03/02/2013 Sunday Politics South West

In the South West: The pro-hunting MPs who are say the at SPCA has

become too political. $:/STARTFEED. Welcome to the Sunday Politics. In

the South West: The pro-hunting MPs who say the RSPCA has become too

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2399 seconds

$:/STARTFEED. Hello, I'm Lucie Fisher, coming up on the Sunday

Politics in the south-west: the cost of childcare and the warning

government plans to make it more affordable could be bad news for

the region's poorest families. And for the next 20 minutes, I'm joined

by the Lib Dem MP for North Cornwall, Dan Rogerson. And Nicky

Williams, a Labour councillor in Plymouth, welcome, both of you, to

the programme. We start with the cost of fuel. This week the Office

of Fair Trading assured motorists they were not being ripped off. Its

report acknowledged pump prices in the countryside are often two pence

per litre more but said the market was working well. Motoring

organisations are outraged. This is a wide watch. The Office of Fair

Trading said there is no problem with prices rising like a rocket

and falling like a beer. What we need is more transparency. Why not

publish the wholesale prices so that consumers can decide whether

they are being taken for a ride or not. What do you think of this?

has brought in at a discount in terms of fuel duty for areas like

the Isles of Scilly. I would like that extended to areas like

Cornwall in my constituency. Some say 60% of the pump price is the

fuel duty and VAT. I think also the reliance of the car is much

stronger in a rural area as. They also need to protect the rural

independent filling stations. what can you offer motorists? Can

Labour do anything? What we need to do immediately is do what we have

been talking about, ask the Chancellor to propose a cap on VAT.

Is that feasible in this economic climate? I think it is essential if

we want to boost the economy and make sure people have more money in

their pocket. We need to make this cut. A temporary cut in VAT would

take three pence off per litre in petrol. OK. The row about the

hunting ban returned to Westminster this week. Several South West MPs

accused the RSPCA of being too political. Last year the charity

attracted strong criticism from country sports enthusiasts after it

successfully prosecuted a hunt in David Cameron's constituency.

Johnny Rutherford reports. Boxing Day on Dartmoor. The busiest day of

the hunting calendar. A tradition that has been around for centuries

but these days it has a modern twist. Since the hunting ban was

introduced nearly eight years ago, the hounds now follow a scent

instead of an animal. We are carrying on a hunting but doing our

best to stay within the law. Most people there are no fault in this

are law abiding people. When you take your hounds out it is just

like taking your dogs out for a walk. There may be times when the

chase something they should not but that is not against the law if that

was not your intention to do so. Just before Christmas, a hunt in

Oxfordshire was taken to court by the Royal Society for the

Prevention of Cruelty to animals. The RSPCA spent over �300,000 on

the case against the Heythrop Hunt. It is the first time the charity

has brought a case against a traditional hunt and it happened to

be right in the heart of the Prime Minister's constituency. Some

south-west MPs say the charity has gone too far. We chewed agree with

me that this is just another very sad case? -- would you agree with

me? Into 2011 RSPCA inspectors submitted more than 2,000 cases to

their prosecution department, only eight resulted in charges under the

hunting act, none of which were in the south-west. The RSPCA has now

become England's most prolific prosecutor. If you compare it to

other charities which have not put forward private prosecutions since

1983. We are seeing a major charity acting in a way that is acting

differently from other comparable Tata days -- charities. The RSPCA

had every right to prosecute de Heythorp Hunt. Those seeking to

criticise the role of the ad SPCA and ultimately defend hunting as a

sport -- the an essay -- the an SPCA, it is completely unfair to

criticise them when going for a prosecution. The charities spend

one-third of �1 million of its funds bringing the Heythorp Hunt

case to court. The fines totalled just under �7,000. Some MPs said

that was grossly disproportionate, others defended the law enforcing

role of the RSPCA. If it were not be an S PC we would to be expecting

the police to put together this case and they do not have the

expertise or resources. charity's critics say it's close

working relationship with the police makes it even more important

that it does not get involved in cases that could be seen to be

politically motivated. Johnny Rutherford reporting. Earlier I

spoke to the chief executive of the RSPCA, Gavin Grant. I asked him if

his decision to bring a case against the Prime Minister's local

hunt was indeed a political one. all we prosecute on the grounds of

animal welfare. Those criticising the address PCA want to see a

return to bloodsports. You can see it looks political. This is then

David Cameron's constituency, he has been on the hunt in the past.

