Chesterfields’ junior race ace 16 year old Seb Perez was back in action at Knockhill Circuit in Scotland for rounds 15, 16 and 17 in the Simpson Race Products Ginetta Junior Championship last weekend.

The championship saw three rounds of bumper to bumper action from the junior racer, son of Steve Perez , 2014 BTRDA Gold Star Rally Champion and Chairman of Chesterfield based drinks brand development business Global Brands Ltd and owner of Amigos Tequila Flavoured Beer and Kick Energy Drink Brands.

From start of the weekend Seb knew it was going to be a tough one. Seb had been at the circuit earlier in the week practising and didn’t drop below a top five place in the timings and qualifying on race weekend saw just the same performance from the teenager where he was second fastest only by 0.053 seconds on the first man his JHR Developments  team mate Seb Priaulx putting him on the front row for his first race of the weekend.

All eyes were on Perez, both Seb’s lined up on the grid and as the lights went out Perez made a perfect start that saw him take the lead.

Continuing lap by lap Perez was outshining the rest of the pack of 17 cars, he lead the 12 lap race from start to finish and at one stage the Ginetta G40 was some 6 seconds ahead of second car.  He took the chequered flag some 4.570 seconds ahead of Douglas Motorsports Stuart Middleton.

Celebrations were high in the Perez family camp after race one and claiming his first win and podium of the season.  A jubilant Perez said ” I had a fantastic start off the line, it was an awesome race from lights to flag”

Race two saw Perez and Middleton line up side by side on another front row position.

Both cars kept their same positions as they left the line but both were deemed to have made false starts off the line and given drive trough penalties, this causing Seb to drop down in the pack’s to 14th position by lap 6 out of 12 and in 11th at the end of the race.

After the race there were a number of changes to the positions and a judge of fact stewards report saw Perez’s false start applied during the race to be found incorrect.  Robbed of a possible Top 5 or even better a second podium finish this put Seb in 8th place on 4th row for race three after the reverse grid draw.

Race three was going to take its toll, by the end of lap 1 Perez had made up a place into 7th maintaining that position and into fifth position by lap 5.He floated between fifth and sixth by half race distance but Elite Motorsport and Rookie racer Tom Wood had a spin on lap 9 taking Perez and Team mate Middleton off the track with him. Perez dropping to 10th place

All managed to recover  and a top 10 place battle commenced between Perez and Olli Caldwell, this saw Perez pushing him to the limited and finish 11th, missing out on a top 10 place by 1.6 seconds, piped at the flag

After race  Perez said ” After race one it was frustrating for me, we should have had at least two or even three podiums over the race weekend”  He added “It was such a shame but will be coming back stronger at Rockingham in two weeks and looking for further podiums”  ” the car ran faultless all weekend with an excellent job done by JHR Developments as usual”

Perez leaves Knockhill in 12th position gaining another place in the championship with 178 points and team JHR Developments still third in the championship with 677 points

You can follow Seb and all the action on Sunday afternoons on ITV 4 where some his races are televised live

EDITORIAL BY PAUL HORTON

“Winnings ways” Perez in action at Knockhill  Photo Credit: Jakob Ebrey Photography

The Government has recently published more details about how its apprenticeship levy will work.

It had already been announced that firms with payroll of £3m and over would have to pay an additional 0.5% to the levy.

The details recently released show that the levy will apply to all firms but that the first £15,000 (0.5% x 3,000,000) will be a tax allowance.

A company with a £5m payroll would have to pay £10,000 a year to the apprenticeship levy through Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The levy takes effect from April next year.

Larger companies had expressed concerns that the levy would be just a tax on payroll. But this morning the Government said that any apprenticeship levy payment to HMRC will be allowable for Corporation Tax.

Firms that already contribute to sector industry training board schemes will not be able to offset the levy against current contributions.

Once a company has declared the levy to HMRC it will be able to access funding for apprenticeships through a new digital apprenticeship service account. This funding will pay for training and assessment for apprentices in England.

