Questions from families for local politicians

[MaltCross]

Hello lovely Mums

We are running a Hustings event at the Malt Cross (16 St James's Street) in Nottingham City Centre on Sunday at 7pm, and we would really love to have some questions from mum's and families for politicians. Every major party will be represented.

So what are your burning questions? what do you really care about? what bothers you most? What could they do to help you and make your life better? what aren't they doing?

We will be live tweeting and face booking from the event, however you are also welcome to come.

Thank you for your help, your opinion and questions are so important.

Thanks

Jo

Ok, I'll bite.

I've had a lovely chat with our Green candidate and the Labour candidate came round weeks ago, before the campaign had properly started. But where are the rest of you? There's someone at home here most of the time and we do answer the door. We're in a safe seat but, it's nice to say hello. Are you on your way over?

For the Conservative candidate: How can 12 B pounds worth of savings be found from benefits now that you have assured pensioners their benefits will, at the least, keep pace with inflation? Can they guarantee that child benefit will not be reduced further?
The bedroom tax has been ineffective, given the relatively small number of one and two bedroom social housing. It has led to hardship for vulnerable people in many cases. What are your parties plans for this tax?

For the Labour candidate:
Why, instead of the 'Mansion Tax' don't you make changes to the property tax bands so that expensive properties pay more?

Will the proposed stamp duty holiday for first time buyers purchasing homes for less than 300,000 pounds lead to a distortion in the market?

Hello again. A couple more.

How do you feel about the fact that people who can afford to, buy their way into good school catchments in West Bridgford, while state schools in Nottingham City continue to underperform? What would your party do, nationally and locally, to even things up so that every child in Nottingham has the best possible educational opportunities?

Free childcare for the over 3s (non-means-tested) and over 2s (means-tested) (currently 15 hours a week), what is the policy objective – to socialise children, support their early learning and get them ‘school ready’, or to reduce parents’ childcare bills, making it easier for them to return to work? It seems to me that any targeting would be done quite differently and benefit different people, depending on which objective is the priority.

I hear different and fluctuating messages about this, from within each of the main parties.

As a small-scale private landlord, I’d be happy to let to people in receipt of housing benefit if the system didn’t make this insecure, unpredictable and impractical. People reliant on housing benefit have an extremely limited choice of private rented housing as many landlords won’t accept them.

Action required includes: ability of all HB tenants to offer a deposit for which they are personally responsible, giving them a stake in good care of the property like any other tenant; rent payments in advance, not in arrears (so that at the first indication rent hasn’t been paid, the tenant is already a month behind) and; no ‘clawing back’ of rent from the landlord retrospectively, if the tenant’s eligibility is reassessed.

What steps are you going to take to give housing benefit recipients access to good quality private rented housing?

Oh yes and, pavement parking – the obstructive sort, so that people with pushchairs, wheelchairs and mobility scooters can’t pass and are forced out into the road. This isn’t ‘only a local issue’, national government issued guidelines on the topic to local parking partnerships in 2011 (and will presumably have collated some evidence on the results by now). What will you do to address this everyday obstruction and danger, that makes the lives of many less mobile people more difficult?

Just to add, I've noticed no improvement in the pavement parking situation at all and have never ever seen a penalty notice on a car parked in this way - even with all four wheels on the pavement, blocking it to pedestrians entirely - or police, traffic wardens or anyone else giving them any attention.

Ridiculous disability assessments run by an incompetent company, bedroom tax despite suitable housing stock being unavailable, punitive withholding of benefits for minor infringements, mistakes and administrative errors, resulting in people reliant on foodbanks and going without essentials themselves to care for their children. Do you think those of us not directly affected haven’t noticed, or think this is ok?

Sure Start, a really useful, evidence-based initiative diluted into meaninglessness?

