Chi Onwurah MP, Labour’s Shadow Science Minister, commenting on the announcement that the Government will establish a National Science and Technology Council, said:

“Ministers have cut the budget for science this year leaving

researchers and programmes in the lurch, and medical research charities have been left to fend for themselves during the pandemic.

 

“More government structures cannot disguise the fact the Government has no long-term plan for UK science and is letting our country’s researchers down.

 

“Boris Johnson blowing his own trumpet won’t protect the UK’s status as a science superpower – only a proper plan backed with long-term investment can do that.”

Since Boris Johnson first promised he had a plan to ‘fix the crisis in social care once and for all’ more than 23 months ago, 2 million people have had their requests for care turned down, care workers and families have been stretched to breaking point, and thousands of people have had to sell their homes to pay for their care.

After a decade of failure, the time for Conservative excuses has long passed – Ministers must bring forward plans as a matter of urgency, and provide all older and disabled people with the dignity and security they deserve.

Read more on Sky News.

The post Government told to ‘grasp the nettle’ and set out social care reforms and give people ‘security’ appeared first on Liz Kendall.

Catherine has warned that the Government’s planning reforms risk creating a ‘perfect storm’ of accelerated housing development, with less accountability and community input into the planning process. During a Parliamentary debate on the Government’s controversial planning overhaul, Catherine said the Government’s new planning proposals are essentially a developers charter that fail to consider “important non-housing … Continue reading PLANNING REFORMS AND INCREASED HOUSING TARGETS CREATE “PERFECT STORM” FOR NEWCASTLE →

My week in Parliament began with the AGM of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Hairdressing, Barbering and Cosmetology and I was honoured to be re-elected as chair. The UK Government has provided little support for this very important sector. Working with the Hair Council, the organisation that has statutory registration responsibility for the hairdressing sector under the Hairdressers (Registration) Act 1964, we have been campaigning for many years for the Act to be amended from voluntary to mandatory registration, and for the beauty sector to be added to the Act. This would be important to regulate the sector, and would have been so beneficial during the pandemic. Unfortunately, the UK Government does not fund the Hair Council, which is funded by registration fees. The members of the APPG discussed the forward plan for future meetings which included: amending the Act; apprenticeships, training, and further education funding; hair and beauty products becoming climate change friendly; recycling pandemic protection equipment and sector products, and the problems that the pandemic has caused for the Wedding Sector.

Ahead of the Football Governance Petitions Debate in which I spoke on Monday evening I attended a private briefing from Gary Neville, broadcaster and former Manchester United and England International. Gary has campaigned for an independent regulator to sort out football’s problems, and has sent an open letter signed by prominent figures in the world of football.

Many members had applied to speak in the debate, so we were limited to just three minutes each. I began my speech by thanking Neath constituents for signing the petitions and congratulating Wales on securing a draw in their first match at the European Championships (they did so much better in their second match beating Turkey 2-0). I spoke about the furore of fans over the efforts of 6 Premier League clubs to form a breakaway European Super League, and demonstrated the deep disconnect between football clubs and the communities they once represented. The UK Government’s fan led review is welcome but whole scale reform is needed. Fan ownership has been at the forefront of a campaign that the Co-operative Party has been conducting for the past 20 years. In 2007 the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party founded Supporters Direct; campaigned for funding and resources so that supporters could start fan-owned trusts, and progress to take over clubs; supporters places on club boards; community shares model, and strengthening community asset legislation to prevent sales of club grounds. I called for a robust, effective, independent, regulatory, framework with statutory backing, to safeguard football, because unless supporters can influence or own clubs or assets we will forever be second class spectators. I do not think that the German 50+1 model would be suitable for share ownership for the top English Premier League clubs who have invested millions of pounds, but it would be suitable as a voting structure.

On Tuesday morning I joined a round table discussion organised by Stephen Kinnock MP, chair of the APPG for Steel, on the “Roadmap to De-carbonisation and a Just Transition”, with panelists from the South Wales Industrial Cluster; Carbon Capture and Storage Association; Community Union; Green Alliance; the Materials Processing Institute; and the European trade unions body IndustriAll. The highly informative discussion stressed the importance of the Steel Council; development of UK Steel’s Net Zero Steel Report including carbon capture and storage; HyDRIgen steel making; increase the use of electric arc furnaces; and the need for strong UK Government support for the steel industry, which needs a £6 billion investment; plus skills and employment implication recommendations. IndustriAll stressed that the scale and breadth of activity on steel decarbonisation in the EU highlighted the need for UK Government to move quickly not to be left behind other countries.

