The Power of Giving.....a little means a lot!

Who has ever been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness? Who can remember that one day when you were having a really crappy time, and the simple kindness or thoughtfulness of someone brought a smile to your face?

It's got me thinking....we (myself included), are quick enough to turn around and point the finger at the Government, companies, friends and families when things go wrong, but how quick are we to point the spotlight on ourselves and ask what more could 'I' do?

Bear with me whilst I become what some would call an out of touch, idealist. But indulge me for one minute if you would. What effect could we have on others, and ourselves, if we all just took ourselves out of our own little bubble for a mere one hour a week, or even less, to do something to help others?

I'm not talking about massive, specialist tasks that are hugely time consuming. But we live in a world where people are living longer, families are more spread apart than they used to be and you don't always live near each other. There are greater demands on social and other services, whilst budgets are being continually cut. Modern society means that people are less available, and often lead hectic lives themselves. Developing technology has led to post offices, and other community hubs being used less, and closed down. We are becoming quite insular and if I'm honest, quite self interested.

We have all been disgusted, and some of us, or our families and friends, affected by these changes. I am one of the first to moan and be outraged at the changes, particularly cuts which are leaving people without much needed money, in isolation, and desperate. I am very quick to express my outrage, and speak out that it's a disgrace.

But, I do often question what effect we as individuals could have to make the world a better place. That's where my little acts of kindness starts to take shape. How much effort would it really be to say 'I am going to give up one measly hour of my week to do something for someone else?'

Could you befriend an elderly neighbour, or a young Mum who is feeling isolated? Just a cup of tea and a chat can make a world of difference. Could you make time to call up a friend or family to say hello, and a gossip (don't underestimate the positive power that call has, and I speak from experience), or give up some time to cut a neighbours hedge?  How about knitting an outfit for a premature baby in hospital, or making a fiddle kit to help relax a person battling anxiety and unrest with Alzheimers. I don't know, in fact the possibilities are endless.

Even more idealistic, think of the money spent by local authority on street cleaning. Just imagine if we all took responsibility for cleaning the pavement and gutters outside our own property.freeing up that money for councils to channel into other services. 

Ahh Jill, stop being stupid, it would never work. I don't have time, why should I have to give up time to help others, I am too busy already, that's what I pay my taxes for.....blah blah blah blah blah. Yep, that is true. But how about we took one hour away from Facebook, or Twitter, or whatever, and did something more productive?

I tell you what. It also makes you feel better for it. I give just three hours of my week up to offer telephone support for a bereavement charity. It is no hardship to do that, I would only be wasting that time anyway! But knowing that I have been there to listen to someone having a hard time is really rewarding.

We never know when hard times are going to hit us, and wouldn't it be nice if we had an infrastructure in place where communities exist that care enough to be there for each other?

Who had the slogan 'each one, reach one?'. Why not just start by smiling at a stranger, or holding a door open. 

Have a great day!!

One month on.......has anyone responded to my enquiry about tackling homelessness?

Just over a month ago I emailed the Leader of each political party, and the London Mayor, to ask what was being done to tackle homelessness in the country. My emails disappeared off into cyber space, and as I blogged a couple of days later, I have no idea what happened to them after that.

So, a month on, what has happened?

I have had just three responses, one of which is more of a holding response whilst it is passed to the correct person (but at least it is an acknowledgement of receipt). The London Mayor's Office came first with a reply on the 10th Feb, well within the 20 working day response time I had been quoted. This was followed by a response from the Government on 25 February, and lastly an email today from Suzanne Evans of UKIP, who has passed this on to her successor for response.

I am delighted that the Mayor's office and the Government have actually taken the time to read and respond to my concerns. Interestingly, these were the only two email addresses who offered auto responses confirming receipt of my original email.

I am deeply disappointed that I have heard nothing from the other parties, even if was a mere acknowledgement, or a thanks, we are aware of this issue and doing our best to ensure it is tackled. Politicians have problems with credibility, and accountability, and they really aren't helping themselves at all.

