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MP’S UPDATE FOR RESIDENTS - JULY  2021

You can find previous reports of my work on my web site;
www.ruthcadbury.co.uk [1] I also report regularly on my Facebook page [2]
and via Twitter [3] and Instagram @RuthCadbury [4]. You can see full
details of my questions and speeches in Parliament, and get Regular updates
about my Parliamentary activities on TheyWorkForYou [5]in Hansard [6]and on
YouTube [7]

I PLAN TO RESTART FACE-TO-FACE SURGERIES AS SOON AS IT IS SAFE. MEANWHILE I
AM HAPPY TO MEET CONSTITUENTS EITHER BY PHONE, OR ON-LINE, TO DISCUSS YOUR
CONCERNS. PLEASE EMAIL ME ON [email protected] WITH YOUR ADDRESS,
A QUICK SUMMARY OF THE ISSUE AND RELEVANT REFERENCE NUMBERS.  

SEE MY SPECIAL CORONAVIRUS WEB-PAGE [8] FOR INFORMATION ON

LOCAL AND NATIONAL SERVICES, HELP-LINES AND VOLUNTEERING;

 AND TO SIGN UP FOR HOUNSLOW COUNCIL’S DAILY UPDATES.

DEAR RESIDENT

THE PRIVATE LIVES OF CABINET MINISTERS should be of no concern to us,
unless they shine a light on corruption at the top of government, as Matt
Hancock's has done. From £million contracts given to old friends and their
family members, to rewriting Planning Law to suit developer donors or the
Tory Party; this Government is undermining any respect that British people
(and those in other countries) can have of our Government. Last year I told
Ministers in Parliament that their reckless approach to taxpayers' money
was betraying the trust of people across the country. And in June the High
Court ruled that the Government acted unlawfully in the awarding of public
contracts. Yet another sign of how the Government have abandoned the basic
principles that underpin public service.

ON THE 14 JUNE, FOUR YEARS SINCE THE HORRIFIC FIRE AT GRENFELL TOWER, we
remembered the 72 people who died, the responders, the survivors and their
families and friends. I was at St John's church in Isleworth when vicar
David Maclure, joined others in churches across the country and tolled the
bell 72 times, with another four to mark the passing of the years.

The Grenfell fire exposed a national scandal of building safety failures
which is impacting on so many constituents. I am regularly hearing from
leaseholders and tenants in flats deemed to be unsafe and have raised their
plight in Parliament on many occasions. A succession of Ministers including
the PM, have said leaseholders shouldn't have to pay, yet the funding the
Government have provided only addresses a fraction of the problem.
Furthermore, Housing Associations are required to fund the full costs for
tenanted properties, which destroys their development programme for new
social rent programmes.

WE HAVE EXCELLENT SCHOOLS IN HOUNSLOW, and I'm delighted that Chiswick
School was shortlisted in the TES awards for best Secondary School of the
year. Although they weren't the outright winner, this was an incredible
achievement for Head, Laura Ellener, and the tireless work of her staff and
the students and parents at the school since she arrived only two and a
half years ago.

All schools and students have had the most challenging 16 months in
dealing with Covid, made far worse by the way the Government have managed
the pandemic and failed our young people. Even when they appointed Sir
Kevan Collins as the School Recovery Commissioner to advise them, he said
£15bn was needed (in line with other countries), but the Government only
committed a tenth of that. Collins had no choice but to resign.

Meanwhile in June, LABOUR’S SHADOW EDUCATION SECRETARY, KATE GREEN,
LAUNCHED AN AMBITIOUS PLAN that not only tackles the impact of covid-19 on
young people but addresses the decade of Government cuts to our schools.
Labour's plan includes: Breakfast clubs & after school activities, Mental
health support, Training & development for teachers, Tutoring & investment
for children who need it most, and Free school meals over the holidays.