The Gaps in Support APPG discussed the continuing issue of PAYE freelancers being without any form of UK Government support since the start of the pandemic. Over 1.3 million people are PAYE freelancers, which is a unique employment status where people are not technically self-employed, but take on short-term contracts to deliver very specific expertise, usually in the creative sectors. Due to their employment status, PAYE freelancers have completely fallen through the gaps in UK Government support, and the APPG is calling on an independent Public Enquiry to look at this injustice.

As a Labour and Co-operative Party MP, I am so proud that tackling poverty is at the heart of the co-operative movement. I was pleased to be able to ask James Duddridge, the Minister for Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office this week what assurances he could give that the co-operative sectors, that do so much to alleviate poverty in developing countries, will not be impacted by cuts to the aid budget. I also called on him to commit to reinstating the 0.7% aid budget target. Tackling poverty is a challenge, at home and abroad, but it is one that is vital if we are to build back from the pandemic in a way that is sustainable and resilient. The poorest regions of the world need help to build stronger communities and stronger states to contribute to finding solutions to some of the biggest challenges that we face. We have a responsibility and a moral obligation and it is appalling that the UK Government have cut the aid budget – they must reverse this cut.

As a member of the Panel of Chairs, I joined its Summer Zoom Meeting convened by the Chair of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker, the Rt Hon Dame Eleanor Laing, who thanked Chris Stanton, Principal Clerk House of Commons Committee Office and Secretary to the Panel of Chairs; Tom Goldsmith, Principal Clerk of the Table Office and Senior Clerk for Westminster Hall; her own Secretary LJ Tiley; and her Assistant Secretary Abi Samuels for all their support during the pandemic. Dame Eleanor thanked all the chairs for their hard work, and also paid tribute to a former member of the Panel of Chairs, Dame Cheryl Gillan who tragically passed away. The present hybrid system for the Chamber, committees and Westminster Hall debates, and proxy voting, will remain in place until after the summer recess, due to the uncertainty around the new Delta variant, but Dame Eleanor remained optimistic that we will return to physical participation on all parts of the Parliamentary estate in the autumn.

Taiwo Owatemi MP was elected chair and I was elected vice-chair at the AGM of the APPG for Erasmus. We discussed the prospect of changing our name to the APPG Turin Scheme, but all members agreed that we should campaign for the UK Government to reinstate the Erasmus scheme, which is far better than its replacement Turin programme, and so agreed to call our APPG the Erasmus-Turin. We also discussed the prospect of merging with the APPG for Foreign and Modern Languages, because we share similar aims and objectives, and it was agreed that we should make a formal approach.

Later that day I joined a Zoom panel event organised by the APPG for HIV and AIDS; UNAIDS; the Global Fund to Fight AIDS; UNITE Network; to discuss the next steps after the upcoming G7 Summit and the UN General Assembly High Level meeting on AIDS/HIV have taken place. The panelists – Winnie Byanylima, Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Under-Secretary General of the United Nations; Peter Sands, Executive Director of The Global Fund; Ricardo Baptista Leite, MP, MD, PhD(c) Founder and President of UNITE; Mike Podmore, Director STOPAIDS; Andrew Ullman MP; Phumeza Tisile, someone living with AIDS, agreed that the G7 and UN have the opportunity for the international community to bring the global HIV response back on track and to implement the Global AIDS Strategy.

On Wednesday last week we marked the fifth anniversary of the death of fellow Labour MP Jo Cox. It is still hard to believe that such a wonderful and dedicated woman was killed in such an appalling act of violence and I’ve been thinking of her family and her children this week.

Citizens Advice are campaigning to highlight the dangers of scams to younger people. Despite growing up in the information era and having been brought up using the internet, unfortunately research shows that people in their twenties are most likely to be scammed. You can protect yourself by following a few simple rules: don’t ever give money or details to anyone you’ve met online and don’t click on unsolicited links or links from people you do not know.

May I take this opportunity to again congratulate our Wales football team on their wonderful progress in the European competition so far, and wish them all the best for their next match in the Round of 16. Come on Wales.

As always, if you have any questions or issues that fall under my role as MP and want to get in touch, please do not hesitate to drop us an email on christina.rees.mp@parliament.uk or call us on 01639 630152. My staff are working from home to comply with the social distancing measures, but, as always, we remain there should you need to get in contact with us.

