17/06/2012 Sunday Politics East Midlands

Sunday Politics in the East Midlands... The head of the East

Midlands Ambulance Service response to claims that spending cuts are

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1615 seconds

danger ring leads. And how long Hello, I'm Marie Ashby. My guests

in the East Midlands this week are Chris Williamson, the Labour MP for

Derby North, who's Shadow Communities Minister - and the

chairman of Nottingham Liberal Democrats, Issan Ghazni. Coming

up... After an unborn baby dies following a long wait for an

ambulance, we ask if our regional service is being undermined by

spending cuts. Plus, one of our local dailies has become a weekly.

Are others facing the same fate? First, the Coalition is under even

greater strain after the Lib Dems abstained this week in a Commons

vote over the conduct of Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt. The Tories

survived the motion. But at what cost? Do you think that Nick Clegg

was right to tell his MPs to abstain? Absolutely. The decision

taken by David Cameron was not a Coalition decision. It was a

personal decision. And as such, we felt that whatever happened in the

Leveson Inquiry, if Jeremy Hunt goes into the inquiry and we have

had issues that remain outstanding, and that these issues should be

legitimate be taken up to an inquiry. But is that not a cowardly

way out? Actually, it shows that we are independent. You cannot have

your cake and eat it. Some people have said that we are in the pocket

of the Conservatives. That we do what they want us to do but

actually we have proved that on an issue of principle, we are

independent. But is the Coalition intact? Yes, because that is the

primary focus and priority. The Coalition is intact but on

principle we felt that there was no need to support this. You might not

like it but the Coalition held firm and the Government was not defeated

on that motion. But what is the point of the Liberal Democrats?

They have had a long track record of sitting on the fence and

appearing to be all things to all people. We have seen that in local

and national government. The Liberal Democrats are enabling this

right wing and ideologically driven government to push through some of

the most right-wing and terrible economic and social policies that

we have seen since probably before the second world war. That is not

right, Chris. Let's talk about the Murdoch issue. When it comes to

that, we will not take any lessons from Labour. We have not got any

moral obligation to take a leaf from their book on that issue

because, let's go back to the way in which the Labour Party behaved

towards Rupert Murdoch. It was disgraceful, the way in which you

were bowing down to Rupert Murdoch. You have certainly upset some

Conservative MPs. One had to miss a funeral and another had to come

back early from honeymoon. It is no wonder you will find it hard to get

the House of Lords reforms. these issues are not compatible. We

have got a conservative and it -- commitment made at Cabinet level

about an issue of national importance, which is about the

democracy of the House of Lords. But this issue is about whether or

not a minister should be referred to an inquiry... And you abstained?

These issues are not compatible. Really, I think this illustrates

that they are not fit to hold public office. We will have to

Next, we all need to know we can trust the ambulance service in an

emergency. But are spending cuts jeopardising the service we get in

the East Midlands? A Retford couple certainly think so. Sarah Gould and

her partner, Gary, have blamed delays in response times for the

death of their unborn child. Their MP, John Mann, claims spending cuts

and shift changes mean fewer ambulances are available. The chief

executive of the East Midlands Ambulance Service, Phil Milligan,

joins me now. We must get one thing straight, how long did it take for

an ambulance to reach Sarah Gould from the time the children centre

called 999? First, this is a tragic case. My heart goes out to Sarah

and her partner. She had been 13 weeks pregnant and was looking

forward to a bundle of joy and it was a desperate situation. -- 30.

But how long did it take? We took the call and we were told she could

not hear the heartbeat. We treated at with the utmost importance. In

two minutes we had a response vehicle with a highly trained

paramedic out on the street. It arrived 30 minutes later it. She

had with her very quickly... paramedic but not an abeyance until

when? And a midwife looking after her. When did the ambulance

arrived? We then sent an ambulance. That was on the way very quickly

and arrived after 34 minutes. minutes before she got access. Are

you not supposed to response to an emergency within eight minutes?

