Bob Ainsworth

Labour Party | Coventry North East

Campaigns

Pakistan Earthquake Fundraiser

Bob Ainsworth organised a charity event to raise money for the victims of the October 2005 devastating earthquake in the Kashmir region of Pakistan.

The event took place on Thursday 19 January 2006 at Coventry Cathedral. The event gave the whole City an opportunity to come together and collectively make an effort to help people in desperate circumstances. Around 450-500 people attended the event and raised around £15,000, with further donations expected.

The event was attended by a number of notable dignitaries including the Bishop of Coventry, the Lord Mayor of Coventry, Imam Rasool Baksh (Eagle Street Mosque, Coventry) and Dr Maleeha Lodhi (the Pakistan High Commissioner). The evening also included poetry and presentations from Coventry School children.

All monies raised were donated to the CMC-Earthquake Appeal and will help those in the affected areas not just in the short term but the long term too.

Charity Campaign

During a 10 week period between 9 February 2004 and 16th April 2004, Bob Ainsworth participated in a Charity Baby Lifeline Celebrity Fitness Challenge. Bob raised a total of £1020.50 for the Baby Lifeline £1 Million UK Challenge.

Baby Lifeline is the only UK National Mother and Baby Charity. It supports vital care for unborn babies, new born babies and their mothers through the provision of medical equipment, training and research programmes for doctors, midwives and other associated health professionals.

The £1Million UK Baby Lifeline Challenge is in response to so many requests made to Baby Lifeline from maternity units nation-wide. This project is to raise the funds needed for all excellent medical projects that will play a part in the care needed in pregnancy and birth.

http://www.babylifeline.org.uk/

Hospital Campaign

Bob Ainsworth is probably more than anyone else responsible for the rebuilding and upgrading of what is now Coventry and Warwickshire University teaching hospital.

While labour was in opposition he controversially backed the P. F. I. As the only opportunity to get a new hospital which was so badly needed and worked closely with the Vice Chancellor of Warwick University Brian Follet to get a new medical school which was agreed when labour came to power. This gave teaching status to the hospital.

The controversy never stopped however, as the council and the other city MP's proposed a City Centre hospital rather than building at Walsgrave. Bob resisted the proposal fearing it would result in delays and the eventual building of a much smaller hospital with Coventry losing much of its specialty capacity and the isolation of the Mental Health Unit which would remain at Walsgrave.

"What could have been built on the City Centre location would have been a fraction of what is currently being built at Walsgrave." Coventry and Warwickshire will be one of the countries leading institutions, offering the very best in health care to the people of Coventry.

After long and acrimonious argument, it was agreed to build both a new teaching hospital and mental health unit at Walsgrave. The main hospital is due to be opened in 2005.


Drugs Campaign

While a minister at the Home Office Bob was responsible for the drugs policy. His time there saw a big increase in spending on treatment and changes of emphasis that led to the introduction of new guidance on Heroine prescription, reclassification of Cannabis, and the "Talk to Frank" drug education programme. It also saw for the first time the introduction of joined up services for drug users in the high crime areas to get probation prisons, the police and health services all working together to get problematic drug users into treatment.


Foreign Currency Campaign

Bob Ainsworth has been and is still involved in the case of a constituent who claims to have purchased counterfeit foreign currency from the Post Office, and following arrest in Greece for the use of this foreign currency, now faces the prospect of a prison sentence.

The case brought to light the fact that the Post Office were handing out currency that they had bought, through the 'Buy Back' service, without adequately checking for forgeries or recording of the notes serial numbers or denominations.

They initially issued a response stating that they believed their current procedures were adequate and that they did not intend to change them, however since that initial response they have agreed to install scanning equipment, to check the authenticity of all notes they sell, in all Post Offices offering a Bureau de Change service and also keep their current procedures relating to foreign currency transactions under review.

This change of procedure by the Post Office will help reduce the prospect of customer's unwittingly purchasing counterfeit foreign currency from the Post Office's Bureau de Change.