Lorely Burt MP

Parents of children who need extra help to do well in school are to get a new legal right to buy-in specialist Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabled care, Liberal Democrat Children's Minister Sarah Teather has announced.

A pilot project to help support parents of child is currently taking place in Solihull.

Led by local Councillor Claire O'Kane and Solihull MP Lorely Burt, Mr Stunell was shown a site in Olton that fell victim to the practice of 'garden grabbing' and is still at risk of further development. Previously, gardens were classified as brownfield sites, which allowed developers to build houses on them regardless of local opposition.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt has welcomed today's drop in unemployment figures, which has seen the level of unemployment drop both nationally and across the West Midlands.

The Office of National Statistics today released figures which show that national unemployment was down by 35,000 from the previous quarter, which is the first fall since last spring. In addition, youth unemployment was down by 9,000 and the number of people in employment rose by 53,000.

The figures also contained good news for the West Midlands, which has seen a drop in unemployment of 1.2% since the last quarter. There are now 239,000 unemployed people in the West Midlands, down from 243,000 since December, whilst the number of people in employment rose by 38,000 to 2.43million.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt has paid tribute to the work of a local housing group after visiting their new flats in Shirley.

Bromford Housing group work with a huge range of vulnerable adults, allowing them to live more independently, often for the first time. They have recently opened a new scheme just off Stratford Road, which deals specifically with adults with learning difficulties.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt has welcomed investment from the Coalition Government that will give an extra £7,800,000 this year to relieve the pressure on school places across Birmingham.

This is part of an additional £600m of capital spending in England this year, which is for investment in, for example, extra classrooms. This comes on top of the £800m to address the shortage in pupil places already announced for 2012-13.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt has welcomed a £130 tax cut for 85,000 hard working Solihull people, delivered by Liberal Democrats in the coalition government.

As of today [April 6^th] the income tax threshold will rise to £8,105, giving a tax cut worth £130 a year to thousands of people across the borough. On top of this, 2,500 low-earners will stop paying income tax altogether.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt visited a local school this week in order to talk about the new student finance system and answer questions from students about how it works.

Mrs Burt spoke with Sixth Formers from St Peters Catholic School in Solihull and explained how the new system should not prevent them from applying to university.

On Monday 2 April 2012, the £1bn Youth Contract will start. The Youth Contract was announced last year by Liberal Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg to tackle youth unemployment.

The Youth Contract aims to ensure that all jobless young people are earning or learning again before long-term damage is done.

Solihull MP Lorely Burt and local Liberal Democrats are urging Solihull Council to use new powers in order to tackle the growing problem of pavement parking across the borough.

Olton Ward Councillor Claire O'Kane will today [Tuesday 27^th March] put forward a motion urging the council to use the powers given to them by Liberal Democrat Transport Minister Norman Baker, in order to tackle pavement parking 'hot-spots' across the borough.