I hope you stay well, and remember – observe social distancing, wash your hands regularly and keep Wales safe.

This week we marked the fifth anniversary of the murder of fellow Labour MP Jo Cox. I will always remember her passion and dedication to her community and her determination to help make the UK a better place to live. My thoughts this week have been with her family, especially her children.

One of this week’s Opposition Day Debates focused on education and in particular the Government’s short-sighted decision to reject recommendations from the Government-appointed education expert Sir Kevan Collins with regards to helping our children catch up after this difficult year. Speaking in the debate, I paid tribute to all the school leaders in colleges and schools across south Bristol, and particularly to the parents and young people, for getting through this difficult year. They all had high hopes of the education recovery commissioner.  However, the Government ignored Sir Kevan’s evidence-based plan, awarding just a 10th of the necessary funding and then forcing him to resign because their behaviour, in his words, “betrays an undervaluation of the importance of education”.

I recently met the Minister for School Standards, Nick Gibb, to discuss the pupil premium and educational outcomes in Bristol South. I also meet school leaders as a group in Bristol South, as I do every year. Such a meeting now happens rarely across south Bristol because of the evolution of the multi-academy trust system; in all, the nearly 40 state-funded schools in Bristol South are run by 12 different organisations. I do think that some MATs act well as a family of schools, but I do not think that they serve the families of south Bristol as well as they should or could. Families live in the communities of south Bristol, not in the community of the MAT. Parents expect each child to be supported and educated well in their community through early years, primary, secondary, post-16 and higher education, but children are experiencing too many different organisations as part of that journey. Crucially, there is no accountability across south Bristol for the outcome of that journey, which is the destination of those young people—their chance in life.

In my six years as MP for Bristol South, my focus has been on further education and apprenticeships post 16 to help young people fulfil their potential, but I have realised that the lack of ownership and accountability for destination, success and outcomes is a major problem that no number of well-meaning piecemeal initiatives will solve. I now see that the pandemic and the loss of learning must be the catalyst for taking this seriously. We will not solve the problem of poor education outcomes for these children without focus on the context of their lives. That focus has to be local and at the transition between all levels. For me, supporting further education is the only approach that can capture those children and, with the right professional support and stability of funding, help them to reach their true potential. Covid-19 has exacerbated the disproportionate impact of poor education on young people. We absolutely need to use this opportunity to make things better for the future.

Research from Citizens Advice released this week has found that, contrary to popular belief, young people in their twenties are actually more at risk from scams than older people. We know how dangerous the internet and even when trying to be careful the most innocuous looking email can be a threat.  But you can protect yourself by following a few simple rules:  don’t ever give money or details to anyone you’ve met online and don’t click on unsolicited links or links from people you do not know.

As you may have seen, I am currently recruiting for two positions within my office, both in London and in Bristol South. I am looking for a Personal Assistant with excellent communication skills and experience of managing a complex diary to support my work in Westminster and a part-time Caseworker to join my constituency team in Bristol South. Closing date for applications is 5 July with a view to starting in the middle of August.  Please do spread the word and pop in an application if you think either position would suit you!

If there are issues you want to raise with me as your local MP, please get in touch by emailing Karin.smyth.mp@parliament.uk or by calling 0117 953 3575.  In the meantime, I hope you all enjoy the weekend!

The post Weekly Round-Up: 18 June 2021 first appeared on Karin Smyth.

On 17 June, Rushanara Ali MP joined with London Mayor, Sadiq Khan on a visit to The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel. 

Last week I was lucky enough to be drawn to ask a question during Prime Minister’s Question Time. This came at the perfect time as later that day I was presenting a petition on behalf of more than 40,000 constituents who are against the disastrous cuts to South Tyneside Hospital.

I took this opportunity to remind the Prime Minister of all the things he said about out NHS, including “Our greatest national asset” “Best of this country” “Record increase in funding” “Saved my life—no question” “My No.1 priority”. Yet, during a worldwide pandemic our award-winning South Tyneside Hospital is being stripped of acute services causing a disaster for the people of South Tyneside and causing undue pressure on our neighbouring Sunderland A&E.  

The past year and a half has shown that our NHS is needed more than ever however, in the hands of the Tories it’s very future is uncertain. The Government must step in and show they are serious about protecting the NHS, listen to our concerns, stop more cuts to South Tyneside Hospital and return the services we have already lost.

