The benefits of free school meals for Primary School pupils are many. Common sense and research shows, well fed children make greater progress in the classroom. Results go up, absence goes down. The benefits will outweigh costs, as they do in Finland, Estonia and Cuba for example. A 2022 analysis of UK costs and benefits by Pricewaterhouse Coopers is clear. (Commissioned by Impact on Urban Health.) Benefits include: - an increased cost saving to schools, increased lifetime earnings by children when they reach adulthood, which means a greater tax contribution. - increased savings on food costs to families and NHS savings, as obesity and ill health decrease. PwC estimated, the overall wider benefit for society by expanding free school meals between 2025 and 2045 would be a staggering £99.5bn. In his automated email response, Isle of Wight MP, Bob Seely writes, he is: “pushing hard every day to [ensure] .... no one is left behind.” Between autumn 2018/19 and autumn 2022/23, the number of Isle of Wight children eligible for income-related free school meals increased from 2,452 to 4,008. We need to push harder. Free schools meals for all will help ensure far fewer young children on the Isle of Wight are left behind. This is why we urge you to sign this petition before the Week of Action 24-30 June. It is our chance to mobilise the Isle of Wight and dial up pressure on the Government and our MP to pass the Free School Meals for All Bill. You may also wish to sign the national petition at https://actionnetwork.org/forms/join-the-week-of-action/?source=emailshare&. On behalf of all primary children present and future, we thank you very much for reading and signing.

Arts and culture jobs in Northern Ireland are at risk. The Department for Communities has formally advised Arts Council Northern Ireland that it faces a funding reduction, translating to a 10% cut to all funded arts organisations in North Ireland. This means that planned performances and community projects are already at risk. This decision would be made without democratic scrutiny, whilst Stormont isn't sitting. The evidence is clear that investing in the arts boosts the economy, supports mental health, physical health, social wellbeing, and community cohesion. And in a cost of living crisis, this is a deep cut. We need more investment not less. Sign this petition to call on the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Communities to reverse this proposal.

The UK should not be reliant upon authorities in Liberia, Panama or Antigua if an incident or death occurs whilst working in or transiting from the UK offshore energy sector. Offshore energy workers and seafarers should be afforded the same level of protection as land based workers in the UK and the regulatory gaps should be closed.

Our members in Welsh Ambulance overwhelmingly voted to reject the latest pay offer by 92% and deserve a pay offer to match their skills, care, experience, knowledge and responsibility. Our members have had a decade of real terms pay cuts and deserve a proper pay offer

Everyone has the right to a safe environment at their place of work. Drivers who are lone, mobile workers, whose environment changes regularly and sometimes rapidly, should have the confidence to adapt and have the support of their employer in making those decisions

During the pandemic paramedics, nurses and hospital workers worked to save thousands of lives. People clapped hands and bashed pans weekly to celebrate their contribution. It’s time to make sure they can pay the bills over the winter by giving a decent pay rise.

OCS staff at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust do the same job as their NHS colleagues but their terms and conditions are substantially worse. They don't get enhancements or overtime rates. Sign this letter now to send a message to the trust board that they deserve full parity with NHS staff.

Unite the Union in Scotland undertook the biggest exercise in getting workers views from the sector on how a potential National Care Service in Scotland should work from them. From that survey, it was clear that the issues that were being experienced by a majority of workers couldn't wait until the creation of a National Care Service and had to be challenged immediately.

The practice of ghost clinics or double-booking patient clinics for commercial gain risks both patients and clinicians in their prospective roles. Patients can be put at risk from a rushed eye examination that may miss vital signs of an eye condition or overall eye health. Practitioners are put in a compromising position between carrying out their employer's request and/or breaching GOC standards which could lead to them losing their registration and be unable to practice. The application of ghost clinics is often aimed at those with less employment rights like new starters, newly qualified or locums (self-employed), who feel pressurised to accept the practice. Many practitioners are left feeling stressed, missing their rest breaks and working additional hours just to cover the double appointments booked whilst feeling they are letting patients down. This also affects everyone who rely on companies within the optical sector to look after their eye health, so help support those in the sector trying to eradicate this practice and also for the benefit of your own wider health by signing this petition.

Local people have not been able to access aquatic physiotherapy services to manage long-term conditions and access rehabilitation following surgery or injury for the last two and a half years. Musculoskeletal out-patients have only recently been moved to the Lewisham and Greenwich pool which is operating at maximum capacity and is approximately one hour away from Orpington via public transport. No aquatic physiotherapy provision has been made for neuro in-patients or patients from external groups who hired the pool before it closed. Aquatic physiotherapy allows people to develop skills to self-manage conditions, maintain a good quality of life and reduce dependence on long-term medication. When a patient is able to effectively self-manage by having access to aquatic physiotherapy this reduces their attendance at GP and secondary care services, which is beneficial to both the patient and the local healthcare system. This short video will help you understand the value of aquatic physiotherapy. https://youtu.be/Y8hYIqGEkLQ Aquatic physiotherapy is beneficial for people with a range of long-term conditions including: · Parkinson’s · Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) · Rheumatoid arthritis · Hypermobility · Multiple sclerosis · Fibromyalgia · Cerebral palsy It is also used to optimise rehabilitation of people who have had joint replacements, strokes, brain injury, deconditioning due to periods in ITU/illness and many common musculoskeletal conditions. Furthermore, it can be used to enrich people’s quality of life, health and wellbeing in life limiting or palliative conditions. Mr Lofthouse, patients who rely on aquatic physiotherapy, whose symptoms and conditions are worsening all the time that the hydrotherapy pool is closed, need the pool to reopen. Please begin a meaningful consultation with your staff and service users in the community to reopen the hydrotherapy pool and explore the business model of other aquatic physiotherapy services across the country who operate a successfully by hiring their pools to other users.

Most people using the service are terminally ill. They deserve a specialist, knowledgeable team to manage their claims. The closure risks long delays and a lack of specialist knowledge to support claims. • 40+ jobs are at risk leaving staff in fear of redundancy with little chance of redeployment in the local area. • Over 1000 combined years of experience helping the growing number of victims of asbestos-related lung diseases and other industrial disease will be lost. • Excellent working relationships with asbestos support groups, unions and charities will end. • Sufferers of terminal illnesses and their families will have to wait longer to receive payment and peace of mind at the most difficult of times. Industrial disease continues to have a devastating effect on workers and families across the country. Britain has the highest rates of asbestos cancer in the world, and Barrow has the highest rates in Britain. The thousands of people suffering work-related illnesses every year deserve a dedicated service. Save Phoenix House! This campaign is just one concerning 50 DWP sites facing closure, for more information see www.pcs.org.uk/campaigns/campaign-dwp-jobs-services-communities

NHS workers (e.g. Porters, Cleaners, Catering, Security) who are employed by ISS, a private company that is contracted by Calderdale & Huddersfield Foundation Trust to run non-clinical services, want an end to their minimum wage rates, terms and conditions. As NHS workers they are demanding alignment with the NHS “Agenda for Change” contract that would see their pay, terms and conditions significantly improved. Every day since March 2020, our members have put themselves at risk; at risk of getting infected and at risk of infecting their family. We clapped for them, we labelled them heroes and yet these local NHS heroes face the indignity of being treated less than; to be employed as NHS workers, but not paid as NHS workers. The Trust outsourced their responsibility to ISS and in return ISS have raced to the bottom to set these workers on minimum pay. We are simply demanding that this be corrected, that the Trust recognise its responsibility to these NHS heroes and take action to end poverty pay at Calderdale Royal Hospital.