Questions for David Cameron

[mumsnet]

We know what he thinks about education, the economy and Europe, but what about the really important stuff? Like how many nappies, exactly, has he changed in the last two weeks? And does young Arthur favour a three-in-one travel system, or a rugged off-roader? You can find out the answers to these and other pressing questions (and tell him what you think of all that tummy-patting) next Monday lunchtime when David Cameron visits Mumsnet to give his first interview since the birth of his third child. David will be online from 12.45pm. You can post advance questions for him here.

tell him my dh looks identical to him

honest

ask cod

hear hear tobysmum- and just wanted to add, the children with SN that I know that are being most let down by the current system (from school age up) are the high functioning children. It's harder to close SLD units than MLD, and its easy to assume that a high functioning child will be fine in mainstream. Without staff training, sufficient space, properly funded support it can be a disaster for all (including the other children in the class).

David Cameron,
congratulations on your new baby.

Are you tempted to pledge to save the pound, when you fight the next election?

just to add to the bunch of questions about the unaffordable costs of living...

I have left the UK because after all my years of studying and work, I could only afford a small, terraced ex-Council house, in a grotty town near London.

In France, doing the same job, I can afford a detached house, with a barn and field, and decent food thrown in. No contest really.

Do you think that in a free market society, it is inevitable that people will move, to follow the best opportunities for themselves and their families?

I have a couple of ideas which I'd love to know if you think there's any mileage in:

1. Why do we pay tax on statutory maternity pay? It would make a real financial difference to women if it was tax free - and would it really dent the Treasury's takings that badly?

2. Making childcare tax deductible would give families much more freedom to chose what's right for them, as well as creating more childcare jobs. Could the Tories see their way to doing anything along these lines?

Good luck with transforming the party...

ps you look just like my husband (a politics teacher) and our second child was due on the same day as Arthur was born..spooky. She was in fact born on 7th February.

Awwww, please save the pound. Really dislike the euro.

David,

My question is...why is there not more state funding available for helping carers, of both children and adults, to have some form of respite?
In particular I'd really like to have a view on what can be done to improve Social Services provisioning for families with children with SN (although the problem exists very much for those caring for adults too).

The result of our one and only assessment by Social Services was to be told that our daughter was no different to her peer group (she has CP, visual impairment & PMLD)!

The Social Services 'system' seems both impossible to navigate and impenetrable to parents - I talk not just of my own experiences but also from having talked to others in a similar position. It seems that in some cases families have to hit crisis point before they can get help. The provision of services also seems to be a complete lottery according to where in the UK you live.

We have been lucky enough to receive a days respite a month from a lottery funded charity. This funding has now come to an end, so the staff are having to look to fundraise as a charity in addition to providing the palliative care. Which brings me back to my original question...

Thanks for reading, and wishing you luck with the party in the future.

How does your party intend to improve the tax credit system?

What is your stance on surestart and would it be continued and extended under your government?

Do you support the Breastfeeding in Public Bill? I notice you have not signed it as yet.

Thanks.

David I would like you to tell us what you will do about the pension crisis.I am the same age as you.I am worried about it and furious that in my lifetime the retirement age will have gone up by 7 years!I don't intend to work until I drop dead.But with the way things are can you guarantee it will not go up even further?

I would urge him to ask his shadow Chancellor's wife not to give interviews. The smug, "oh, I could never stay at home and plump cushions" interview she gave in the Evening Standard really got up my nose. Even in jest (?),that sort of remark is really not appreciated. Also, her whole "well, clearly I wouldn't want to work in an office because then I wouldn't see the kids and I couldn't possibly be a SAHM (darling) so the only thing to do was to write a book" is pretty unhelpful to working Mums too. On the other hand, if the point of the interview was to alientate other women and show how out of touch she really is, she did a great job.

the drum kit's gone, but the Phil & Teds' E3 in navy is still yours for the right price
best
Bear

In your interview with the Guardian on Dec 18, you refer to knowing "Mog the Cat" by heart because you've read it to your daughter so many times. Do you realise that this failed to impress parents of small children, chiefly because the book is actually called "Mog the Forgetful Cat"? Forget the family-friendly guff and let the punters see the real you.

What plans do you have with regards to the punishment system and the fact that the rape of a three month old is punished by only a few years in jail, and a driver who drove while drunk killed two of his friends and three others, only to be told he could be out in six??

I am interested in your rationale behind the new A list for candidates for target seats- specifically why you feel positive discrimination is the only way to get women to stand as PPC's. Being a PPC in a target seat is virtually a full time job, and the pressures on women are even greater - Do you want a Conservative government full of "Camerons Chicks", a bit like Blairs Babes, most of which haven't stood for re election?? Without a supportive, non ambitious husband - "the traditional Tory wife" behind them, many women will be forced to choose between a political career and a family life. I wouldn't wish to be picked for a job purely on the basis of my sex, and needing enough women to fulfill a quota. It is pure tokenism and is insulting.

Kif - agree with your post. Thought you put it well.