Crucially, in my speech I asked the Prime Minister if he would match his rhetoric with some action by blocking cuts to our hospital but unsurprisingly, he failed to provide us with any support or reassurance.  This shows us all the Prime Minister does not care about the NHS which saved his life.  

South Tyneside and Sunderland campaigners have worked incredibly hard to raise awareness of the dismantling of our local hospital services, even coming down to Westminster to hand me the 44,000 strong petition. However, on the very same day campaigners stood outside of Parliament, the Government once again chose to stand against us.

You can read my PMQ speech by clicking here and the petition speech here.

Pauline Town MBE. That’s an honour that Pauline never expected and never asked for, but one that is thoroughly deserved. What a year it has been for her. Pauline runs the Station Hotel in Ashton-Under-Lyne – a pub which also operates as the town’s We Shall Overcome Hub.

It all started in 2013, when a man named Ben knocked on the door of the pub in 2013. He struggled with mental health issues, had learning difficulties, and was begging on the street. Pauline let him come in for a cup of tea and spent over five months setting up his personal independence payments and accommodation.

Pauline has now helped more than 200 homeless people off the streets and gives out around 100 packed lunches a day. She is, to put it simply, and absolute inspiration. Last year, Tameside Council’s Homelessness Team set up the Town House (named after Pauline) in Ashton on Burlington Street.

The Town House acts as a community hub and overnight hostel, providing support and care to people who are homeless.

The Homelessness Team has done tremendous work in helping people in the Borough. The A Bed Every Night programme has been a fantastic success. The council recorded a drop in rough sleeping between 2018 to 2019 of 86%, and in April of this year no rough sleepers were recorded in Tameside. It is hard to overstate this achievement, and it is down to the hard work of people like Pauline and the Council.

I strongly believe that the innovative work of the Homelessness Team can be applied across the country. The team focusses on tailoring services to individuals’ needs and recognises that ongoing support is crucial to prevent people falling back into rough sleeping.

Homelessness is complex, and should be tackled with empathy, organisation, and long-term care. Last year, Crisis estimated that around 200,000 people nationally were experiencing core homelessness – the most severe form of homelessness.

Over the next few months, as furlough ends and the impact of the pandemic on the economy and jobs is truly felt, we need to be even more prepared to help those in need. Local authority and Government spending must be increased, and the Government needs to recognise the work of councils such as Tameside and individuals like Pauline to champion similar projects across the country.

The future after the pandemic is uncertain, but if we learn from people like Pauline, and schemes like A Bed Every Night, I’m certain that we can build a society where we all look out for one another and are proud to help those most in need.

The post What we can learn from the incredible work of Pauline Town MBE appeared first on Andrew Gwynne MP.

Reacting to news that Bradford Bulls will now continue to run an Elite Academy, Bradford South Labour MP Judith Cummins said, “I’m pleased that the club and the RFL have reached a resolution that enables Bradford to continue to run an Elite Academy.”

“It would, however, have been better for all concerned to have avoided the worry and trauma in the first place,” she added.

Ms Cummins had challenged the RFL on the process and decision that saw Bradford losing out in the award of Elite Academy licences. She questioned whether quotas rather than an assessment of record, performance and deep roots into the community game had been given little weight in the consideration. 

“The Bulls Academy has been productive and respected for its work, a rich source of playing talent. Leon Pryce, Sam Burgess, and John Bateman to name but a few of the players to have come through the academy and gone onto star at the highest levels of our sport.

There remain challenges ahead but I’m looking forward to working with and supporting the club and the RFL to make sure that the sport has a healthy future,” said Ms Cummins.

Related Posts

Tulip Siddiq MP is looking for an enthusiastic and responsible individual to join her busy team to support her constituency work.

This role will be full-time, based in Tulip’s constituency of Hampstead and Kilburn. We are happy to discuss options for flexible working at any stage.

The successful applicant will have a strong understanding of politics and campaigning, an unstoppable work ethic, a team-first mentality and meticulous attention to detail.