It is a staggering amount to spend on a prosecution which resulted in

only a �7,000 fine. Any individual who was involved, if anyone thought

there was something wrong with the case they could go to the Crown

Prosecution Service's. Occasionally some of the animal abusers we

prosecute car or referred. The Crown Prosecution Service have

never intervened in an address PCA case. The Crown Prosecution Service

can only prosecute the case is taken to them by the police. I

understand the police force are hard pressed, we all know that,

often when they have these sorts of crimes they do not give them the

importance they deserve. If that is the case Howard many horses, cats

and dogs could you have saved from cruelty with this money? The RSPCA

spent 96p of every pound contributed to it in animal welfare.

In many cases people plead guilty to gratuitous violence against

wildlife. We will continue to bring to justice those people who abuse

animals and break the law in that way. Listening to that is the

director of campaigns at the hunt alliance. What is wrong with what

the RSPCA are doing? What has changed is that the an SPCA has

developed a much more aggressive agenda. Against farming, racing

other activities involved with animals. It could be described as

an animal rights agenda rather than animal welfare. But they are

working within the law? There are two sides to this. They are making

objective judgments about which cases should be prosecuted and

which should not. It is very interesting. The debate on Tuesday

was not about hunting specifically. All the MPs were asking for was

proper accountability. They are saying that if it was not for them

prosecuting these cases it is unlikely anybody would because the

Prime Prosecution Service would find it too expensive. I think that

is a myth. This fund has been prosecuted by the CPS previously.

What is the problem with putting cases to the CPS for them to decide

whether a prosecution should take place? Are you comfortable with the

address PCA bringing these prosecutions? They are a charity.

They are using their money to take up the issues people are raising

with them so I think it is tricky ground for the Government to step

in and say to charities we think you have overstepped the mark. If

they are bringing unfair things the courts will see that and take a

view towards it but it does not seem to be the case so far. Have

you picked the wrong fight do you think? Most polls in the country

seemed to suggest that people are against fox-hunting generally.

laws are voted for people expect the police to prosecute Square

there it is fraud or rate cases. Quaye in this one area of the

criminal law do we have no accountability or scrutiny? This is

not just about hunting but a whole range of issues. It is an issue

that needs to be addressed. I hope it will be considered whether it is

a question worth asking. What do you think of that? I have had that

debate in these past. The whole point of the justice system we have

is twofold. The CPS is there to do things in the interest of public

safety. There are assertive judgments using public money.

they can focus on other things like murder cases? I do not think we can

criticise the charity at the moment for doing something that they think

is important. What is your position? The Association of police

forces says that if the address PC did not do this work no one else

would so when they see it as being in the public interest to prosecute

they should go ahead and prosecute. Has this high profile case had a

long-term impact on hunts, do you think? I think hunts will continue

to operate within the law, they are doing their best to do that. If any

organisation chooses to bring Massa prosecutions then it is going to be

very difficult for anyone to defend. -- massive prosecutions. Labour

councillors say the Government's new plan for childcare could have a

devastating impact on some of the poorest families in the south-west.

But Conservative councillors who run the children's services in one

of the most economically deprived parts of the region says increasing

numbers of children looked after by each adult is a good idea. Our

reporter has more. The best start in life. It's what parents want and

it's what the Government wants. But many families find childcare

expensive and some mums have to decide whether it makes financial

sense to return to work. Mums who return to work on a part-time basis

like I did, a lot of their salary will just go to childcare.