You can read more about Labour's new plan here [9]

MY PARLIAMENTARY WORK IN JUNE:

* My first outing at the DESPATCH BOX SINCE RETURNING TO THE FRONT BENCH
was for Housing Communities & Local Government (MHCLG) ministerial
questions. I challenged the Planning Minister Chris Pincher, who I now
shadow, about the need for environmental protections and targets within the
planning system. I questioned the Government's commitment to net zero given
that the Government had not refused an application for a new coal mine in
Cumbria
* I closed the Opposition Day debate on Planning Reform and focussed on
the importance of LOCAL DEMOCRACY IN THE PLANNING SYSTEM
* When Clive Betts MP presented his HCLG Select Committee's report into
the GOVERNMENT’S PLANNING REFORM WHITE PAPER I picked up on the
Government's lack of detail on Climate Change, and "Levelling Up"
* In a Statutory Instrument" (Regulation) session on PLANNING FEES FOR
PERMITTED DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS (PDR), I noted the impact that PDR has had on
communities since planning permission is no longer required for change of
use of premises from shops, offices etc into housing. This is already
having an impact on High Streets, as will as enabling sub-standard homes to
be allowed, and all changes can happen without any public scrutiny
* I spoke in a JUSTICE DEBATE and expressed my concerns about delays in
the court system especially for crimes involving violence against women &
girls, as well as the need to deliver justice for victims of road traffic
collisions.
* In June I twice spoke up for AIRPORT COMMUNITIES; first during a debate
on aviation/travel and tourism, and then challenging Transport Secretary
Grant Shapps at an Urgent Question session on the need to extend furlough
and Covid recovery schemes to travel and aviation sectors. This is
particularly important in communities like Hounslow, which now has one of
the highest levels of unemployment in the UK, which will get worse once the
current furlough scheme ends in September.
* The situation for the UIGHURS AND OTHER ETHNIC MINORITY GROUPS in
western China is getting ever more critical. I spoke about gender-based
violence against the Uyghur women and challenged the Government to address
this specific issue.
* I wrote to Health Minister about research funding for Motor Neurone
Disease

COMMUNITY UPDATE

As Covid restrictions ease, I am now able to attend more "in-person"
events. It's so good to meet people in person!

After 220 years Hounslow's Cavalry Barracks is closing and the large site
in Hounslow West is to be developed for housing. The barracks was built in
1793 in the wake of the French Revolution, to guard against the dual
threats of foreign invasion and domestic sedition, and most of its
buildings are listed. With Seema Malhotra MP, and Hounslow's Mayor and
senior Councillors, I attended the event to mark the closure of the
Barracks. We were treated to an incredible musical parade from the Irish
Guards' band. The 1st Battalion Irish Guards have been based at the
Barracks for six years, but will now be moving to their new home in
Aldershot

SCHOOL VISITS

I VISITED THE GREEN SCHOOLS FOR GIRLS & FOR BOYS to hear from their
students about the Diversity Fortnight they held on Cultural, LGBT+ and
Ability Diversity. Students of all ages in both schools had been taking
part in a variety of projects in promoting and celebrating the diversity of
their school community. The Boys School steel pan band performance was
excellent. As it was also Windrush Day, I learned of the work that some of
the girls had been doing about the Caribbean arrivals to the UK in the 50s
and 60s. I particularly enjoyed hearing about the personal connections that
one of the girls had to the Windrush generation.

AT CHISWICK SCHOOL DURING THEIR DIVERSITY WEEK I met the Current Affairs
GCSE group who told me about the work they had done to address sexual abuse
and violence in and outside school. They also quizzed me about Palestine. I
then met the school's self-organised Rainbow Alliance Group of LBGTQ+
students. They raised a number of issues including; gender neutral toilets,
access to sanitary products, LGBTQ+ in the curriculum, heteronormative
society and neuro divergency. It was great to hear their thoughts on where
they believed both government and society could improve on LGBT+ rights and
how that could be achieved.

AT MARLBOROUGH SCHOOL I MET YEAR 6 STUDENTS to hear their concerns about
climate change and be quizzed on what I had done, and how I could support
them in doing more locally.

With COP26 not far off, they are rightly concerned about global and local
environment issues; climate change, traffic congestion and pollution,
littering, fly tipping, plastics and recycling.

UNSUBSCRIBE [10]

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




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