Visit to West Yorkshire Joint Services

I visited West Yorkshire Joint Services and saw the wide range of activities they cover, all in the same building, appropriately refered to as the Tardis. These include tracking down niche tobacco products, which are very harmful to health and contraband and counterfeit tobacco and alcohol. They have a display of these products to help put the message across of the health hazard they pose. They also carry out awareness raising sessions in schools, to counter alcohol misuse. Their Financial Capability project which addresses financial illiteracy, has been delivered to 20,000 young people in schools and also to community groups.

I took the opportunity to observe Consumer Direct, which is very efficient, answering calls within 20 seconds and conclude most queries during the call. They pass the rest to Trading Standards, another service which covers a number of aspects which I was unaware of. Other statutory services include the Public Analyst, which is self-funding, Weights and Measures and Testing; West Yorkshire Archives and West Yorkshire Archaeological Advisory Services. They also carry out community engagement work such as the excellent My Place – Al Hikmah Project which I supported during the summer.

I now have a good understanding of the wide range of work they do, a lot of which is self-funded and subsidises some of the statutory services. The cost of Trading Standards for example, is I understand, one of the lowest in the country. The services they provide, certainly deliver good value and I hope the West Yorkshire Council Leaders understand this when budgets are considered.

Toy Library Launch

It was great to visit Staincliffe and Healey Surestart Children’s Centre to launch their toy library. I think this is a marvellous idea. It allows children to take home and enjoy playing with the kind of toys that for most children are not available. Play is important for children because it is through play that children learn and develop all kinds of skills. It very important for parents to participate in play as this facilitates progress in speech, language and communication skills which need to develop while children are very young. These social skills are essential to facilitate the child’s learning throughout life. It is also a very enjoyable experience for both children and parents. I am rediscovering this, as I now have three young grandchildren and it is a great pleasure playing with them. I think it is mutual. It’s a great pleasure to read to them too!