I directly emailed the following MP's to the email address listed on the Parliament, or party website:

Jeremy Corbyn - Labour Party
Tim Farron - Liberal Democrats
Natalie Bennett - Green Party
Alex Salmond - SNP

None of the above are insignificant in politics, and I think it is terrible that they are not made more accountable for acknowledging emails sent to them. I appreciate they are probably very busy, and my correspondence isn't top of their agenda, but even still! If I was to ignore email correspondence sent to me in a job I know what would happen - I would be disciplined and eventually fired!


Anyway, if anyone is interested in what is being done about homelessness, here are the replies I have had.

Reply from the London Mayors Office

Dear Ms Stratton 

Thank you for your email of 3 February to the Mayor of London to which I have been asked to respond. 
The Mayor is concerned about rough sleeping on the streets of London and committed to ending rough sleeping. Last year, he slept out as part of a campaign to support homeless veterans led by The Independent and The Evening Standard. 

There are a range of complex, individual circumstances that may lead an individual to sleep rough, not just housing but often health issues, including mental health. The Mayor is working with local authorities, the government and voluntary sector organisations to try and prevent individuals from ending up on the street and to help those who do to leave the streets. This work includes investing in the region of £9m a year in London-wide services for rough sleepers, including his flagship service No Second Night Out. He also funds the development and improvement of hostels where those who have ended up on the streets can receive the support they need to get their lives back on track. He recently awarded a total of £18.5 million to fourteen different accommodation schemes.
 
If you are concerned about a specific person or people rough sleeping in Brixton, you can alert local services by using the Street Link websitehttp://www.streetlink.org.uk/ or by calling 0300 500 0914. 
More information about the numbers and profile of those sleeping rough in London is regularly published here: http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/chain-reports. 
 
Yours sincerely, 

Ruth Phillips 
Public Liaison Officer 
City Hall 


The reply from a government representative:

Dear Ms Stratton,
 

Thank you for your email of 3 February to the Prime Minister about homeless people. Your email has been passed to me in the Department for Communities and Local Government to respond as I work in the team responsible for housing and homelessness policy. I am sorry for the delay in replying.

This Government remains committed to protecting the most vulnerable in society. That is why since 2010 we’ve invested more than £500 million to prevent and tackle homelessness in England. But even one person without a home is one too many, which is why we’ve committed in the Spending Review to increase central investment over the next four years to £139m for innovative programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness and rough sleeping. I am pleased to let you know that we have secured the future of homelessness prevention funding for local authorities, through the provisional local government finance settlement totalling £315m by 2019/20.

More widely, the Government’s strategy for tackling rough sleeping and single homelessness has three main strands – prevention, intervention and recovery.

We want local authorities to work better together and to work with partners like health, JobCentre Plus and probation services so people can be prevented from becoming homeless in the first place. The £8 million Help for Single Homeless funding, is helping 22,000 individuals across 34 projects in 168 local authority areas. Successful schemes include projects to help to expand services to prevent rough sleeping, help homeless young people with mental health issues and get hostel residents into work.

When individuals end up on the streets, the key is to intervene and get them off as quickly as possible so that they do not become entrenched. In London, the Government has invested £5 million investment in the world’s first homelessness Social Impact Bond to help turn the lives around of 830 of the most entrenched rough sleepers. We have also supported the roll out of the No Second Night Out approach, through the £20 million Homelessness Transition Fund. In 20 key areas outside London, over two-thirds of rough sleepers only spent one night on the street.

The Government is also helping single homeless people find accommodation in the private rented sector. The Access to Private Rented programme, which we have funded Crisis to run, has already been a real success. By 2016 we expect the programme to have helped 10,000 single homeless people, including former rough sleepers, access and sustain accommodation in the private rented sector. We have also provided £42.5 million capital funding under the Homelessness Change Programme to provide 1,500 new and refurbished bed spaces in hostels, which can be accessed by rough sleepers, including ex-service personnel.

