Gordon Brown on Mumsnet this Friday (16th October) lunchtime between 1-2 pm

[JustineMumsnet]

We're delighted to announce that the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, will be logging on to Mumsnet for a live webchat on Friday (tomorrow) lunchtime from 1 to 2. The PM is ready to answer Mumsnetters' questions on a wide-range of policy issues from the economy to education and from childcare to climate change.

As you know we're not great ones for rule books here at MNHQ, but we'd like this to be as useful and enlightening an event as it can be, for all involved. We aren't going to pre-moderate or pre-select questions - the format will be as per usual - but given the likely popularity of this webchat, the sheer number of you all and our past experience of trying to fit everything in, we've come up with a few ground rules which we'd be very grateful if you'd follow.

Guidelines for MN webchat with PM

1. To allow as many folks as possible to be involved, please restrict your questions to one per member plus a follow up question if appropriate, i.e. once you've had a response. (NB don't even think about name changing to ask another, we'll be watching!).

1. Please keep your question reasonably brief (we'll not doing a word count but it will increase your chance of getting an answer, we suspect, if you don't bang on for paragraphs)

1. It's highly unlikely he'll be able to answer everyone's question but we'll make every effort to bring common themes to his attention. Please don't be too disappointed if your specific question doesn't get answered and do try not to keep posting "What about me?". He can't answer them all and he is the PM after all - so has a quite few time constraints.

1. Obviously you're free to voice your opinion but do be civil/polite - the PM is our guest on Mumsnet so, whatever your politics, please afford him the same cordiality you would if he stopped by your own house.

Many thanks - feel free to put your question up in advance if you can't make the live chat on Friday lunchtime.

Prime Minister, when you say that you'd be happy for people to get in touch or discuss ideas further, what sort of communication route are you thinking of? Would you be willing to meet up with a bunch of mumsnetters (those you've singled out, such as RnB on autism and Wilf on university places) to discuss certain issues in more depth?

oh I got a bit confused there, but I hope my point was made...

pmsl at TWC

Welcome Prime Minister.
Questions already asked that I would like an answer to:
The Home Education Review - why are allegations that some Home Educators do so to hide abuse being considered when there is absolutely no evidence that is the case?

The Cambridge Review has concluded that children are starting school to early. Why are you ignoring their recommendations? Children in many countries in Europe do not start until 6 or 7 and their standards of education are much higher. Is this to force women back into work as soon as possible?

Why are all politicians and world leaders, including yourself, putting your hands up and hoping you will not be personally accountable historically for the legacy of climate change motivated by greed and short term profit?

Why are you doing nothing to prevent the obscene bonuses handed out to bankers such as those at Morgan Stanley?

Thankyou.

I really like you as well Gordon, and will be voting for you again . Please answer my quesion about raising the pension age when not enough jobs for young people

Dear Mr Brown,

Please could you do something to help Britain's farmers. Thousands of us are struggling and living well below the poverty line.
Could you, for example, insist that only Scottish barley can be used to make whisky or remove some of the red tape/laws which are needless?

LilyBolero,

Child tax credits are designed to help middle income earners back up Child Benefit. Six million families will be receiving about £30 per week from Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit for the first child. So we are trying to help where we can with some of the costs of bringing up a child. There's further help if your child is under one, and many people receive tax credits on top. We've brought the basic income tax rate from 23 pence a few years to 20 pence now.

But Prime Minister do you really believe we should be getting more people into university? I speak as a graduste of 2006 who was recently made redundant from my (low paying) job, who cannot get another for love nor money. Vocational courses are what we should be encouraging, no?

Good afternoon Prime Minister.
Mr Brown, when you say you've never done a webchat before, that isn't quite true, is it? May I ask why you chose to chat on Netmums back in february, rather than Mumsnet, and why Netmums receives government funding?

Having my second child recently, I was horrified to discover my health visiting service promoting Netmums as a place to turn to for help online. When I think back to the dark days of my first child's babyhood, I think the fluffiness of that place would have tipped me over the edge...

too early.

Babybroody,

I know having a child is a life-changing experience and it has its challenges. We have come a long way in terms of improvement to maternity pay. In 1997, women were only entitled to 18 weeks maternity pay. This has now more than doubled to 39 weeks.

We?ve also more than doubled maternity allowance which has gone from 55.70 per week in 1997 to 123.06.

DEar PM-
As a British citizen having paid NI Class 1 and taxes for over 25 yrs now married and living in another EU country why can I not reap any benefits ( say a reduced Child benefit) of my contributions ( apart from a pension if I still keep on paying in ).
I am entitled to ZERO in Italy despite being told it is all reciprocal.
Can I have a percentage back then ? Or will my money go to pay the benefits of others especially those who don't pay a thing ?

When you are creating policies, do you ever stop and think about what you would like for your family?

I also would like to express my vote of confidence in you personally, whilst not always agreeing with Labour's policies, the thought of David Cameron leading the country fills me with horror

Hi Gordon,nice to have you here

I would like to know your views on tax breaks for fulltime stay at home parents.

say in my case my dh could be taxed less on his salary as he is financially supporting the whole family.

and familys where both parents work are given help with childcrae costs

Please don't use 'middle income earners' again without defining. Say 'people who earn less than' or 'couples who earn less than'...

Dear Mr Brown,

I would like to know when primary school admissions are going to be reviewed. I am a mum who would like to work but my local council didn't put my 2 children in the same school. Because of this, I lost invaluable childcare arrangements so had to give up work.
I believe the admission rules do not put children, their education or families first.

Thank you

It does seem that way doesn't it FlamingoBingo.

Dear Mr Brown,

Are you going to do anything to stop house prices from rising again? The media are reporting recent rises as though it's a good thing, but most people with families are not able to buy family-sized homes (or even get on the property ladder). Rising prices might make people feel rich, but unless they're selling their homes and living in tents, it doesn't benefit them at all. And it doesn't create any actual wealth for the country.

Thanks

Dear Gordon Brown, I really hope you can answer my question, even if it looks a bit shallow.
I'm Italian, but I lived in the UK for 8 years, until 2 years ago.
How much embarassing it is for (any) English politician to deal/meet with Mr Berlusconi?

Netmums?! Pah!

EXCELLENT IDEA, policywonk. you've got the focus group opportunity of a lifetime here, Mr B, should you choose to take it. i'm in (representing the bitter ranks of the self-employed).

Prime Minister
I agree with your proposed policy to house 16 and 17 year old mums in quasi supervised accommodation instead of giving them council houses to allow them to learn valuable parenting skills and in some cases prevent ongoing cycles of bad parenting. What other things is your party intending to do to prioritise child protection and most importantly support protect and bring back the credibility of social workers trying to protect children in the eyes of the public. I ask this question not only in the light of the Baby P / S. Shoosmith employment tribunal case but also in light of figures reported by the times newspaper 15.10.09 "In a study of all serious case reviews published in the past year, Ofsted found 19 per cent of the 219 children were subject to a child protection plan, the system covering those in most danger. Yet despite their parents being under strict notice to improve care, and social workers regularly monitoring behaviour, they still suffered serious and even fatal abuse.

Of the 219 children, 113 died as a result of the incidents, 44 of them babies aged less than one"