This week I have had 15-year-old on work experience with me. Sometimes, these weeks can be time consuming and tricky but I have to say, she has been a delight and has fitted into the team well with enthusiasm and has contributed much over the week. Working in Parliament is a privilege for me and the team and I am pleased that she has certainly appreciated how lucky she has been this week.
Monday was an education focused day with departmental questions – I asked about pushing my Not in School Register forward – and I spent time on the Education Select Committee’s childcare inquiry report where we go line-by-line through the report and make changes. We were interrupted by the last votes on the Illegal Migration Bill and had to reconvene on Tuesday at 8.30am before the actual Education Select Committee started at 9.30am.
The Illegal Migration Bill is now complete. I hope that it does deter people coming in by small boats as we need to stop the trafficking of people but we also need to look at other ways of building capacity and resilience in the countries that they have come from, especially countries like Turkey, Egypt and Albania where they are safe. There is still an issue with Rwanda but that is based around the issue of whether Rwanda will be deporting any individuals that we have sent there. All the Court of Appeal judges agreed that we can send people to Rwanda. I am assured by the Attorney General that this will not be a problem when it goes to the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, we discussed maths to 18 in the Education Select Committee. England is an outlier in this. I think it is a good thing if there are various maths courses that will engage young people and make it relevant to whatever they want to do. It has been something that I recommended in my policy document three years ago.
Later, I had a FCDO question and asked about what the British Government was doing to stop the illegal settlements in Palestine. There were seven questions on issues in Palestine. A Palestinian family that I visited in Jerusalem seven years ago has been evicted. Sadly, when I visited, settlers had already encroached on the property and were hanging washing over the internal courtyard and making life miserable for the family. We need to uphold international law and ask the settlers to return to within Israel’s borders. The rapid increase in settlements is leading to further unrest and we are worried about another Intifada.
I then asked the Defence Secretary about the latest Defence Command Paper and brought up Rick Haythornwaite’s review that has excellent recommendations around what is impacting on our soldiers, sailors, and aviators. Accommodation is something that comes up at every base I visit with the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme.
I then went on to see the new hospital programme and they showed how a modern hospital can be built. The money is ready for the new Winchester/Basingstoke hospital and I hope that we can start as soon as possible. These hospitals are being built with ensuite rooms for all patients and modern operating theatres and equipment. There is a consultation on whether it should be built at the Basingstoke site or off Junction 7 on the M3. I am pushing for the latter as it should give easy access for constituents with plenty of parking and public transport. Afterwards, Maria Miller and I had a meeting with the Minister concerned and the leaders of the countrywide hospital programme who are very keen to get started too.
On Wednesday we had a Public Accounts Committee meeting on the Government’s Active Travel programme. I am a supporter of active travel, trying to make it easier for people to walk and wheeling – they call it wheeling to make it more inclusive – for work, school and leisure. I cycle in London, which is now very well set up for commuting by bike but there are still issues in rural areas to make cycling
I asked a question about whether a 20mph limit in towns and villages makes a difference. Apparently 70% more children walk to school in a 20mph zone and I certainly feel safer cycling in London where it is 20mph. The last PMQs was a rowdy occasion this week and the Prime Minister in the evening addressed Conservatives about what we had achieved in his first eight months, which has been considerable.
Lastly, we had disappointing results in a couple of constituencies but were pleased to win in Uxbridge. The turnout was very low and I hope that we can reverse the vote at the General Election. There is a lot of work to do and we will continue to listen to constituents to try to get policy right.
Have a good although wet weekend.
