City of Wolverhampton Council has become the first council in England to achieve the British Deaf Association’s (BDA) pledge 2 status.

It is one of five pledges set out by the BDA’s charter for British Sign Language - and the council is currently working on completing two more. Pledge 2 promotes learning and high quality teaching of British Sign Language (BSL). The BDA presented the award in the Mayor of Wolverhampton’s parlour this week.

The BDA’s Charter for British Sign Language encourages councils to meet several pledges, and in doing so help eliminate unlawful discrimination, support equal opportunities, and build good relations with the deaf community. 

It confirms the council's commitment to three of the five key pledges, which are ensuring access to information and services for deaf people, promoting learning and high quality teaching of BSL, consulting with the deaf community on a regular basis, supporting deaf children and families, and ensuring staff working with deaf people can communicate effectively in BS.

Paul Redforn, Business Development Manager for the BDA, presented Councillor Ian Claymore, Member Champion for Equalities, with the award.

Paul said: "The BDA is delighted to present this certificate of achievement to City of Wolverhampton Council. The council is the first in England to be awarded this certificate and I would like to congratulate the council for their work on including deaf people in its services and improving their responses to deaf people's feedback.”

Councillor Claymore added: “I am delighted City of Wolverhampton Council has achieved BDA, BSL pledge 2. 

“The council is committed to doing all it can to support everyone who lives, works or visits the City of Wolverhampton and the completion of the first pledge puts us on the right track.

“One in seven people in the UK have some form of hearing loss, and by signing this charter, and completing the first pledge, we have underlined our determination to further improve the service we offer to members of the deaf community in Wolverhampton.”

The UK’s slowing economy underlines the concern Greater Birmingham businesses have over exchange rates and their impact on costs, business leaders said today.

This followed the announcement by the Office for National Statistics that the UK gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to have increased by 0.3 per cent between January and March, the slowest rate of growth since Quarter 1 2016.

Slower growth was said to be mainly due to services, which grew by 0.3 per cent compared with growth of 0.8 per cent between October and December.

In Quarter 1 2017 there were falls in several important consumer-focused industries, such as retail sales and accommodation; this was due in part to prices increasing more than spending.

Production, construction and agriculture grew by 0.3%, 0.2% and 0.3% respectively in Quarter 1 2017 GDP per head was estimated to have increased by 0.1% during Quarter 1 2017.

Paul Faulkner, chief executive of Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce (GBCC), said: “As expected, the UK posted a slower rate of growth for the start of 2017. Nevertheless, we should be mindful of the fact that growth levels in the UK have held up pretty well since the referendum result and this is a real testament to the strong foundations which underpin the British economy.

“It is not surprising to see retailers putting up prices due to higher input costs as a result of the falling value of the pound. However, it is heartening to see the manufacturing sector grow by 0.5 per cent last quarter, although this is unlikely to change the overall direction of growth as the service sector accounts for the majority of the UK’s economic output.

“Both of these overarching trends have been reflected in the findings of our latest Quarterly Business Report; local businesses are increasingly concerned about higher costs and manufacturers in the region have posted stronger growth rates than their service sector counterparts.

“The British Chambers of Commerce are releasing their manifesto on May 2 and we are backing their agenda,  including that with a General Election on the horizon, it is more important than ever that the Government provides a clear plan on how it intends to tackle regional economic imbalances and bring prosperity to the country as a whole.”

National law firm Clarke Willmott has sponsored one of the UK Housing Awards at a glittering ceremony in central London.

Considered the ‘Oscars’ of housing, the awards, organised by the Chartered Institute of Housing and Inside Housing, recognise the ingenuity, creativity, passion and hard work of housing organisations across the UK.

The sold-out ceremony, celebrating its 20th year in 2017, took place at the Lancaster London Hotel and was attended by over 700 of the sector’s key leaders. The awards were hosted by comedian, author and broadcaster Dominic Holland.

One of the largest providers of social housing legal advice in the country, Clarke Willmott sponsored the ‘outstanding approach to tackling ASB behaviour’ category. The award was presented by the firm’s Head of Housing Management, Lindsay Felstead, to Newham Council, with Stockport Home also highly commended.

Lindsay said: “We are delighted to have sponsored a UK Housing Award. The ‘outstanding approach to tackling ASB behaviour’ recognises landlords that have developed an outstanding and sustainable approach to improving the safety and wellbeing of their communities. This is such an important part of social landlords’ commitment to their local communities, something we witness every day in the work we do with them.

“The work that Newham Council has been doing in this area is very important and they were very worthy winners of the award. 

“Our sponsorship of the award demonstrates Clarke Willmott’s commitment to the social housing sector and the ongoing work of our clients.”