This was not an eight-minute emergency. Why not? Because when we

take a call we asked if the patient, if their heart has stopped. Then we

can send out a vehicle straight away. But this woman was 30 weeks

pregnant and bleeding. Was that not a top priority? Within two minutes

the vehicle was on the road with a paramedic and with the right

equipment to go up and help the midwife. But it still took 34

minutes. You said you did the best you could under the circumstances

but it is well short of what you are duty bound to do. Last year we

were told he responded to 72 % of emergency calls in eight minutes

compared to a national average of 35 %. Back in December I saw that

we could do better and I was not happy with performance. We have

made changes and we are achieving that national target and I want to

do better in the future. I want us to be confident that we have got a

sevens people can trust. -- service. Some people have said spending cuts

are hitting the ability to respond effectively. What evidence have you

got that this is happening? We have got a �3 billion top-down

reorganisation which the Government said that they would not implement.

We understand the East Midlands Ambulance Service will be closing

60 ambulance stations across the region. It appears that with

spending cuts which will effectively happen as a consequence

of this are necessary reorganisation, and the closure of

these stations are bound to have an impact on the service to the wider

public. That is why I think that he is absolutely right to have

spending cuts... Spending cuts? First, can I say that I offer my

condolences to the family. It is a very tragic case. It is something

which is not very nice to hear about. In terms of spending cuts, I

did not think it is a case of spending cuts. We have got other

issues that the Chief Executive will get to the bottom of. You are

talking about 3 billion in terms of the cost of the up eagles. It is

actually 1.2, the actual cost. -- are people. -- reorganisation. The

net savings... Day of 4.5 billion. If you were talking about wastage,

let's talk about... You have wasted �12 billion on a useless data

system which has not done anything. Let us turn back... The number of

hospitals that we have built... would like to bring Phil Milligan

back in. Gentlemen, please! Let's bring him back in and talk about

the closure of the stations because you had been discussing these bans

as a way of saving money is. Unions have said that ambulances will be

further away. This is not about saving money. I have got to use the

money I have got to support the best service I can. The reduction

is not about saving money. We will continue to operate from 100 bases

around the East Midlands. More than 100 yesterday and they will be more

than 100 tomorrow. But how can we be certain that with these changes

people like Sarah Gould will get the service when she needs it? They

will be further away. We are investing in the front line. Not

cuts which have been mentioned. 44 more front Line staff, last year,

more than �9 million spent on services and �8 million on

ambulances. I am protecting the but line and making sure we are

responding to patients. We must move on, gentlemen. Next, they're

part of our daily lives, but for how much longer? Jane Dodge

investigates what the future holds for our regional daily papers.

now the presses roar into action. The rush and bustle of producing

millions of newspapers is on again. Those were the days. Everyone it

seemed had their nose in a newspaper. Can't we get those

papers out quicker? Sales now are tiny in comparison. Many

advertisers have gone elsewhere and thousands of jobs have been lost.

