Parliament returned this week after Easter Recess with an early recall to pay tribute to the life of HRH Prince Philip.
On Tuesday I spent the day meeting with local businesses on zoom to discuss their plans for reopening now that COVID restrictions have eased. It was good to hear that many of them have ambitious plans for getting back to work and in some cases even creating new jobs locally. I want to thank them all for doing the best they can for their workforce and the local economy during extremely difficult times and I promised to take their concerns back to the Government and the GMCA.
On Wednesday the Science and Technology Committee met to discuss alternative fuels and move to net-zero in areas like haulage and freight – I asked questions about how we build this infrastructure and what it means for consumers. I’d like to see some of the new jobs created by this technology come to our area so I’m keen to understand what we need to do to get in on the ground floor of the Green Industrial Revolution.
Later in the day I spoke in two debates – one on lobbying and another on the future of the Armed Forces.
On Thursday I had my weekly catch up with the team at the Ministry of Justice where I support the Secretary of State as his PPS. At the moment our department is taking two really important Bills through Parliament; one reforming the law on Domestic Abuse and another reforming the law around police and sentencing to ensure that crime is properly charged and the police properly supported.
Locally my team met with the Community Safety Team to talk about how we tackle antisocial behaviour in our communities, Heywood in particular. It was a productive meeting and we’ll continue to work with them and the Police to do whatever we can.
In the afternoon I joined an evidence session of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Beer to hear from brewers about the challenges they’ve faced as a result of the pandemic and hear their thoughts on what can be done to help the hospitality sector as we get back to normal.
On Friday I met with members of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Local Government which I chair, to plan our next evidence session where we’ll be looking at the future of social care – this is a non-political committee and we hope to make recommendations to the Government which will give people more security and certainty when they need to call on the care system.
Later in the day I had a meeting with the charity “Business in the Community” to hear about the work they’re doing to encourage corporate social responsibility in Heywood and Middleton and then finally it was on the Lancashire Fold in Alkrington to meet with the MD of JW Lees, William Lees-Jones to talk about reopening the hospitality sector locally and have a pint to celebrate the relaxation of COVID rules.
Saturday was a day of team-building and training with my team – I’d like to put on record how proud of them and how hard they’ve worked throughout the current crisis and we’ll all continue to do our very best for you throughout.
