Sport England provides £10m for ‘Active Universities’

Blomfield: New funding for University Sport will improve health and strengthen Sheffield’s reputation as the UK’s City of Sport.

Paul Blomfield, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central, today welcomed an announcement by Sport England of £10 million new funding for an ‘Active Universities’ project to get more students playing sport.

Mr Blomfield joined Ben Bradshaw MP, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, who announced the funding at Sheffield Hallam University Sports Union along with top Olympic athlete Heather Fell, Gold Medal Winner in Modern Pentathlon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Paul Blomfield has a long track record of improving sporting facilities and participation in Sheffield. He was responsible for Sheffield’s major sports facilities as Chair of Sheffield City Trust and is on the Board of Usport, which runs sport at Sheffield University.

Clive Betts MP hits the ground running for Sport Relief

Clive Betts teamed up with a bevy of MPs and Members of the House of Lords to complete a Westminster Mile for Sport Relief on Wednesday 10th March.

More than 30 Parliamentarians, including Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe, swapped their suits for shorts, trainers and Sport Relief Socks to test their sporting prowess in St James’s Park. They were joined by former England Rugby player Kyran Bracken who helped spur them on to the finishing line.

The MPs and Peers put all rivalry aside to call on the rest of the nation to sign up for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile on Sunday 21st March. People from Sheffield can go the distance at Hillsborough Park.

Gerry Sutcliffe, Minister for Sport, said: “It’s been a great turn out today and nice to see so many rosy-faced MPs and Peers coming together for Sport Relief!

Angela Smith MP welcomes dangerous dogs announcement

Angela Smith, campaigner for responsible dog ownership, has today welcomed the news that the government is to consult on improving legislation relating to dangerous dogs.

The MP has been campaigning for sometime to change present laws in relation to dog control, in particular she brought forward last year a Private Members’ Bill to make prosecution possible when attacks take place on private property. She has also been working with various organizations to get the law changed, including the CWU, the RSPCA, the Dogs’ Trust and others.

Commenting, Angela Smith MP, said:

“For sometime I have been concerned that present dog control measures are not working. I am pleased the government has listened to the arguments I and others have put forward and are now to consult on the best way forward to improve dog control.

MPs plan post-election ‘Rail in the North’ group

A meeting of MPs from across the North (chaired by Angela C Smith, MP for Sheffield Hillsborough) has prepared the way for establishing a post-election cross-party MPs campaign for more investment in the North’s rail networks.

Angela Smith said: “There is increasing cross-party concern from MPs across the North about the disparity on rail investment levels between the South East and the North. In recent years London has seen a massive and comprehensive overhaul and expansion of its rail networks. It’s now time for the centre of gravity of rail investment to move North as on too many of our services we have trains that are too poor quality and too overcrowded to cope.

“MPs from across the region know just how important to the North’s economy it is that our cities have modern and efficient commuter rail networks, as well as rapid and regular services between the North’s major centres and beyond.

Government should not be in this fishy business

Angela Smith, MP for Sheffield Hillsborough, joined campaigners to demand that the government does not spend taxpayers’ money on fish that is endangered.

Currently, schools, hospitals and care homes, for example, can buy fish such as cod, haddock and wild salmon that experts warn now have seriously low stocks, or have been caught by destructive fishing methods. Campaigners joined with Angela Smith MP to call on the government to support new legislation, introduced in Parliament this week, to guarantee that only sustainable fish will be used in public institutions from now on.

A majority of the estimated £40 million of taxpayers’ money spent on seafood in public institutions each year is likely to have been spent on species and stocks classified as ‘fish to avoid’ by conservation experts,2 or caught in a way that damages marine life. New research, by the Good Food for Our Money campaign,3 shows that only one out of 341 seafood options available to hospitals via the NHS’s biggest catering supplier was certified as sustainable.

Angela was pictured with a giant fish at Westminster to promote this new legislation that would ensure all seafood purchased by public organisations is sustainable.

East Midlands Trains attempting to mislead the public over Sheffield barriers

Paul Blomfield, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central, has accused East Midlands Trains (EMT) of attempting to mislead the public by claiming, in a letter to Council Leader Paul Scriven, that they are required by the Department for Transport to install ticket barriers which will block vital access to the bridge at Sheffield Station.

Mr Blomfield says EMT’s franchise agreement does not require them to install barriers at Sheffield station and calls on EMT to scrap their plans for barriers and look at alternative revenue protection measures like more ticket inspectors on trains.

Paul Blomfield said: “East Midlands Trains are attempting to mislead the public by claiming that they are required to install barriers. This is absolutely untrue. The franchise agreement they signed with the Department of Transport in 2007 says that if planning approval for ticket barriers can’t be found, then other ‘revenue protection’ measures, such as more staff on trains, should be put in place.

Clive Betts MP signs-up to protect polar bears

Sheffield Attercliffe MP, Clive Betts, is supporting calls on the government to support increased protection for polar bears.

On signing Early Day Motion 682 yesterday, Clive Betts said:

“I am pleased to sign this motion to give the added protection, so desperately needed, to these magnificent creatures.

Not only is the polar bear under terrible threat from the loss of its habitat, but it is also threatened by trade in its fur and other body parts. We should do all we can to help protect this iconic species.”

The Early Day Motion calls on the government to support the United States’ proposal to list the polar bear on Appendix 1.

Mark Glover of Respect for Animals said:

“We very much welcome Clive’s support for this very important measure.

Sheffield’s City of Culture short listing welcomed by MP

Angela Smith MP today welcomed the short listing of Sheffield as a possible City of Culture, but regrets that Barnsley’s bid did not win through to the final four.

The city, which already has a fine cultural tradition, would be ideally placed to be Britain’s City of Culture in 2013,she says. Already the city boasts one of the finest theatre complexes outside of London in the form of the newly modernised Crucible and the more traditional Lyceum, rebuilt as part of the cultural festival for World Student Games.

She believes that winning such a prestigious year long event should benefit not just Sheffield but the whole of South Yorkshire for many years to come.

Commenting, Angela Smith said:

“It’s great to see Sheffield get to the last four of this prestigious competition. The city already has a cultural legacy to be proud of and I believe deserves to be Britain’s City of Culture in 2013.

South Yorkshire scouts show MP the food of love

Angela Smith and Ecclesfield Parish Council Chair Howard House judge South Yorkshire scouts Valentine day dinner competition.

Local scouts as part of their annual cooking competition decided that this year they would cook a romantic meal for two for Valentine’s day.

They asked local dignitaries, Angela Smith MP and Cllr Howard House, to be judges and taste the delights cooked up by the scouts.

In a difficult competition to judge Angela Smith, said: “All the meals were a delight to eat and extremely well cooked and I found them all extremely difficult to judge. I have never seen kids enjoy themselves so much. All the meals were delightfully presented, well done to all those who took part. I now know where to go when I want a romantic meal for two.”

Labour Government invests in Sheffield green fuel company

Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Sheffield Central Paul Blomfield has welcomed today’s announcement of major investment in a local Sheffield company, ITM Power, developing technology to extend the use of green fuel.

Mr Blomfield visited ITM Power, at their Atlas factory today, as the Government’s Technology Strategy Board announced a £337,000 grant for the company. ITM Power is an energy storage and clean fuel company developing new technology to produce and store green hydrogen for commercial use.

During his visit to the factory, which followed a similar visit by Chancellor Alistair Darling last June, Mr Blomfield drove in a Ford Focus converted to run on green hydrogen and inspected a model home which uses a combination of solar power and green hydrogen technology.