Councilbust

Following enquiries by Rochford and Southend East Conservative MP James Duddridge into the mental health problems of service men and women, fellow Tory MP David Amess has looked further into the issue.

 In a written question to the Defence Secretary, Mr Amess asked:

 “How many armed forces personnel of each rank, regiment and age cohort have been treated for psychological disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and physical injuries in each year since 1997.”

 He also asked: “how many have been discharged as a consequence of a psychological disorder and  a physical injury in each such year; which countries each had served in; and how long each had served before discharge.”

 Mr Amess received detailed statistics from Kevan Jones, Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Ministry of Defence, in response.

 Mr Jones said that there is no retrievable data dating from before 2007, but provided statistics on service personnel treated and discharged for mental health problems since that year, cross referenced with their years of service.

 The figures revealed that, in the army, navy and airforce, the numbers of service men and women discharged due to mental health disorders increased by almost 50% in each case.

 In the navy, mental health discharges rose from 16 in 1997 to 40 in 2007. In the army, the number rose from 86 in 1997 to 114 in a decade, and in the RAF, the number rose from 19 to 49 over the same time period.

 The statistics also showed that the average length of service for personnel discharged for mental health reasons was 10.3 years in the navy, 7.1 years in the army, and 9 years in the RAF.

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 The Southend Liberal Democrat party have claimed that, if in control of Southend, its members would make radical changes to education in the area.

 The claims come ahead of a visit to Southend by leading Liberal Democrat MP David Laws, a close ally of national party leader Nick Clegg, on Monday 15^th June.

 Peter Welch, Southend West Liberal Democrat candidate, said:

 “David has worked hard to put in place a set of policies that would ensure that children for poorer backgrounds get the education they deserve.

 “The plans he has put in place would mean, for example, a further £9million per annum to support schools in Southend, focussed upon schools with the least advantaged pupils.

 “Our objective is to have much smaller infant classes, down to fifteen pupils.”

 Mr Welch also said that university students would gain from the reforms nationwide, and that the Liberal Democrats “are the only party proposing to get rid of tuition fees.”

 Meanwhile, Rochford and Southend East UKIP candidate James Moyies has made several claims on behalf of his own party.

 Via microblogging site Twitter, Mr Moyies has claimed that UKIP policy is to have “a grammar school in every town”, “reintroduce student grants”, allow schools “a greater say over subjects taught”, and share funding equally amongst schools rather than giving more to some specialist schools.

 The Labour Party has pledged on its website to make every school a specialist school, Trust school or an Academy with a business or university partner for each. The party also aims to guarantee every young person in the country an apprenticeship, training or a place to study by 2015, as well as ensuring that no fewer than 30% of students at each school achieve five “good” GCSEs (including the core subjects) by 2011.

 The Conservatives aim to “build hundreds of new schools”, “shift the balance of power away from the government and towards the parents”, and reform the current testing system.

 David Laws MP will be speaking at Blenheim Conference Centre, Blenheim Primary School, on Monday 15^th June