A busy week in Parliament and the Constituency.
Although Parliament didn’t formally re-open until Tuesday, I was back at my desk on Monday helping to prepare for the State Opening, with a series of departmental meetings in the Ministry of Justice.
On Tuesday the Queen officially opened the new session of Parliament with a special socially distanced ceremony. Normally MPs would be able to troop into the House of Lords to watch, but because of Covid restrictions, it was ticket only, so I had to make do with a sneaky peek as I accompanied the Lord Chancellor on his procession to the chamber.
Later in the day I had a meeting with PPP a charity focused on parenting to discuss how we can work more family-friendly policies into our ongoing discussion about the future of care.
On Wednesday I had a very positive meeting with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham about how we get jobs and investment into Middleton and regenerate the town. A part of this plan could see Metrolink come to the town centre and I thanked Andy for funding a feasibility study.
Later in the day I had meetings about environmental policy, the situation in Israel, the Online Harms Bill and the future of the BBC.
On Thursday I had more departmental meetings in the Ministry of Justice, in particular discussing the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which will be going to Committee Stage next week and which I’ll be helping to take through as PPS.
On Thursday evening I headed back up North for a busy weekend in the constituency.
On Friday Morning I visited the DWP team at JobCentre Plus in Heywood to hear about all the work they’ve done to support people through the pandemic and how they’re helping people back into work as things return to normal. I thanked them for their dedication and I have to say I was absolutely bowled over by the enthusiasm and passion of the team.
Later on I met with PLP construction in Heywood to talk about a range of issues, including their work in the community and how they’ve reinvested in Heywood over the years. We also discussed apprenticeships, the construction industry more generally and challenges around crime locally.
Lastly I met with the leadership of Hopwood Hall College at their Middleton campus. As well as talking about new qualifications such as T-Levels, we talked about the work they did to support their students through the crisis and heard about their phenomenal success despite recent challenges.
We also had a meeting about a special project which is very exciting and I can’t wait to say more about soon.
As always, my team and I are here to help, so if you do have any concerns, queries or thoughts, please do get in touch.
