David Ruffley

David Ruffley will be launching the new e-mail service at the Samaritans at 46 Well Street, Bury St Edmunds on Friday, 7 February at 12.00 noon. The new service will offer a new means of contact for anyone who wants to get in touch with the Samaritans. The telephone service will, of course, still be available but some members of the public may prefer e-mail as a means of getting in touch if they do not want to speak directly to a counsellor on the telephone. David will meet Director, Colin Nicholson, and other staff at the Samaritans' office.

Government gimmicks and burglary guidelines are failing Bury St Edmunds says Ruffley

Crime is soaring according to new government figures. David Ruffley MP today pointed to Home Office statistics showing that the number of robberies in Mid Suffolk rose by 180% in 2001-2.

David Ruffley MP said this was evidence that the Government's knee jerk reactions, gimmicks and initiatives were not working, and expressed concern that new plans to not jail burglars could increase crime further. He said:

MP calls for schools to be freed from inept Whitehall interference

David Ruffley MP warned that 1981 teachers could leave Suffolk's schools over the next five years. A survey conducted by MORI and the General Teaching Council has found that one in three of all teachers expect to leave teaching within five years, protesting about workload, government interference and poor pupil behaviour.

David Ruffley MP will be meeting Dr Watson and his partners at the Needham Market Country Practice on Friday, 17 January at 3.30 p.m.

David keeps in regular contact with members of the medical profession in his constituency as well as the Health Trusts who perform the administrative role in Suffolk.

Subjects for discussion will include GP patients lists and the role of GPs within the new health structure in the south Stowmarket area.

David Ruffley has received a large number of representations from residents in the Cedars Park area of Stowmarket and beyond against the planning application submitted by Stowmarket Multi Modal Distribution Park and GB Railfreight Ltd for a major rail freight depot on land adjoining the A1120 at Stowmarket. The site is across the road from Tesco's.

Independent report predicts 400 more dumped cars a year across Bury St Edmunds and Stowmarket

David Ruffley will be visiting Stowmarket High School on Friday, 24 January to meet Headteacher, Mr David Oliver and then to speak to sixth form students.

David is in frequent contact with Stowmarket High School. For several years now sixth form politics students have visited Westminster to see the House of Commons in action and David has paid a return visit to speak to students and hold a question and answer session with them. The session is always non-party political and covers a wide range of topics.

David Ruffley MP will be speaking at Great Barton Free Church, Mill Road, Great Barton, at 7.30 p.m. on Friday, 24 January.

The subject of his talk is 'Brave New World: are genetic engineering, stem-cell research and cloning grounds for genuine optimism or general unease?' There will be an opportunity for questions following David's talk.

The event is open to members of the local community. Anyone interested in attending should contact the Church on: 01284 788032.

David Ruffley will be holding one of his regular meetings with members of the Bury St Edmunds Branch of the National Farmers' Union on Friday, 24 January.

The main topics for discussion at the meeting include: sheep tagging, bio fuels, the proposed takeover of Safeway by Wal Mart and the power of supermarkets in general.

David Ruffley will visit Bury St Edmunds Fire Station, Parkway North, on Friday, 31 January between 4.00 and 5.00 p.m.

David has kept in regular contact with local firefighters since negotiations began over their pay claim. He will be meeting the firefighters at the Fire Station on Friday to receive further briefing from them regarding the implications of the Bain Review, especially possible job losses locally. They also particularly wish to draw to David's attention the special features of rural fire services which are quite different from those in urban areas.