We have supported an initiative called StreetLink which means that anyone you see sleeping rough can be referred to an outreach worker who will go out and make contact with the person and link them to services which are available in the local area. Since it started in December 2012, StreetLink has made 38,817 rough sleeping referrals to councils to investigate, leading to 16,895 rough sleepers being found and connected with local services of which 2,973 resulted in a specific housing outcome. You can contact Streetlink on Tel: 0300 500 0914 or via the website http://www.streetlink.org.uk

The homelessness charity, Crisis, is funded by Government to help support single homeless people - including offenders - access private rented sector accommodation (PRS).  Details of PRS access schemes operating in your area can be obtained by using the following website and selecting the relevant Borough: http://www.crisis.org.uk/find-pr-scheme.php.

Thank you again for writing about these important issues. I hope you are reassured that the Government remains committed to preventing and tackling homelessness.

Yours sincerely,

Natasha Nwoko

Homelessness & Support Team  

How do I know if I will ever hear back from an MP or public service?

If you read my previous post this week, where I spoke about the homelessness issue in the UK, then you may remember that I emailed the leaders of each of the political parties about it.

Of course I haven't had any responses yet, and to be honest I wouldn't expect any so soon. However, the one thing that really struck me, was how each of my emails went off in to cyber space, and I have no idea when, or if I can ever expect to hear back from any of them.

Upon submitting my email to David Cameron's office, I did get an automatic message which was simple and merely said thank you, my email had been submitted.

However, I was impressed  that within minutes of emailing City Hall, I received a very detailed auto-generated email clearly stating that my email would be reviewed, passed on to the relevant department, and responded to within 20 days.

This problem is not isolated to the party leaders. One of the biggest criticisms which I have heard repeatedly is the lack of response from public services. How often have you heard someone moan that they emailed, phoned, or have written in, and have heard nothing back, or that they have sat on hold for hours queueing to speak to someone?  Yes, some areas are brilliant and have published service standards, have auto-responses to emails, answer their phones, and respond to voicemail's. But this is not by any means the norm. Which, given that the services are run by tax payers money, and are often services for vulnerable people, or a matter of urgency, is a shame, and in my opinion unacceptable.

Is it really too much to ask, that when I email an MP, or other public service department, I at least receive an auto response to confirm that my email has reached it's destination, and letting me know when I can expect to hear back?

Our MP's and the public sector in general, don't have the best reputation, and I don't think members of the public by and large really have a positive image of the people or of the services delivered by them.

Whilst not directly comparable, would we accept this service from a private sector company? Or would we take our business elsewhere?

Yes, I know. It's not the same, and we don't have the option of who delivers our public sector services. However, I don't think there is any excuse not to get the basics right. Why can't it be a standard requirement that all MP's, and actually. all public service generic email addresses, must have an auto-generated email so that when someone contacts them there is a clear message outlining what will happen to their correspondence and when they can expect to hear back? That is not rocket science - it's basic courtesy!

Having worked in Local Government for over a decade I really believe that alot has changed, and for the better. But I also know from being on the other side of things, as a user, there is a long way to go..

I think it would be safe to say that the public sector is probably going to see increasing levels of discontent as the effects of the savage cuts really start to kick in Many of us are what I would call light touch users. We don't really ask alot of the councils, other than what I would classify as communal services, such as refuse collection, recycling, street cleaning, and street lighting. Up until recently these services haven't been affected by cuts, so I imagine there are still large numbers of the public who are unaware of just how much services have been massacred.

So, isn't it about time we started demanding that the basics, that cost nothing, but can make a big positive difference to perception and trust are changed? I certainly believe that MP'S, and Leaders of political parties who are in place to serve their constituents should be leading the way.

Helping rough sleepers and the homeless in the UK

Over the last couple of days, infact since last year, there has been much talk about immigration in the UK. The Syrian refugee crisis, and the awful photos and videos beamed into our homes last year were very distressing to many to witness.

I think it is only right that the UK take in and help some of the refugees. It is the only humane thing to do. This has however been a controversial topic which sparked phone in after phone in on talk radio stations, took up lots of airtime and press coverage, and the debate still goes on.