Government's hoping that proposals announced this week will help bring

down prices. One idea is to change staff to children ratios so

nurseries and childminders have more flexibility to take on more

children. What I am worried about now is that we are moving from the

model of high quality to lower quality and I think the outcome

will be much lower. Minister know that if you get the first five

years right in a child's development, it can make a crucial

difference to how well they do as adults. A report by a think-tank

called policy exchange shows that children in deprived areas aren't

getting the best childcare. The government's also announced this

week that it wants councils to focus more resources on

disadvantaged children. But Labour- run Plymouth city council says the

government's initiative risks creating more inequalities. Will

some nurseries choose to continue with the present ratios and some go

with the higher ratios? If that is the case the only ones who will get

the better ones are of the people who can afford it. In Plymouth's

poorest areas, only 5% of nurseries are rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted.

Compare that with conservative-run Torbay, where 33% get top marks.

And on paper, the Bay is more deprived that Plymouth. It is about

working very closely with our partners in the nurseries. We have

done a lot of work on their early intervention for troubled families.

Councillor Lewis also thinks the recently announced changes will

benefit children across the country. We have already put in a mechanism

to make sure that provision for our youngsters is always there and is

good. That is not the same throughout the country. The problem

we are looking at is that you cannot take one area like ours on

its own, we have to look across the board. There are other authorities

not doing so well and I think these measures are there to help them.

This September around 300 of Torbay's 2-year-olds will benefit

from free government-funded nursery places. The Bay's conservative run

council insists the government is moving in the right direction AND

improving childcare for everyone. This is an issue I know concerns

you. I will ask by asking Dan for his possession. Is it right having

a higher ratio of children to adults? It is not just nurseries

but childminders, too. I think you have to look at both sides. First

we need to increase the money going in. It is already money for two-

year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds but secondly we are

talking about child minder qualifications as well. If we want

more qualifications we will have to pay them more it. A lot of people

find it very hard to understand how it could possibly be better to have

less adults her child. A lot of these people are paid very low

wages so what you want to do is to bring better people in, to

encourage those who already work in the organisations to achieve higher

qualifications. I think they failed to realise that there is already a

provision so that there is ongoing training in these nurseries. Quite

often people working in those nurseries are qualified to degree

level. While I welcome that there would be a starting qualification,

that is not really going to solve the problem. The racial is going up

to one adult to six children. I was talking in my local Nasri and B

were seeing the other day, it could take them a whole hour just to do

intermit here. -- saying. -- intermit here. I am interested in

seeing the budgets and how they think they will get money through

to nurseries. We only have to look at sure starts where 400 have

closed across the country. We have to increase the number of places

that are out there. We also want to drive up wages in this sector. We

have some very skilled, very hearing people who are giving a

start in life to these young people but at the moment they are paid low

wages. Now our regular round-up of the political week in 60 seconds.

The plan to close Brixham coastguard was again questioned

after stormy seas took the lives of two men. By how can the Prime

Minister reassure local fishermen with increased amounts of catch --

tax on beer catches that the risks they take will not increase with

the closure of the coastguard? the PM was asked to save the

Portland search-and-rescue helicopter by sending his ministers

to Dorset. Two of the south-west's elected police commissioners said

they are going to put up their part of the council tax. Controversial

proposals for a new parliamentary seat crossing the Devon/Cornwall

border were thrown out by MPs. And a hairdresser from Liskeard was put

on a Cornwall council blacklist after his campaign against traffic

wardens. Traffic warden alert! Proposals for a new cross-border

constituency have been thrown out, this would have been your seat, are

you pleased? Many people were opposed so why am really pleased we

were able to throw this out. We won the day. A relieved man. And we saw

at the end a hairdresser being blacklisted for warning about

traffic wardens, what does that mean? We have to insure that

measures are put in place to keep our staff say. It is just being

sensible really how we look after our staff. That's the Sunday