By taking the right decision to introduce the Customer Journey, we have transformed the service the County Council provides to vulnerable adults. We want to improve this further by offering free home visits to people aged over 80, and to other vulnerable older people across the county. This scheme, Homeshield Plus, will seek to build on the services already provided by identifying any problems or queries that people may have, with regard not only to fire and home safety, but also for adult care issues.
Over the next four years, a Conservative led County Council will put Suffolk amongst the leaders in Adult Social Care provision, by introducing personalised care budgets. Depending on an individual's needs, and, where appropriate, customers will have the freedom to choose how their care package is provided.
Alongside the new, personalised budgets, a Conservative led County Council will introduce the Individual Payment Card, a new card scheme which will allow vulnerable people the freedom to access the care services they want, when they want them.
We have developed plans for a radical modernisation of our care homes. This project will allow the County Council to respond to the growth in numbers of people suffering from dementia and other special care needs, providing effective and dignified care within the most modern facilities.
Our application for a £29 million scheme for three homes has been approved in principle. We have also planned a much larger scheme that will be launched when the economy recovers.
The County Council has an active partnership with the Mental Health Trust to move all people with learning disabilities out of NHS accommodation and into their own homes in the community, allowing them more independence and dignity while ensuring the care and support is in place. We have set an ambitious target of moving all people with these disabilities out of hospitals by 2010, and will push ahead to make this a reality.
Our commitment to the welfare of children in need means that we will ensure the County Council has the capacity to help all those who need protection. Adoption can offer new hope to children and young people. In Suffolk last year, 63 children were adopted. We are committed to finding and maintaining safe and secure families for those needing adoption or permanent fostering, so as to enable them to achieve the best possible life.
We believe that fostering should provide children and young people from difficult backgrounds with a second chance. We are strongly committed to meeting individual needs and ensuring that their stay in foster care is as stable as possible and that it gives them as good a start in life as can be provided.
We will open new libraries in Woodbridge and Kessingland, as well as the lottery-funded community centre and library in Gainsborough, Ipswich, bringing reading, information and community activities in a modern setting to these areas.
In the next two years we will have replaced all six mobile libraries with state-of-the-art, satellite-equipped, on-line mobile libraries, helping internet-based information to reach the remotest towns and villages.
We will continue to work with the police and others to tackle anti-social behaviour and graffiti in our towns and villages
We recognise that affordable housing continues to be a top priority for many people in Suffolk. We will continue to work with the District and Borough Councils in Suffolk, alongside Housing Associations and developers, to help ensure affordable housing is available for those who need it. County Council-owned land has been made available for affordable housing. Working with the District and Borough Councils, and Housing Associations, affordable housing schemes have been built in Rickinghall and Cockfield. We are working on a number of other schemes elsewhere. In doing so we will continue to do all we can to help local people stay in their own communities.
As mentioned above, we have secured £27 million of funding to carry out the most extensive building programme our Fire and Rescue Service has seen for many years. We will now press on with the project, building new fire stations in Lowestoft, Hadleigh, Needham Market and Nayland, together with refurbishments across Suffolk's towns, from Felixstowe to Newmarket and Haverhill. We will also bring forward proposals for new training facilities.
We will lead a campaign for Suffolk Police to be given a fair deal. At present, they receive less funding from the government than any other force in the region. Effectively, Suffolk's police are being punished for doing a good job. If Suffolk Police were given even the average amount that forces in the region receive, it would mean that their share of council tax would increase by much less than at present. We will work with other Conservatives in Suffolk, including our MPs, to persuade the Government to support good policing and provide a fair deal for Suffolk's Police.
Suffolk Conservatives will resist any attempts by the Government to force Suffolk Police to merge (or amalgamate) with other police forces.
There have been reports of plans to close Magistrates Courts in Mildenhall and Sudbury. We are opposed to these potential closures and will fight to keep them open.
Conservatives believe passionately in looking after the most vulnerable in our towns and villages.
In 20 years. time, nearly half the Suffolk population will be over 50, while, by 2025, 23% of all people in the county aged over 85 may have dementia (Source: Office for National Statistics). There are also increasing numbers of children classed as being vulnerable.
As a result, our social care services are going to be under increasing pressure over the coming years - a challenge that is only likely to be exacerbated by the current recession.
We recognised four years ago that this would be one of our biggest challenges. In our first four years we set about transforming the way the county council provides social care, creating much more efficient, adaptive, and responsive services, tailored to people's needs, while ensuring that the resources are there to protect our front-line care services for vulnerable adults and children, and make the investment which will prepare us for the challenges that lie ahead.
Since 2005, we have also worked to help keep Suffolk safe and healthy within strong towns and villages.
Our partnerships with the police, the voluntary sector and others have enabled Safer Neighbourhood Teams to be set up - putting a police presence on the ground - as well as running a number of centres providing activities for young people, while transforming our Fire and Rescue Service.
We have set up a special rural economic fund to help businesses and communities in rural areas and have kept our commitment to maintain primary schools, wherever possible, at the heart of their communities.
Promoted by Peter Burgoyne on behalf of Suffolk Conservatives both at Middle Barn, Longlands Place, Wenham Road, Washbrook, Ipswich IP8 3EZ