The mood of the nation felt like it shifted a bit after the horrific Paris attacks, and the outpouring of sympathy and goodwill fell off a bit.

I tend to like debates and discussions, and one of the things friends and family have mentioned when taking about the refugee crisis, is how quick as a nation we are to jump to their aid, whilst not seeming to really tackle helping the rough sleepers and homeless in this country.

I am so fortunate to live in a secure, warm, friendly home. But for so many this couldn't be further from the case. Why do people end up homeless and sleeping rough? I get so angry with people who say they choose this way of life. How many people would really choose to live with no fixed abode? None of the things that most of us take for granted - running water, heat, shelter, being able to heat up food etc. This must be even worse in the winter months. Yes, there may be a small proportion of them who have chosen this lifestyle (though I can't imagine what the appeal is!). But most of these people have no alternative. They are ex-service men and women, vulnerable people, often with mental health issues. They may be victims of abuse or have had to leave home to due to a family breakup, or financial problems. The list goes on....... They may also have drink and / or drug problems that further complicate their ability to build a stable life, or access support.

I read a lovely post on Facebook today from a friend who has started to carry round a spare pair of socks in their pocket. Why you may ask? Well, apparently one of the most sought after items for a rough sleeper is a warm, clean, dry pair of socks. My friend gave a pair to someone today who was very grateful. What a wonderful and simple idea.

But these people are invisible in our society. We pass them by on a daily basis. Mostly not even noticing they are there, or tutting that they are in the way or whatever. They are looked down on by lots of people as being inferior, dirty, mad people, a scourge, and many other negatives. Very few people really seem to think about what life is like for them.Our lives are so busy we walk past without a second thought and go on with our daily activities.

Some wonderful people do try to help. They might buy them a drink, or give them a meal etc. And yes, I am sure we have all heard stories of someone being ungrateful or rude. I once heard that someone bought a sandwich, trying to do a good deed, only to be told that they can't take it as they are a vegetarian. I did chuckle at that one.

So whilst we as individuals can do our bit to help out on an adhoc basis, what is being done to really help tackle and solve the problem in the UK? I never see front page headlines, with multiple pages in papers dedicated to their plight. The radio phone in's don't really talk about them, except occasionally as part of the refugee debates. I can't remember budget pledges to invest money in tackling the crisis.

I did have a quick look on the internet, but most of what I found was outdated, or not really clear. So in a bored five minutes today I have emailed David Cameron to ask what the Government is doing about the issue. I have also emailed Jeremy Corbyn, Tim Farron, Alex Salmond, Nigel Farage, Natalie Bennett and also Boris Johnson, in his role as London Mayor, to ask what they are doing as parties to challenge the government, and draw attention to the issue.

This is what I sent to David Cameron:

Dear Mr Cameron

Whilst I applaud the UK's agreement to rightly accept refugees, it has opened some discussion with friends and family. People have pointed out that we still have a large number of people in the UK who sleep on the streets, which is awful at any time, but particularly in the winter. 

I have tried to search for what the government is doing to tackle this issue, but all documents I come across seem quite dated. 

I wonder if it would be possible to outline what steps are being taken, and point me in the direction of an idiots overview. 

It does seem awful that ex-servicemen and women, vulnerable people, and others are left without adequate shelter and support. They seem to be invisible in society, and never focused on in budgets or other high profile spending.

Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

I wonder if I will get any responses and any enlightenment?

Hmm lets see.....

Jill, over and out.......

Welcome

Hi

My name is Jill, and as the title of the blog implies, I am a bored fortysomething! Due to illness I am pretty much housebound and so spend many many hours in my own company, hidden away from the 'real' world. The trouble is I love to talk! As anyone who knows me will testify, I rarely shut up, which is fine (for me) when I'm around others, but becomes somewhat tedious when the only voice responding is my own!

I was lying in bed this morning when I realised that I needed somewhere to let out my thoughts, feelings and all the random stuff that floats around in this head of mine. So here I am!

I hope you enjoy reading my musings, and feel free to join in. I love to hear from others!

Jill