Tag: Ed Davey

Merseyside Pension Fund accounts, Ed Davey letter about Post Offices, Free Mersey Tunnel Fast Tags (disabled)

Every so often I write a post that answers questions people have posed by searching for my blog in search engines. There have been a couple of searches today for the Merseyside Pension Fund Annual Accounts for 2010/2011. Merseyside Pension Fund is administered by Wirral Council. There are of course two versions of the accounts … Continue reading “Merseyside Pension Fund accounts, Ed Davey letter about Post Offices, Free Mersey Tunnel Fast Tags (disabled)”

Every so often I write a post that answers questions people have posed by searching for my blog in search engines.

There have been a couple of searches today for the Merseyside Pension Fund Annual Accounts for 2010/2011.

Merseyside Pension Fund is administered by Wirral Council. There are of course two versions of the accounts for 2010/2011, the unaudited and audited accounts. The audited accounts are below. Please click for a larger version. The rest of the information relating to the accounts can be found on Wirral Council’s website.

Merseyside Pension Fund Accounts 2010/2011

The second question is from visitors curious about Lib Dem Ed Davey MP (Minister for Employment Relations, Consumer and Postal Affairs)’s letter to local councils about Post Offices. I’ve requested a copy from Ed Davey and will write about this issue when I receive it.

Another is about the Fast Tags for the disabled (for going through the Mersey Tunnels). All the information about the free Fast Tag for the disabled can be found on Mersey Tunnel’s website and the Application Form can be downloaded here.

Disclaimer (in the interests of open journalism): My wife is in receipt of a Fast Tag (on disablity grounds) for Mersey Tunnels. My father is a member of the Merseyside Pension Fund.

Liberal Democrat Conference: 19th September 2011 Post Offices

I was listening to Ed Davey MP on Post Offices, some of the changes make sense. No one wants to see any more Post Offices close, but going from a “nationalised industry” to a “mutualised cooperative” is something I’m sure the unions won’t be happy with.

Taking nearby Hoylake Road Post Office as an example, there are three counters and usually two people working there. In addition there’s another person at a different counter that deals with anything you want to buy in the shop. Ed Davey said they’re trying out (through some pilot projects) everything being sold at the Post Office counter (which could cut costs making more Post Offices viable) whilst trialling self-service machines to cut down on queues.

Clearly queues is an issue that has been a greater problem since a several Post Offices in Birkenhead have been closed. Having used the Hoylake Road and Upton Road Post Offices in the last few months I think there’s only been one occasion when I didn’t have to queue.

I also remember the campaigns against Post Offices closures we ran a number of years ago. Paula Southwood campaigned in 2007 against the threatened post office closures in Spital and in Heswall. She put a lot of hard work into campaigning and getting petitions going.

In fact a year ago I tabled a question at the Liverpool conference in a session chaired by Lorely Burt MP about the future of the Post Office network. Hopefully any changes made will result in a better Post Office network and not the closures that happened under the previous Labour government.

I notice the next speaker after Ed Davey is also still taking up the Post Offices theme.