Key responsibilities:
• Manage relationships with the many and varied communities in Hampstead and Kilburn;
• Monitor local media and work with stakeholders in the constituency to ensure our office is aware of ongoing issues;
• Ensure local stakeholders are kept up-to-date with the latest relevant news from Parliament and maintain databases of contacts;
• Arrange and assist with surgeries, public meetings and other visits, and follow up as appropriate;
• Deal professionally and confidentially with standard queries from members of the public, as well as assisting on more complex cases;
• Respond directly to constituents by phone and email, log and monitor casework progress – gathering relevant information and following up as required;
• Correspond and liaise with Government departments, executive agencies, local government and charities to resolve constituency matters;
• Ensure records are kept in line with the data protection legislation;

Skills and values:
• Sound judgement in dealing with sensitive issues;
• Strong awareness of local and national politics;
• Excellent attention to detail;
• Ability to prioritise and manage a large workload independently;
• Fluent and clear written style;
• Good communication and teamwork skills;
• Proficiency in basic IT;
• Sympathetic to the aims and values of the Labour Party;

Upon appointment you will be required to comply with the Baseline Personnel Security Standard, undertaken by the Members’ Staff Verification Office (MSVO). See Members’ Staff Verification Office (MSVO) page for further info. MPs generally pay staff in accordance with IPSA guidelines.

Closing Date: 21 June 2021

Interviews will be held in the week beginning 26 June 2021

Applicants should send their CV with a covering letter to: tulip.siddiq.mp@parliament.uk with the title “Job application: <your name>”

The covering letter should include an explanation why your skills, experience and knowledge make you suitable for this specific role for the Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn and why you would like to work in this community.

Great to be at Dafen Primary School yesterday to see them become the world’s first Global Entrecompedu Pioneer School.

Pupils, staff and many others involved with the school have worked really hard to embrace the scheme which gives children of all year groups the skills and knowledge needed to understand the world of business and commerce.

Particularly inspiring to hear directly from the children about how they put protecting the environment and collaborating with others at the centre of their work.

Congratulations to everyone involved and good luck with helping to share your experiences with other schools in the local area and across the UK and Europe!

#EntreCompEdu

#ProudMP

The post May 2021 E-Newsletter appeared first on Debbie Abrahams, MP for Oldham East and Saddleworth.

In the Queens Speech there was a noticeable absence of plans for adult social care, despite the Prime Minister saying as he entered Downing Street in 2019 “we will fix the crisis in social care once and for all” and despite promises of a White Paper since 2017. People in Nottingham and the rest of the country desperately need a social care system that is adequately funded over the long term and  free at the point of use. Everyone contributes, everyone’s covered – just like our NHS. Local councils like ours will still need to lead in this area as we are best placed to support people to be independent and live the lives they want to, given the range of ways that our wider work and partnerships touch everyone’s lives.

The pandemic has shown how important social care is for people and though social care workers do an amazing job, the growing demand alongside chronic underfunding is pushing the sector further into crisis. In March I wrote to the Government along with local Labour MPs highlighting the need for a fair and adequate funding system for social care, quoting the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) who said that £1,3 billion is needed to cover demographic and inflationary pressures in 2021, Cllr Williams has  yet to receive a reply.

Social care workers in our city support people to live well, maximising independence, choice and control. But they and the people they support, alongside their unpaid carers need a national  long term plan for social care that recognises that this is skilled  and vital work to support adults  of all ages to make their own choices, and the best of their lives at every stage.

The Government’s current approach has been the adult social care precept, hitting Nottingham’s hard pressed council tax payers. This precept represents a significant sum to local households, but makes a negligible impact on the pressures to the Council’s budget in this area. An inadequate sticking plaster that costs Nottingham tax payers dearly – hitting household incomes at a time of economic crisis.

In March I wrote to the Government highlighting the need for a fair and adequate funding system for social care that covers everyone. I have yet to receive a reply. The absence of any plans in the Queen’s Speech  makes clear that  Government is going to leave those supported by adult social care, those who are paid to care, and unpaid carers left without a long term solution to the issues they experience every day.

In Wales and Scotland their Government’s are rising to the challenges with commitments to paying care workers a real living wage and considering a “National Care Service”.

This is a real failure to grasp the reality and urgency  of the problem.

We urge the government to listen to the nation. Just as we have raised our voices when needed to defend our NHS, when we clapped for carers, we meant it. They would do well to listen – and act.

The post A Vision for Social Care appeared first on Nottingham Labour.

Worker’s Memorial Day is always a poignant moment each year. It’s an opportunity to reflect on those workers who’ve lost their lives in the workplace. It’s a chance to pay tribute to the incredible campaigning efforts of our trade union and labour movement. And it’s a chance to recommit ourselves to the fight for a better, safer world of work.

As the vaccine rollout continues across Birmingham we can start to see some light at the end of the tunnel after what has been a truly difficult year for all of us.

We all know someone whose health or employment has been affected by the events of the past 12 months, and as we look to the end of the covid restrictions I’m determined to see the government provide Birmingham with the support it needs to rebuild its healthcare and employment capacity.

