On Wednesday 30 November a number of public sector unions are taking industrial action as part of a national dispute over pensions.

A significant number of Surrey state schools are expected to close and full details of closures can be found via the schools page.

So far, 190 schools have notified Surrey County Council that they will be closed or partly shut. There are 375 state schools in Surrey.

Other county council services, such as community recycling centres, libraries, adult social care and children’s social care, are expected to be largely unaffected as is Surrey Fire and Rescue Service.

A spokesman for Surrey County Council said: “This is a national dispute between unions and the Government. It is not a dispute between staff and Surrey County Council.”

An innovative project helping children develop their communication skills has been awarded an Inspire mark by Olympic and Paralympic Games organisers.

The Every Child a Talker Communication Decathlon, run by Surrey County Council, is available to more than 2,000 nurseries, playgroups, childminders and other children’s groups across the county to help youngsters under five years old develop their language skills.

The project encourages children to work together and develop their speech, language and listening abilities through fun activities, including wellie throwing and paper plane flying.

The project is the fifth run by Surrey County Council to win an Olympic Inspire mark. Others to receive the accolade were the Surrey School Games 100 days of Sport, the international flag exchange, a sport history project and a series of business events aimed at getting Surrey firms to benefit from the 2012 Games.

Setting the world record for the most people to form the Olympic rings was one of Surrey County Council projects to awarded an Inspire mark.

Tim Hall, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Learning, said: “In the first five years of a child’s life they learn more about speaking and words than at any other time. A child’s vocabulary at five can be a strong predictor of GCSE achievement as a teenager. By developing their language skills now we’re laying strong foundations for success later in life.”

Denise Saliagopoulos, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Community Services and the 2012 Games, said: “Inspire marks are awarded to exceptional projects that use the Olympic and Paralympic Games as an inspiration to create something truly special, with a legacy that goes on long after the final medal has been won. I hope these five projects will be among many in Surrey to receive this accolade.”

Lord Coe, Chair of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, said: “The Inspire programme is ensuring the legacy of the 2012 Games starts now as projects like the Surrey ECAT Communication Decathlon are enabling people in Surrey to make positive life changes.”

Each month for the 10 months leading up to the London 2012 Games, Surrey County Council’s Early Years and Childcare Service will email an Every Child a Talker Communication Decathlon task to more than 2,000 nurseries, childminders, playgroups and other children’s groups.

The tasks range from the shot put, which sees children finding out how far they can throw a wellie, to javelin, where they find out how far they can throw a paper plane. The tasks have been specifically designed to help develop the language and communication skills of under fives.

Following an announcement by waste reduction organisation WRAP that household food waste in the UK fell by 1.1 million tonnes over three years, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment Ian Lake said:

“It’s encouraging to see people are throwing out less food which saves money and benefits the environment. However, there is still more to do. An average family wastes £50 a month by binning food that could still be eaten, which is the equivalent of throwing away one in five shopping bags.

“Each year Surrey County Council has to spend £7.6 million of taxpayers money disposing of household food waste. Through our Love Food Surrey campaign we’re working to reduce this by helping people waste less food.

“That includes giving them recipe ideas for leftovers, showing them how they can shop smarter and helping people find out how they can store food for longer.”

This week WRAP announced at its annual conference that yearly household food waste in the UK fell by 1.1 million tonnes (13%), from 8.3 million tonnes to an estimated 7.2 million tonnes, between 2006/07 to 2010. This food waste would fill Wembley Stadium to the brim.

Avoidable household food waste, which is food that could have been eaten, was reduced by 950,000 tonnes (18%), from 5.3 to 4.4 million tonnes annually.

Hard-pressed families are wasting around £50 a month by throwing out food that can still be eaten – the equivalent of binning one in every five shopping bags.

National figures show* people in the UK spend £12 billion a year throwing away perfectly good food and in Surrey alone it costs the county council £7.6 million annually to dispose of food waste.

Vegetables, salad, fruit and drink are some of Britain’s most wasted foods with 83,000 tonnes of bananas alone needlessly binned each year.

The startling figures are being used as part of the Love Food Surrey campaign which aims to persuade people to shop smarter and waste less.

Ian Lake, Surrey County Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment, said: “It’s shocking to learn one in every five bags of food shopping is wasted. I’m sure families would jump at the chance to have an extra £50 in their pockets during these difficult economic times. By making a few simple changes you can save money and also benefit the environment.

“Through our Love Food Surrey campaign we’ll be helping people waste less food by giving them recipe ideas for leftovers, showing them how they can shop smarter and helping people find out how they can store food for longer.”

A survey by Surrey County Council revealed people have eyes bigger than their bellies as almost half of those asked (47%) thought cooking overly large portions is a big reason why so much food is wasted.

And 38% of people thought buying too much food at the supermarket leads to good food being thrown away, with just 9% of people admitting they find it easy to resist a buy one get one free offer.
Reducing the amount of food people throw in the bin is also good for the environment. It’s estimated that if the UK stopped wasting food altogether, the impact on carbon dioxide emissions would be the same as taking a quarter of all cars off the road.

Top tips to cut down on food waste:

• Make a list and stick to it – don’t be tempted by offers you won’t eat
• If use by dates are approaching, put the food in the freezer to eat later
• Use a mug to measure rice – one adult portion is a quarter of a mug
• You can still eat food past the best before date, but not past the use by date
• If you’ve cooked too much don’t bin it, put it in the freezer for later
• If children don’t want to eat, using a cookie cutter to make fun shapes out of sandwiches, pancakes and pizzas.

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Motorists can receive web updates this winter about roads that have been gritted.

A ‘gritter Twitter’ service has been launched on the social networking site by Surrey County Council and BBC Surrey.

The feed, that can be found at www.twitter.com/surreytravel, provides regular updates on gritting activity together with traffic information, weather conditions and road closures.

It follows the success of the council’s gritting updates on Twitter during last winter’s ice and snow.

Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Transport and Environment Ian Lake said: “We’ve been planning for months to keep Surrey’s road networking moving as much as possible during a prolonged cold snap and these gritting updates will tell people where we’ve been and when.

“Often we are in bed while our gritting teams are busy making sure roads are as safe as possible and, by providing the latest information on roads that have been treated and weather conditions, we can help people plan their journey.”

The Twitter service is one of a range of measures to tackle any severe winter weather. These include increasing the amount of salt stockpiled to nearly 17,000 tonnes from last winter’s 13,000 and filling up 1,743 grit bins so residents can treat roads and pavements in their communities.

In addition, around 110 extra miles of road will be regularly treated – the equivalent of nearly 5,300 extra miles of gritting runs across an average winter – and 40 tonnes of salt has been made available to Surrey’s borough and district councils to spread in town centres.

For updates on all county news, including stories on how Surrey is preparing for winter , follow us on Twitter @surreynews