This reporter and her photographer are a sign of the times. They work

for an online newspaper - The Lincolnite. It competes with the

Lincolnshire Echo - which after more than a century as a daily

newspaper - has become a weekly. The changes have come at a cost

according to the leader of the city council. We had more specialism and

in-depth knowledge. We had a more political knowledge. I am not

saying that is entirely lacking now. But it is less evident and we have

got to work harder to make sure people understand the content and

what we are up to. This used to be the offices of the Lincolnshire

Echo. Probably three years ago. Jon Grubb is all too aware times are a

changing. He used to be the editor of the Lincolnshire Echo but left

when its owners - Northcliffe Media - part of the Daily Mail Group -

decided to make it a weekly. If you consider that Tesco's has a profit

ratio of 8%, many businesses will be quite happy in the East Midlands

to have a ratio of 5%. Daily newspapers are doing pretty well in

comparison but it is not enough for the shareholders and what we are

used it. They are nearer 20 %. at The Lincolnite they're

discussing this morning's story. The online newspaper has a

permanent staff of just three, but a monthly online readership of

50,000. We have done the same job as any other journalist, whether it

is going to council meetings and reporting accidents or daring to be

County Council, it is the same job but a different medium. In the days

when newsrooms were dominated by men with moustaches, papers like

the Leicester Mercury were selling 200,00 a day. It now sells around a

quarter of that. The Derby Telegraph has seen its circulation

plummet to just under 31,000. But sales of the Nottingham Post have

fallen by 17% in the last year making it the worst performing

regional newspaper in the country. Later this month The Post is due to

move to smaller offices. It's also got a new editor who's already

overseen the switch from a daily to a weekly on his last paper - the

Scunthorpe Telegraph. So is the Nottingham Post also set to become

a weekly paper or even disappear altogether? Not according to its

new editor Mel Cook. He says the paper constantly leads with stories

other media follow, is number one in the community for news and

information, and will remain that way. It will stay as a daily and

has already made an operating profit of �965,000 this year, up

bomb last year. But according to the National Union of journalists,

the owner has not committed to the long-term survival of the regional

newspapers. I think we have to have a different look at the ownership

structure of the media. There is nothing this government has done so

far that suggests that they are doing that. We approached the

editors of the three local day the papers but they all declined

interviews. In a debate in Westminster, a local MP called for

government subsidies to keep provincial newspapers a plate.

they are supported at a rate payer expense and local television

stations are individually supported by the BBC to buy their content,

why should open newspapers not at his advantage when they offer an

irreplaceable function? Any such action must be swift. More than a

dozen jobs have gone at Leicester Mercury and Nottingham Post this

year. This week, 10 start at the Derby Telegraph have been told

their jobs are now at risk. -- What do you think? It is a

phenomenon across the country. The advent of the internet and social

media, I think the economic downturn we have experienced is

also contributing because we have got less businesses expending money

on advertising in the local newspapers. What impact have the

cuts had already on editorial staff? We have had a big reduction

already at the Derby Telegraph and that has a knock-on implications

for the reporting of democracy. When I was in local council, 20

years ago, the coverage of the local democracy was a significant

feature of what they did. Our local newspapers facing an overwhelming

pressure from new media, or are they being defeatist? I think Chris

is right and it is not just British, but a worldwide phenomenon. We have

spoken about the demise of the printing press in some countries

and actually the demise in the UK has been the quickest out of all

the countries. And it is all connected with the media and the

recession. But most importantly, it has got to be, and I think we have

got some scope to look at subsidies for the media. His Louise Mensch

right? I think we have got room for exploration. I am not saying that

she is right. But we must link some of that with the way newspapers

behave. For example, continuing with the democratic function of

news delivery in the community and cohesion and social values. These

could be linked to subsidy. Would you support subsidy? I am not sure

it is the right way to go. Particularly at a time when we have

got massive reductions in public services. If we are going to

prioritise public spending, and putting money in local private

organisations effectively, I do not think that is the right way to use

that money. It would be better to create jobs. I think support needs

to be given were of a possible to newspapers and the industry. Is it

a problem, is it acceptable for Northcliffe Papers to owned so many

newspapers in the area? Should we be looking at that? We should look

at how news is made available online because a lot of people do

not buy newspapers because they can read that online for free. That is

their choice. We can give people an introduction and if people want the

rest of the story, they can pay a subsidy. I think we need a more

pluralistic offering. That would ensure that we continue to have

print press. But we also support the internet and the way in which

News has been circulated a mine. Do not forget -- online. We must make

sure that we continue with print press. Time for the round-up of the

The leader of Leicestershire County Council David Parsons will face the

standards watchdog on Tuesday. That will rule on allegations that he

broke the code of conduct after expenses for trips to Europe. The

Audit Commission is investigating claims that the previous Labour

majority in Corby acted unlawfully when it sold a quayside at Tesco

for �80,000. The BBC has seen an e- mail stating the land was worth up

to �8,000,000.10 year later. Leicester MPs Liz Kendall and John

Ashworth had seen of representatives of British Gas

after the axing of 300 jobs in the city. They are pressing for

redundancies to be kept to a minimum. In the Commons tomorrow,