a Parliamentary Question on HS2 which I have enclosed below.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which consultants are being or have been used on the High Speed 2 project; and what the(a) remit and(b) cost to the public purse was of their services in each case.

The full answer can be found by clicking here. However, briefly 34 consultants have been used by the Department for Transport on HS2 at a total cost of just short of £26 million.