While the numbers of covid patients is decreasing, our NHS will have a mountain to climb to provide care for those with other conditions whose treatment has been deferred. Recent figures show 300,000 patients now waiting a year or more to receive care as a result of the pandemic.

Please don’t hesitate to  contact me in the coming months if you have been affected by these issues and I can help in any way.

Birmingham Coronavirus Update

Following the first stage of the unlocking process, the following changes to the coronavirus restrictions came into effect on the 8th March:

• Wraparound childcare and other supervised children’s activities can resume where they enable parents to work, seek work, attend education, seek medical care or attend a support group
• Care home residents will be allowed one regular visitor provided they are tested and wear PPE
• The Stay at Home requirement will remain, but people can leave home for recreation outdoors such as a coffee or picnic with their household or support bubble, or with one person outside their household
• Some university students on practical courses will be able to return to face to face learning 

Call for an independent inquiry into the Government’s handling of the pandemic

Alongside my fellow Birmingham Labour MPs and Council leader Ian Ward, I have called for a full independent public inquiry into the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.

Many residents have raised this issue with me, and want to know why the UK had the highest death rates in the world and whether these deaths were preventable. I believe we have a duty to those who have lost loved ones to ensure a full, independent, and transparent investigation into how our country has handled the pandemic.

“The pandemic has undoubtedly presented unprecedented challenges to governments around the world. There has not been a crisis like this is living memory and combatting this deadly virus was always going to be difficult. However, it must be acknowledged that the UK has seen one of the highest death tolls in the world and questions are now rightly being asked about what led us to this position.”

You can read the full letter here.

Support for a nurses pay rise

Over the past year our health workers have given everything while under historic pressure to save lives and cope with the huge number of extra patients in our hospitals. 

After all they’ve been through it cannot be right that the 12,289 nurses in Birmingham have been offered a real terms pay cut by the government. We must do better for them than that, after all they’ve done for the country there must be a fair pay settlement.

We’ve all been encouraged to show our appreciation throughout this crisis, but claps don’t pay the bills. I sincerely hope that the government will reconsider its recommended 1% pay increase. 

Celebrating St Patrick’s Day

This St Patrick’s Day was unlike any other in generations.

Coming from an Irish family, I saw the great solidarity and cohesion of the Irish community in Britain. It is heart-warming to witness this togetherness reaffirm itself during these challenging times.

I hope that all members of the Irish community in Hodge Hill found a way to mark the day, and that next year we will be able to come together as usual! 

Fighting to safeguard employment

Second only to the health impact of Coronavirus is its impact on the economy and employment. That is why I’ve written to the Chancellor Rishi Sunak calling for a £7.8 billion Budget ‘fair share funding’ boost for our area to tackle the jobs crisis.

Businesses need help to bounce back from the Covid crisis, and we must do every we can to support them by extending the furlough scheme in a targeted way, extending business interruption and bounce back loans, enabling interest free deferral of VAT, and extending targeted business rate relief.

Alongside help for existing business we must make sure big projects such as HS2 and the Commonwealth Games deliver jobs and long term benefits for local people.

You can currently apply for one of over 200 vacancies with HS2 and its partners at the following link: https://www.hs2.org.uk/careers/careers-with-our-supply-chain/jobs

The post March Roundup appeared first on Liam Byrne MP.

The post Steve Reed calls on Council to work with residents to save South Norwood Library appeared first on Steve Reed MP.

I wanted to take a moment to explain my reasoning behind abstaining from the vote in Parliament on Wednesday (30/12) as the Governments’ Brexit deal returned to the House of Commons.

From the outset, I have sought to respect the decision of the referendum in 2016 and have been happy to work with colleagues in Parliament to deliver a compromise between those 16 million people who voted to remain in the EU, and the 17 million who voted to leave with the myriad of different options that would entail. It has become clear to me over the last 4 years that many people who voted to leave the EU in Gateshead, did so for very different reasons and with very different expectations of our future relationship ranging from close alignment like Norway, to what has now been termed a hard Brexit, essentially no formal trading relationship with the European Union, operating on basic WTO rules instead. I was re-elected to represent Gateshead at the last General Election on the pledge to respect the result of the referendum and to negotiate a deal that would meet the 6 key tests.