The 2016 winners of the ‘outstanding approach to tackling ASB behaviour’ award, which is in only its second year, was the housing provider Peabody, who set up the Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA) with a mission to improve the housing sector’s response to domestic abuse.

A ground-breaking new short film highlighting the need for foster carers who can make a difference to the lives of local children - including those who can help keep brothers and sisters in care together - was launched at a premiere in Birmingham on Wednesday, May 3.

City of Wolverhampton Council is one of 13 local authorities that worked together with Reel Twenty Five to produce ‘Giants’ – a three-minute film telling the story of Jack and Ellie, a brother and sister who want to stay together when they find themselves in foster care.

Councillor Val Gibson, City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, said: “This is an extremely moving film and really helps to get across the urgent need we have for people to come forward as foster carers, especially those who have that extra space to help keep brothers and sisters together. We sincerely hope that people who are considering taking the next step into fostering will be inspired to get in touch.

“We are fortunate that here in Wolverhampton we already have more than 200 people who are fostering local children, but we are looking to recruit at least 30 more carers this year.”

The launch was attended by invited guests from each local authority including foster carers, care leavers, councillors, chief executives and officers, as well as representatives from The Fostering Network and the cast and crew of the film, who all saw the finished film for the first time.

Following the launch, ‘Giants’ is available to view online at www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/fostering, on the Fostering for Wolves Facebook page and on the Wolverhampton Today You Tube channel. A 30-second version will also be shown as an advert on Sky TV to households in the City of Wolverhampton.

The local authorities, who worked together to produce ‘Giants’ are City of Wolverhampton Council, Coventry City Council, Birmingham City Council, Solihull Council, Telford and Wrekin Council, Walsall Council, Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council, Sandwell Council, Worcestershire County Council, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Derby City Council and Staffordshire County Council.

The theme of ‘giants’ was devised to depict people who act as role models to young people in care such as their foster carers and teachers, and to highlight the strong bond between siblings as they care for each other in life and become ‘giants’ to each other.

The film launch has been timed to coincide with the start of Foster Care Fortnight, the UK’s biggest foster carer recruitment campaign, which gets underway on Monday, May 8.

As people across the globe prepare to raise a dram in celebration of World Whisky Day on 20 May, it is the perfect time to regain a thirst for the 'Water of Life' and embrace all things Scotch whisky, with some incredible festivals, tours and experiences all in honour of Scotland's national drink.

It is also the ideal opportunity to reacquaint oneself with the classic story Whisky Galore!, originally written as a novel by Compton Mackenzie, which was made into a film in 1949.  It has been re-made for a new audience: the new version starring Eddie Izzard, Gregor Fisher and Game of Thrones' James Cosmo has been shot at various locations in Scotland and will be sailing onto UK film screens from 19 May.

With well over 100 distilleries producing five different blends covering five whisky regions, massive festivals, wonderful attractions, and plenty of amazing bars and whisky clubs to delve into, Scotland is the place to enjoy a dram come World Whisky Day and beyond.

After months of debate and commentary, voters in Birmingham will go to the polls on Thursday 4^th May, 2017 to vote on who the new mayor of the West Midlands should be. The candidates are: Labour’s Sion Simon, Conservative Andy Street, Liberal Democrat’s Beverley Nielsen, UKIP’s Pete Durnell, Green candidate James Burn and Communist candidate Graham Stevenson.

Prominent policies that have emerged during the campaign include increasing youth employment, developing a proper transport system within the West Midlands and ensuring that there are enough houses to meet increasing demand.

The two favourites for the position of mayor, per the polls are Labour’s Sion Simon, and Conservative candidate Andy Street.  They agree on the key issues, but disagree over how to handle them.

Sion Simon would convene a board of leaders in education in the West Midlands and receive their advice about the best way to approach improving education within the area. He would then implement their suggestions in order to create what he believes to be a more effective and skilful workforce.

Andy Street, on the other hand would meet with teachers and education experts, canvas their opinions and then mould their suggestions to his view of how things should be improved. He would also implement a digital boot camp, to help increase the digital skills of young people in the West Midlands, followed by introducing apprenticeships and youth employment schemes aimed at giving young people a foot on the ladder.

Simon and Street follow a similar path to their fellow candidates Beverley Nielsen and James Burn who would issue bus and metro passes at affordable rates to encourage people to travel by public transport services. They would also propose increasing the metro lines within Birmingham itself.

The issue of increasing the number of houses within the West Midlands is where candidates differentiated themselves. Some like Mr Street believe that houses should be built on the green belt and the brown belt, whilst others such as Mrs Nielsen were in favour of using brown belt sites.

There are still two days left before voting takes place, so there is still time for undecided voters to make up their mind. This election is an important one for deciding the present and future direction of the West Midlands. Make sure to get out and vote for the candidate that you think most benefits you!

By Vivek Rajkhowa