Last week in Westminster saw legislation that I have been leading on debated in the House of Commons and several important announcements that will help make key public services fit for the future.
On Monday, the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill passed its Second Reading and will now move to the Committee Stage. As my blog subscribers will know, bringing forward this Bill is one of my current responsibilities as a Minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, and will play a crucial role in helping the Government to crack down on fraud against the public purse which has risen to £55 billion per year. The legislation will give us powers to search premises, seize evidence and use digital technology to identify and and bring fraudsters to justice. It will also enable us to deliver on our manifesto pledge to tackle fraud and recover waste from the pandemic, which the Tories shamefully failed to address.
Later on Monday, the Minister for School Standards, Catherine McKinnell, gave a statement on plans to strengthen accountability and intervention in our schools. The minister confirmed that new Ofsted report cards will replace the crude and outdated ‘one word’ grading system, providing parents with a more complete picture of how a school is performing and speeding up intervention in schools when it is needed. The new report card system will help drive high and rising school standards, which is key to achieving our mission to break down barriers to opportunity and make sure that there is no class ceiling on the ambitions and outcomes for our young people.
On Tuesday, the Government confirmed that a National Cancer Plan will be published later this year which will seek to make Britain a world-leader in fighting the disease on all fronts – through better research, diagnosis, screening, treatment and prevention. The timely statement on World Cancer Day coincided with important announcements on how we will step up our fight against cancer, including the launch of a cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence trial to catch breast cancer earlier and the re-establishment of the children and young people’s cancer taskforce. Lord Darzi’s landmark review into the NHS found that the UK has “appreciably higher” cancer mortality rates than other countries and so it is crucial that we take urgent action in this space.
I was pleased to get some time away from my ministerial duties to meet with Manchester Friends of the Earth campaigners, Pete Abel and Cat Thomson, on Tuesday morning to discuss the importance of insulating homes in Britain. Decarbonising home heating is a key part of the government’s plans to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Pete, Cat and I discussed the pressing need to improve home energy efficiency and how the Government is making strides forward through our Warm Homes Plan, which will see an extra £6.6 billion invested over the next parliament to upgrade five million homes and cut bills for families and working people.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons approved a £1.1 billion funding boost for police forces in England and Wales. I welcome that Greater Manchester Police will receive an extra £53.4 million as part of this, which will provide much needed investment so that we can put more bobbies on the beat and make our streets safer. Concerns about anti-social behaviour and crime are two of the top issues in my casework mailbox and so I am fully behind the Government increasing police investment, which will enable us to bolster community policing with 13,000 additional neighbourhood police and PCSOs, halve both knife crime and violence against women and girls within a decade, get tougher on offenders, and give people more confidence that law and order has returned to our streets.
On Thursday, Development Minister, Annelise Dodds, responded to an Urgent Question about President Donald Trump’s alarming suggestion that the United States should ‘take over’ Gaza and relocate Palestinians to neighbouring Arab countries. I welcome the minister leaving no doubt that the Government does not share this view and is steadfastly supportive of achieving a two-state solution with a sovereign Palestinian state including the West Bank and Gaza, alongside a safe and secure Israel. Palestinians must be able to return home and rebuild their homes and lives, and we will continue to work with our international partners to make sure that the ceasefire is implemented in full and the surge of emergency aid is able to reach Gaza civilians.
Back in the constituency on Friday, I was delighted to visit the offices of Mitsubishi Electric at Trafford Park. The company currently employs 85 people in Stretford & Urmston and has trained more than 10,000 people to become heat pump engineers since opening their office in 2000. It is brilliant to see Mitsubishi investing heavily in helping Britain reach net zero and drive clean growth, which includes utilising virtual reality and digital tools to upskill our young people and create new well paid and sustainable green jobs.
I finished Friday afternoon by holding casework surgeries with Old Trafford and Stretford constituents. My surgeries always cover a wide range of issues and this week local business challenges, housing and health were the main focus. My casework team are helping me to take forward these cases, which includes writing to the Health Secretary to ask him to consider expediting the review process for approving eye cancer treatments, raising various maintenance and service issues on behalf of Bath Crescent residents, and contacting the Greater Manchester Combined Authority about business growth opportunities and support.
Andrew Western MP
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