The Cabinet and wider ministerial reshuffle captured the headlines this week.
This does cause an element of disruption but it was right the PM refreshed his team.
Some of this disruption came my way when I had a good meeting with Luke Hall about the Waterlooville regeneration – interestingly he knew Waterlooville because he had worked there – but he has left his post as regional growth minister. Not to worry, I will be talking to his successor as soon as possible.
The Westminster week was dominated by my Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) role for the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) as we had questions on Monday and a debate on the uplift of Universal Credit on Wednesday.
I also had the Labour Market Statistics meeting at 7am on Tuesday when we looked at the employment figures and earnings. It is very good news as we emerge from the pandemic with people returning to work but there are over 1m vacancies to be filled.
I mention this because it really does tie in with the end to the uplift of £20 for Universal Credit as we push money into getting people into work and progressing them to receive higher wages.
There have been a lot of negotiations with the Treasury about this but the £6bn annual bill that the uplift will cost could be put to good use helping people get into work, have them better trained and with better prospects.
We have thousands of work coaches in job centres around the country helping individuals to get skills and placement to help them into work.
On foreign policy this week, I certainly welcome the new arrangement with Australia and the USA to build six nuclear submarines for the Royal Australian Navy. There is no doubt that the Pacific region is going to be dominated by China and we need to counter that domination and support our regional allies.
I visited Marwell Zoo with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Zoos and Aquariums to look at how we can support this area better and I was lucky enough to stroke a rhino – all politicians need to develop a rhinoceros hide to survive!
Lastly, half my tooth broke during the first two weeks of covid and I finally managed to have the other half out on Tuesday morning. I am well aware of all the issues with dentists during the pandemic and am very pleased they are getting back to normal.
Have a great weekend!