Bozza - "I disagree Kif. Why should you get to stay at home with your children and your DH get the same tax allowance as both DH and I, when I am working 3 days a week and him 5, bearing in mind DH has an essential company car and consequently a negative tax code."
Are you saying that Kif staying at home with her children isn't working? Do you believe that caring for children is only worthwhile if it is someone caring for other peoples children? That you would be quite happy for your tax to pay for childcare by someone other than the parent but not the parent themself? Does childcare other than by a parent have more value?
Surely Kif is saving the Gov't paying out childcare subsidies, why take away tax allowance aswell?

TAX CREDITS - are you going to come up with a system that does NOT mean that I have to work substantially more hours, and see a lot less of my children, to pay back the money that the IR overcharged me in the first year of the tax credits system?

Do you have the balls to insist on fair trade for Africa and scrap unfair European farming subsidies?

My question for David is also about Tax Credits.

It seems bizarre to me that the Inland Revenue gives us money in this way.

As the Inland Revenue is a collection agency,surely it would make more sense to simply take less tax from qualifying people?

I believe it would be less easy for fraudulent claims to be successful (viz. the great Working Tax Credits fraud) and further, be cheaper to administrate?

Was the current system actually set up so the government could simply be seen to be giving people something?

I also want married man's tax allowance (or its equivalent) reinstated which I believe used to be in place to help the mother stay at home looking after the children.

My final comment is that I believe that the getting women in work campaign is really aimed at lone parents, but it would be politically incorrect of the government to admit this.

(The reason behind it being that it gets lone parents off benefits , which is also the reason why the CSA was set up)

IF and its a big IF you get into power, what do you propose youre going to do about the CSA?

Scrap it and run it through the inland revenue?

Hello David, and congratulations on the birth of your new son.

I would be interested to hear what, if anything, a Conservative government would do to raise breastfeeding rates within the UK.

In particular, I have been concerned to see how baby food companies are targetting new mothers in clinics ands via baby magazines with what purport to be information materials. These are really promoting formula milk brand names and company websites and carelines.

Do you support the full implementation of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes? The International Code aims to protect all mothers and babies from inappropriate company marketing practices. It bans all promotion of breastmilk substitutes, bottles and teats and aims to ensure mothers receive accurate information from health workers.

If you do not support full implementation of the Code, why not?

Paternity leave will only make it laugh. Family friendly work practices won't shift it and, as for more and more heavily subsidised childcare, that will only make it bigger and greedier. I'm talking, David Cameron, about the huge, unwieldy elephant in our midst that we prefer not to talk about, but that is denying a generation of potentially conscientious and competent parents the children that they long for and that society needs. It also makes life hard for one-earner families, because the tax system is skewed against them, but to make allowances for them would risk offending the beast. These kind of "hard-working families" that wisely avoid the booming infant industry, are sidelined by every political party. You too avoid the glaring problem by feebly saying that "all mothers now want to work". What work? Designing expensive stationery at home whilst comfortably supported by domestic staff? Or, like the wife of the Shadow Chancellor, reported as researching family history because she could not bear to plump cushions and change nappies"? Maybe you should all get out a bit more and see unweaned babies going to "nursery school" for 50 hours a week and read the mounting research evidence against this kind of "family policy". There's no shortage of academics and think tanks who could point to fairer and more sensible approaches, but this big beast is a tremendously aggressive bully.
What we need above all is a brave and clever David to slay this Goliath!

i would love to read the answer to old dutch's [the first here] beautifully phrased question. having children for most of us means huge financial sacrifice - we have one child that we have had after working hard into our early thirties. i have given up work to look after our son, and we would like to have one more, but are struggling so hard financially it is an uphill struggle. We can't afford a house to live in and so live in a small flat. We can't afford a pension. We are a university educated, middle class family, so if it is so hard for us, what is it like for some working class families? Why do UK governments force mothers back to work and small children into nurseries, despite so much evidence to prove this is not the best thing for children? We hope to leave this country for a better quality of life elsewhere in Europe. Do you have anything to offer families like us to persuade us to stay?

Now I am not keen on centralisation as a rule. However, I think that many doctors surgeries are inefficient. I also think that NHS direct could be further utilised to provide an appointments system for local surgeries.

This would avoid having to be triaged by the local doctors surgery, which is time consuming and can only be available during set times. It also avoids the receptionists demanding to know the reason for an emergency appointment, when they have no medical training or understanding. This would then prevent some members of the public not being treated when they need to be, sometimes quite urgently.

It could also serve to further cut A and E admissions, as if people have an appointment to see their GP they may be less likely to 'turn up' at their local hospital.

I wonder what your thoughts would be on this? Do you agree that there do need to be some changes to the way doctors surgeries are run? To make them efficient, fair and prompt.

Recipients of carer's allowance get NI contributions paid. Parents may never be paid for staying at home to care for their children, but why should their pension suffer? What about paying NI contributions with child benefit?

You've talked about giving parents more choice when it comes to school - how would you tackle oversubscribed schools, given that most parents who care about education will choose the best one they can - what criteria would you use for selection?