Companies can register with the Government’s digital apprenticeship service from January 2017 and the first payments to employers will be made in May 2017.

Government funding of apprenticeships will now cover 90% of the training cost for companies with payroll below £3m and not, therefore, contributing to the levy. It had been only two-thirds of the cost previously.

The Government has set a target of having three million young people in apprenticeships by 2020. In the 2014/15 academic year there were 499,900 apprenticeship starts.

East Midlands Chamber is a huge advocate of apprenticeships. It currently manages about 250 apprenticeships and has 60 vacancies on its books across a range of sectors.

Sarah Temperton, the Chamber’s Head of Chamber Training, said:-

“Apprenticeships are a great way of equipping young people with the skills, attitudes and attributes they need to have long and successful careers. Our own apprenticeship programme has a progression rate of 99% of people staying in a permanent job at the end of their training.

“The appetite for apprenticeships is not diminishing. Government has set a target of three million apprenticeships before 2020 but in order to achieve this, it’s vital that a true parity of esteem exists between vocational routes into employment and academic routes to ensure that young people are being properly advised on their full range of options.

“It’s also vital that employers of all sizes fully understand the way apprenticeships work, from funding through to training provision, so that smaller firms in particular are not deterred from taking on apprentices.”

Royal Primary Care (RPC) has been awarded a 15-year contract to provide GP and primary care services for more than 20,000 local people in areas across Chesterfield by NHS North Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group (NDCCG). The successful bid comes after more than a year of RPC providing a caretaker service for patients in Grangewood, Staveley and Inkersall.

NDCCG confirmed RPC’s successful bid on 12 August 2016 and the move has been welcomed by the Patient Participation Group (PPG) covering the three surgeries based in Grangewood, Staveley and Inkersall.

David Pipes, Chairman of the PPG, says:-

“We are delighted that Royal Primary Care – as part of Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – has been successful in securing the contract to provide healthcare services to people across these communities.

“We hope that more patients will start to share their experiences and join the PPG to bring about change and improvement. We are looking forward to working with RPC to get more people involved in the surgeries and their future. ”

The caretaker arrangement, which commenced in May 2015, was the first time primary and secondary care had come together locally in this way. The arrangement was put in place to safeguard services in the former Holywell Medical Group, which, like many GP Practices across the country, was struggling to run a full range of services and to meet demand.

Dr Gail Collins, Medical Director at the Royal, explains:-

“We are pleased to be able to sustain these services for local people at a time when fewer doctors are choosing to train in primary care medicine and go into partnerships. We need to be able to offer new solutions – and over the past year it is clear that working for the Trust, as part of Royal Primary Care, can be a successful and viable approach.

“Over the last year we have been able to attract and recruit five more GPs, there are early morning, evening and weekend GP appointments and new services have opened – including an ultrasound clinic staffed by the experienced team from Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Through this long-term contract we will continue to develop Royal Primary Care, bringing GP, primary care and hospital services together in ways that will benefit all our patients.”

The contract, set to start on 1 October 2016 has been awarded for 15-years with a potential option to extend it for a further three.

Steve Allinson, Chief Officer of North Derbyshire CCG, says:-

“Overall we were looking to award a contract that will give local people high-quality, safe services to meet their needs.

“The Trust has over 30 years of knowledge and experience in local health care and we are confident that Royal Primary Care will continue to improve GP and primary care services to make sure its patients are well-cared for and looked-after.”

In July this year Royal Primary Care also joined forces in a new partnership at the Blue Dykes Surgeries in Clay Cross and Grassmoor. Around 11,500 patients are served by the practice, which was operating with just two GPs. This new development will operate for six-months and after that, if patients, staff and the CCG are happy with progress, steps will be taken to transfer Blue Dykes Surgeries to Royal Primary Care permanently and to grow the practice so it too also has a sustainable future.