It would seem that successive Conservative Prime Ministers have seem set on rail-roading their respective deals through Parliament without proper scrutiny our accountability, and this week is no different. It appears to be the case that the Government may have sought to hold out for demands within the negotiations that they knew could not be agreed, around fishing quotas as an example, knowing that once these demands were dropped a deal could be agreed between both sides. They have then sought to drop these demands as Parliament goes into recess for the Christmas period, and bring back a deal of some 1200 pages for 5 hours of debate at 3 working days’ notice; 48 hours before the UK would end the transition period with no deal if this was not agreed.

The deal itself does not satisfy the 6 key tests I was elected on, and the way in which the Government appear to have manipulated the Parliamentary calendar to force MP’s into a vote quite literally between this deal or no deal, brings great shame on any type of Parliamentary Sovereignty. What we now have in the UK is Government sovereignty without proper input or scrutiny from democratically elected Members of Parliament.

To this end, I found that while a deal, even this deal, is better than a no deal, I could not in good conscience vote in favour of a deal which did not satisfy the key tests in the manifesto on which I was elected, and in essence to vote to help the Government extricate themselves from a mess entirely of their own making. It is the Government who have sought to negotiate this deal alone, it is they who have forced the timetable for approval and who have removed any Parliamentary Sovereignty and scrutiny from the timetable and it is the Government who must be judged on the success or failure of this deal.

As a local resident of Gateshead for over 40 years, I absolutely hope that this deal goes far enough to safeguard jobs and livelihoods of families across the North East. I also hope that this does not lead to shortage of supplies or price increases. This affects us all, and in many ways I do not wish the Government deal to fail to protect us from any negative consequences of it. However, with the way the whole process has been manipulated to force MP’s into a corner, and with the deal not meeting the 6 key tests set out in the manifesto on which I was elected, I could not see fit to vote in favour.

This is the Conservative Government’s deal, their deliberate mismanagement has brought it to Parliament, on a timetable manufactured by them, with no time for appropriate scrutiny, it’s their deal and they should own it!

I hope this sets out my reasoning, as ever please do get in touch should you have any further questions.

Easy level: information courses. The main goal is to inform employees and tell how to use the acquired knowledge in work. For example, to get acquainted with a new product of the company. There may not be a hero and a plot. Therefore, in the scenario it is enough to describe on which slide what to tell: for example, on the first – about the main characteristics of the product, on the second – about the advantages over competitors.

Intermediate level: motivational courses. The main goal is to motivate employees to change their approach to work or attitude to something. For example, staff do not follow fire safety rules in the workplace, and you need to motivate employees.

In such courses, the character works well – involves in training. In the material about fire safety, a fire instructor will look logical. He will tell you what the neglect of the rules leads to and how to avoid an emergency. It is also important to add more practical assignments.

Difficult level: training course. The main goal is to pump up an old skill or develop a new one. There must be a history. Here it is important to think about the plot, the conflict, the place and time of the action, the main character and more.

Below I will tell you how to write a script for a training course. If you take this height, it is easy to handle tasks easier.

The results of the step: you have determined what type of course will best solve the tasks.

The post How to write a script for an e-course appeared first on Berger.

The post Very proud day today – the law change I fought for to protect pensioners comes into force appeared first on Mark Tami.

A&E @ the Glam – Strength in Unity

I have said from the very beginning that if we are to ensure a 24 hour A&E Service at RGH then we need to forget about Party Politics, and come together to work cross-party.

We need you to play your part too, by signing the below letter. If you wish to do so then please let me know by filling in the form at the bottom of this page:

 

The configuration of Emergency NHS services across Cwm Taf Morgannwg has changed over the years – and will continue to change along with medical advances and changes in the local population. We welcome, for instance, the development of the new Major Trauma Centre at UHW, which will almost certainly save lives and we recognise that for some specialist forms of care it will be necessary to travel to a regional centre of excellence such as the Burns Unit at Morriston. We also understand that there is a UK-wide shortage of Emergency Consultants. and that Cwm Taf Morgannwg is not in a unique position with the recruitment challenges it faces,but would note that 5 of the 7 LHBs in Wales have substantially increased emergency consultant numbers over the last 6 years whereas Cwm Taf Morgannwg has not. We would argue that the uncertainty created over the future of the hospital due to the South Wales Programme has itself created a self-fulfilling prophecy about recruitment problems.

