David Ruffley

David Ruffley MP, the Shadow Minister for Police Reform, has today demanded answers from the Highways Agency on safety concerns, expressed by Suffolk Constabulary, over Rookery Crossroads area of the A14.

There have been 11 accidents so far this year on the A14 at Rougham and in the most recent incident a young driver nearly lost her life after losing control of her car in standing water on the road. Suffolk police crash investigators highlighted water on the road in two of the other accidents in this location.

David Ruffley MP will be attending the official opening of Stowmarket Rugby Club's new clubhouse and their Gala Dinner on Saturday 11 October at 6pm.

Stowmarket RUFC was founded in 1962. Over the last 5 years Stowmarket has made great leaps forward on the playing side and development of the Club. Stowmarket can boast 4 league promotions in 5 years, which has now earned the Club respect as one of Suffolk's up and coming rugby clubs.

David said:

David Ruffley MP, the Shadow Minister for Police Reform, has this week expressed his concern at new figures which show that children as young as 10 are falling victim to mobile phone theft in Suffolk.

Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 reveal that, in 2007, 157 children under the age of 15 fell victim to mobile phone theft in Suffolk. This figure was down marginally on the previous year, however, thefts from children aged 12- 13 were at their highest recorded level.

David Ruffley has written to Laura Tarling, Network Development Manager at Post Office Ltd, urging her to end the uncertainty over the future of post office services in Gislingham. The text of David's letter is copied below.

Following Post Office Ltd's Network Change Programme consultation which ended in June, the decision was made to close Gislingham Post Office and replace it with an outreach service point in the village.

But it has now become clear that Post Office Ltd have failed to find a suitable venue in Gislingham to host an outreach service.

David Ruffley MP will be meeting with the new Chief Executive of St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Geoff Rivers, on Friday 24th October.

Geoff was previously Chief Executive of South Norfolk District Council for the past nine years. He brings with him a strong track record of improving council services. South Norfolk achieved the Audit Commission's Comprehensive Performance Assessment top rating of excellent last year at the same time as St Edmundsbury

POLICE fork out more per head on takeaway meals for prisoners than the combined sum spent on food for NHS patients and frontline soldiers.

The Ministry of Justice has admitted more than £700,000-ayear is spent on feeding inmates held in police stations because of the lack of places in prisons.

Some £12-a-day is lavished on each convict in police cells, six times as much as the amount spent in jails.

Much of the £12-a-day is known to go on burgers, fried chicken and chips from fast-food chains.

Shadow policing minister, David Ruffley , is miffed to discover that security at this year's Labour Party conference will cost the taxpayer 63 per cent more than two years ago.

"Figures I have unearthed show that the cost of policing the Labour conference in Manchester has risen from pounds 3.98 million in 2006 to pounds 6.5 million this year,'' he tells me.

"Meanwhile, the Home Office has allocated only pounds 4.5 million to police the Conservative conference in Birmingham. Why is there such a huge disparity?''

David Ruffley MP has this week welcomed the formal consultation on a Special Area Policy for licensing in Bury St Edmunds town centre.

David supported the informal consultation following complaints from local residents over the proliferation of drunken behaviour in the town's historic centre.

David Ruffley MP has today written to Chief Inspector Mike Bacon, District Commander for St Edmundsbury, asking that he considers the case for the extension of the 20mph speed limit in Bury St Edmunds to cover the Sparhawk Street area.

Residents in the area have expressed concern for their safety after the fourth accident on the road in eighteen months.

David said:

David Ruffley MP has reacted angrily to the proposed closure of the Stowmarket Jobcentre Plus office following the gloomy economic forecast last week by the Governor of the Bank of England, Mervyn King. The Governor does not expect the UK economy to grow at all over the next year and he does not rule out a recession.

In addition, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said unemployment nationally increased by 60,000 to 1.67 million between April and June. The number of people claiming jobless benefits in July rose by 20,100 to 864,700.