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MP’s UPDATE FOR RESIDENTS

March 2024

 

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You can find previous reports of my work on my web site; [www.ruthcadbury.co.uk]([link removed]) I also report regularly on my [Facebook page]([link removed]) and via [Twitter](mailto:@RuthCadbury) and Instagram @RuthCadbury.

If you would like to raise issues with me as your MP Please email on [email protected] with your address, a quick summary of the issue (and relevant reference numbers).

See my [Web page]([link removed])for information on local and national services.

 

Gaza

I know how strongly many constituents feel about the need for an urgent humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, thank you to all those who have emailed me. I added my name to an amendment which called for this and also demanded that hostages be returned, that aid urgently gets to Gaza, that Israel complies with the International Court of Justice and ends settlement expansion and for the UK Government to work internationally on a route to a two-state solution.

Over February I specifically focussed on the need to ensure that urgent aid and medical supplies can reach Gaza - as the current situation is beyond breaking point and we need to see far far more aid getting in. I’ve written directly to the Foreign Secretary David Cameron to raise this, and the need for extra medical care. In the House of Commons I asked the Development Minister Andrew Mitchell about the specific problem facing children who were being operated on without anaesthetic.

The scale of the deaths, destruction and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank has been shocking and I will continue to raise these issues directly with the Government.

MY PARLIAMENTARY ACTIVITY IN FEBRUARY

For full details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, get regular updates about my Parliamentary activities [TheyWorkForYou]([link removed]) (votes) or see [Hansard]([link removed]) (speeches) & on [YouTube]([link removed])

In the Chamber:

- At Environment questions – raising the issue of fly-tipping, I challenged Ministers to respond to the [Public Accounts Committee 2023 report on waste reforms]([link removed]) that were first launched in 2018. (PAC was concerned there had been little progress)
- Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary appears to have no discernible strategy for road transport, apart from weaponizing policies by local authorities that seek to make walking and cycling safer, and bus use easier. I challenged him on this at Transport questions
- In Justice questions [I challenged the Justice Secretary](#contribution-11635115-D8D8-4AF9-B0F6-25F23F3D0889) over the re-offending rate of prisoners and the poor support they get preparing for release
- Changes to the Teachers Pension Scheme somehow managed to leave out music hubs such as the wonderful Hounslow Music Service, so I have written to the Education Secretary about this anomoly
- I’ve again written to the Housing Minister on behalf of constituents struggling to get the developer of their flats (Bellway this time) to do the repairs needed to make their block fire-safe
- I wrote again to the Housing Minister on behalf of leaseholders in two blocks still in limbo, awaiting fire safety repairs as they are no further forward than when I first wrote last summer.

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I welcomed several groups of local children to Parliament last month; Brentford’s Brownies and Guides, Hogarth Youth Club, and year 11 students from Chiswick School. I also visited Orchard Primary School in Hounslow, and St Mary’s in Isleworth.

 

COMMUNITY UPDATE

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Pernod Ricard employ 500 staff at their offices in Chiswick Business Park. They briefed me on their extensive range of (mainly) spirits and reckon last year’s duty hike on spirits had the effect of actually reducing the tax paid to the Treasury.

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Whitton ward, including the High Streetwill be in the redrawn Brentford & Isleworth parliamentary constituency, and I spent a happy morning getting to know some of the businseses, and doing a bit of shopping.

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Shooting Star Hospice Charity is the children’s hospice serving North West London. On my visit I was briefed on their full range of services; the majority of which are funded by charitable donations and not the NHS. They not only provide palliative care to terminally ill children (usually at their home) but also respite care and support to parents and siblings of children with life-limiting conditions, and bereavement support for the families of children who have died (whatever the cause).

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The Circle Café in South Ealing provides young people in Mental Health crisis with a welcoming safe space to go when they need it. Funded and provided by Mind it serves young people from across 4 boroughs.

I met senior managers of Lloyds bank to reflect constituents’ anger about the permanent closure of their bank in Chiswick. They are not going to reverse their decision, but we did explore the concept of a banking hub to cover those areas where there are no banks at all (Isleworth and Brentford is now a banking desert).

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Clayponds Community Centre is now providing a food-bank (no referral needed) every Tuesday afternoon, as well as other services such as debt and benefit advice, community safety and more. It’s good to see they have also got funding for a range of Youth activities for local young people.

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The Set to Stun Exhibition at Gunnersbury Park Museum is a wonderful look at the designing and filming of Sci-Fi in West London. It explains about the props that were made locally and the familiar places where filming took place. The exhibition is on until 7th June – plenty of time to meet the Daleks…...

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Hounslow Arts Centre, on the 1st floor of Hounslow's Treaty Centre, has a range of wonderful activities; from wellbeing coffee sessions, to supporting creative people and performances. The team told me when we met that they hope to have a permanent home on the site after it's redeveloped. Meanwhile they are starting to look for an interim base to ensure their great work can continue without disruption.

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The Annual West London Business Awards at Twickenham Stadium again celebrated not only innovation and enterprise, but also the support business gives to the community. Winners included Spark!, the Education Business Partnership for West London, that provides work experience opportunities for young people and helps them build their confidence in preparing for the world of work.

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Hounslow Citizens came to Parliament to ask me to support their current campaigns; to encourage the Council to consider developing a Youth Zone for the borough, for better conditions for Asylum Seekers at the Home-Office hotels and for all Care Workers to be paid the Living Wage. I will continue to work with Citizens on these issues.

Hounslow Council appear to have succeeded in ensuring that the families awaiting asylum decisions and living in Home Office Hotels locally will only be moved locally in West London and not round the country so children can remain at the schools they’ve been at for at least a year (my news last month). However I am disappointed to hear from teachers worried about one family, that once getting refugees status, Hounslow is rehousing families hundreds of miles away. I have raised this concern with the Council.

With best wishes

PS: Do let me know what you think of these updates!

CONTACT ME

KEEPING IN TOUCH: To Contact Me – My MP Office email is [email protected] I welcome the opportunity to attend community events to catch up with residents. Or if you have concerns where you need my support, do include your address so I know you or they are a constituent, and any relevant reference numbers; DWP/Home Office etc. Please do share this information with neighbours and local friends who need support from me.

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Printed from an email sent by Ruth Cadbury MP 367 Chiswick High Road
London, LON W4 4AG
United Kingdom