Our starting point, however, is that all NHS services should be safe, efficient and delivered as close to people’s homes as is medically and logistically feasible. Time-critical medical interventions can make the difference between life and death in many emergency situations and we are concerned that if the A&E were permanently to close at any one of the three hospitals, significant numbers of patients in some of the most deprived communities would not be able to get to an Emergency Department in time. A&E cannot be seen in isolation from other services such as GP surgeries, local minor injuries units and out-of-hours support. Additional capacity in these services would almost certainly lighten the load in the Emergency Departments, but this must be put in place before any changes to the configuration of Emergency Care is considered, let alone implemented, with evidence that they have substantially reduced the load on Emergency departments required before any changes. Changes to A&E provision at any one of the hospitals would have serious implications for other services within the hospital, including ITU and theatre and might harm the recruitment of other specialists.

There would be significant knock-on effects if the A&E at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital were to be downgraded to a Minor Injuries Unit, as the hospital would almost certainly lose its Intensive Care Unit and operating theatre. This could jeopardise the long-term future of the hospital. The RGH’s Emergency Department is the most used in the area, with roughly 65,000 attendances a year, and ranked the best in terms of viable outcomes.  We fear the two other Emergency Departments would find it impossible to cope with the additional workload and that many patients will travel instead to UHW, which is also already over-stretched. We are also concerned that extra A&E admissions to PCH and POW would put additional pressure on not just their respective A&E depts but onwards and throughout the hospital system. We are determined to work with people of all political parties and trades unions (and none) to get the best possible outcome for the communities we represent. We believe the eventual decision should be informed by clinical best practice and local experience on the ground – and not by any partisan consideration.

We are calling on the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to do the following:
1) Rule out the closure of A&E at the RGH or changing it to a 24-hour Minor Injuries Unit.
2) Reinstate the option of maintaining a full consultant-led A&E at all three hospitals. This would require a serious new attempt at recruiting Emergency Consultants who would have secure full-time permanent posts working across all three hospitals. It would also require at least a ten-year commitment to RGH so that potential staff can apply with confidence.
3) Bring forward proposals to extend the opening hours of the Minor Injuries Unit at Ysbyty Cwm Rhondda and Ysbyty Cwm Cynon and make these units more readily accessible for walk-in patients.
4) Bring forward other proposals for community health services, including improvements in the out-of-hours GP service, that might alleviate the pressure on all three A&E departments
and bring services closer to local communities.

In addition, we are calling on the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board to publish the following:
1) A socioeconomic and equality impact assessment of any proposed changes.
2) Detailed analyses of travel-to-hospital times, average ambulance response times and levels of car ownership, for all electoral wards in the area. that analyses such times during periods of poor weather.
3) Detailed statistics for levels of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, stroke and infant and adult mortality for all electoral wards in the area. and how they compare with the Welsh averages/wealthier wards in Wales.
4) An assessment of how many patients from each electoral ward would be affected by a proposal to move to an 8 to 8, and 8 to 10 and an 8 to midnight Emergency Department.
5) An assessment of capacity in the Emergency Departments at POW, PCH, and UHW and how they would cope with additional patients.
6) Statistics for the number of patients who are admitted on towards at each hospital from A&E.
7) An assessment of the impact to the Welsh Ambulance Service, Ambulance response times, handover response times, in terms of waiting times at hospitals, blue light trauma travel times
and non-emergency transport between hospitals.

The post A&E at The Royal Glam appeared first on Chris Bryant.

First of all, thank you to everyone who has sent such kind messages to me after last night’s result in Birmingham Northfield. Even though I never took this election – or any election – for granted, it is still a big blow to lose the seat I have represented for 27 years and which is […]

Labour has pledged compensation packages for millions of women hit by state pension age rises imposed by the Tories.

Pay-outs of up to £31,000 will be made, with an average payment of £15,000.

The scheme will be delivered within Labour's first full five year term of government.

Payments will go to women born in the 1950s who had their state pension age hiked.

David Cameron's coalition government presided over a change in the law that increased the women's state pension age to 65 in November 2018 - followed by 66 in October 2020.

Labour will introduce a compensation scheme as rapidly as possible for the 3.7million women hit by the changes, which Cameron's Tory-Lib Dem government imposed in 2011.

It comes after Boris Johnson u-turned on his pledge to help those affected.

He dismissed the concerns of a woman who has lost out on her pension, telling her it’s “not possible” to right the huge wrong she and so many others have suffered.

The next Labour government will compensate women who were unfairly hit by the rise in the state pension age and give them the respect they deserve.

They were not able to prepare and have had to suffer serious financial consequences as a result.

We have a historic debt of honour to them.