We managed to just hold on to our Child Benefit (in the previous round of cuts). We are a middle income family living in London (so not well off at all!). DH nearly earns the threshold amount and I'm self-employed but below tax threshold. We would really notice the loss of CB (and believe me we live frugally - we don't have a car for starters!). You can imagine that we are more than anxious about pledges not to cut CB vs the reality once the election battle has been won.

How can you reassure me?

As a middle income family our income is becoming more and more squeezed. No pay-rise for (public-sector working) DH for five years with everything else going up in line with our DCs growing up (and they are noticeably becoming more expensive as they do so). We have dutifully done our bit, never claimed benefits, save as much as we can (which is not as much as we should be doing in an ideal world), live responsible lives, and contribute in many ways to our local areas (school governors, on PTA, help out with community events etc...).

Yet increasingly we are looking at having our 'hard work thro' work' thrown back in our faces as we get older - the future of a free-for-all NHS is looking more and more uncertain, we are faced with having to top up university monies for our DCs even though we don't really have any spare money to do so, pension entitlements are not what they were/are for our parents generation.

All in all despite educating and qualifying ourselves to the hilt and working hard, I see no reward at 'the end of the line' for the workers and parents of today. How will your proposed policies for the next Parliament help us to look towards retirement with something other than trepidation?

Thanks.

What will you do to ensure that the creeping privatization of yet he NHS is reversed.

What are your personal thoughts on Proposed HS2

How do you feel about the tram line works over running and causing commuting misery for many and the problems caused to business on the route

Wow really great questions everyone. Thank you. I have added them into the question list and will report back after tonight's hustings meeting

Thank you

Jo and Hustings Team

Hi Silenenutans

So I asked all of the candidates this question

Greens - we have been visiting people in seats where we think we could win a seat or have a seat
Conservatives - We have limited capacity to visit constituents but have been doing so in marginal seats and strong holds
Labour - We have committed to visiting 1000's of homes in Nottingham and have had teams out nearly every night and at weekends, if you would like to speak to someone please call our party office
UKIP - We are happy to visit people if they would like, we have been concentrating our time on visiting areas where we are likely to win a seat
Lid Dems - Sorry I live in Belgium and I am not prepared to visit Nottingham unless on a pre arranged visit.

Hope that is helpful

HEG17

Re: For the Conservative candidate: How can 12 B pounds worth of savings be found from benefits now that you have assured pensioners their benefits will, at the least, keep pace with inflation? Can they guarantee that child benefit will not be reduced further?
The bedroom tax has been ineffective, given the relatively small number of one and two bedroom social housing. It has led to hardship for vulnerable people in many cases. What are your parties plans for this tax?

A 2 year freeze on working age benefit, no they cannot guarantee that child benefit will not be eroded with proposals being explored such as means testing for benefits such as child benefit, removal of child benefit from those over 16, limiting support to 2 children encouraging families back to work

Bedroom tax will be scrapped by the Labour, Greens and UKIP but conservatives cannot guarantee that it will be scrapped

Hope that is helpful

Thanks MaltCross for a really interesting event and for coming back to us.

For all - the debate was live-tweeted, you can find Qs and As on the Malt Cross's Twitter account (scroll down 3rd May and a picture of four candidates seated at a table to begin).

A question very similar to readering's was asked too:
Q: what will you do to counter creeping privatisation of the NHS?
A: UKIP advocate buying out PFI contracts, Conservatives say whether carried our privately or not the end result matters

I think a question similar to Silenenutans on schools was asked as well:
A: Tories would promote choice, open up catchment areas across county and city, work with business to make pupils work ready
A: Labour say position has improved since the city took over, academies aren't working, attendance up. [should that read 'academies are working'?]
A: Greens say schools need a return to local control and abolish OFSTED.

I've tweeted all five parties involved and asked if they'd like to come over and answer any of your questions that there wasn't time for at the hustings event.

Thanks for the answers.

Who is this Lib Dem, who will only visit Nottingham by invitation? They surely cannot be any sort of local candidate! So, why were they involved in a local hustings? (I know the lib dems aren't expecting to win anything here but, really!)