Keep up to date with the latest news from around Denton & Reddish

This week in Denton & Reddish
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** Dear Constituent,
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Welcome to Denton and Reddish Weekly News, I hope you've had a lovely week. This weekend there's lots of Christmas lights being switched on across Denton and Reddish. Scroll down to the community board to find out more.

Also, a reminder that time is running out to nominate your favourite businesses for the 2021 Local Business Awards. We've now had over 3,500 nominations, and more than 200 businesses are in the running! If you know a business that deserves recognition, click here ([link removed]) to get involved.
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Headlines


** Gwynne opposes 'damaging' Health and Care Bill
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Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, has joined Unite the union ([link removed]) in opposing the Conservative’s Health and Care Bill, which was debated in the Commons for the last time by MPs this week.

The Bill, which has faced a large amount of criticism from health and union leaders, will restructure large parts of the NHS, and proposes to establish 42 independently run Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) to cover the whole of England. Gwynne has previously written about his concerns that these ICSs may have on the already-integrated care in Tameside.

Critics have also argued that the Bill will pave the way for private companies in the UK to play a larger part in public healthcare services. There are no safeguards in the bill to prevent contracts being handed out without proper tendering processes, and the Bill also hands unprecedented powers to the Secretary of State for Health, Sajid Javid.

Additionally, the Bill does not make any specific references to slashing waiting times, and only references workforce planning once.

Commenting on the proposed bill, Andrew Gwynne said:

“This is the wrong bill at the wrong time, and doesn’t prioritise the things that desperately need sorting – such as record waiting lists, missed A&E and cancer targets, and a totally broken social care system.

Instead, this Bill will see even more contracts awarded to private companies without proper scrutiny, and give the Health Secretary totally unnecessary powers to intervene in the operational independence of our health care system.

This Government has systematically underfunded the NHS for over a decade, and now risks exacerbating the problems they helped create with this poorly formulated and extremely damaging Bill.

I am proud to be joining fellow colleagues and Unite in opposing this Bill.”

Jacalyn Williams, Unite national officer, added:

“The Westminster government’s new Health and Care Bill is a Trojan horse for more privatisation, cronyism, austerity and a licence for politicians to run down and sell off the NHS.

“Attempting to drive this through whilst we are still in the middle of a pandemic and without a care for staff and patients is a disgrace, Unite is opposed to this disgraceful bill and we will lead a serious and effective campaign to ensure this bill is stopped.

“We need you all to act now, wherever you work, whichever sector, community, retired, or young members we need you all to get involved and defeat these plans that will give our NHS to profiteers at the expense of staff and all patients."

Pictured: Gwynne joined Unite at a parliamentary event to oppose the Bill


** Gwynne backs campaign to protect shopworkers from abuse
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Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish, last week met with Co-op staff in Audenshaw to discuss the issue of attacks and abuse of shopworkers.

Gwynne’s visit was in support of National Respect for Shopworkers Week, and the #FreedomFromFear ([link removed]) campaign organised by the USDAW trade union. The campaign calls on the Government to introduce more robust legislation to protect shopworkers from abuse.

Gwynne has long been an advocate of doing more to clamp down on abuse in retail. Earlier this year, he backed Olivia Blake’s Private Member’s Bill which aims to create a specific offence relating to verbal and physical abuse of public-facing workers in the course of their employment. He has also addressed the topic in his work with the Home Affairs Select Committee in Parliament.

Retail crime has increased rapidly over the course of the pandemic. The Co-op has seen a 650% rise in violence towards its staff between 2016 and 2020. Over half of the physical attacks staff have faced involve weapons. More broadly, the British Retail Consortium estimates that the continued rising trend in incidents of violence and abuse amounts to the equivalent of over 50 incidents an hour (or almost one a minute during a typical 9-hour shopping day).

Commenting on these statistics, and his visit to the Co-op, Andrew Gwynne said:

“These statistics are absolutely sickening. The fact that shop workers and front-facing retail staff are having to deal with this kind of treatment on a daily basis is absolutely unacceptable.

I’m grateful to the Co-op and to USDAW for raising awareness of this, and it was great to meet with staff at Audenshaw Co-op to discuss what more needs to be done.

We need to see much stricter legislation which makes it clear that this abuse will not be tolerated. No one should face abuse at their place of work. It’s as simple as that.”

Pictured: Gwynne with Co-op staff and USDAW representatives discussing the spike in retail abuse.


** Gwynne calls for urgent review of Heaton Chapel Low Traffic Scheme after ambulance concerns

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Andrew Gwynne, MP for Denton and Reddish has called for an urgent review into the trial Heaton Chapel Low Traffic Neighbourhood scheme following receipt of a letter from the Chief Executive of North West Ambulance Service raising concerns about delayed response times in the area.

Andrew Gwynne said:

“Everybody wants to see safer low traffic neighbourhoods, and the concept of reducing rat-running and enhancing road safety for residents is an absolutely sound one.

However, concerns have been raised for some time about problems with ambulances being stuck at roadblocks. Every time I’ve raised residents’ concerns with the Ambulance Service, they’ve told me there wasn’t an issue. This has been really frustrating for residents who’ve been insisting there was a problem.

I welcome the fact NWAS has now investigated thoroughly and actually have recognised the residents’ concerns are well founded. This obviously raises issues for the service in how the delays weren’t being properly recorded in the first instance which led to incorrect information being circulated to both Stockport Council and to me as the MP.

However I’ve always said that Stockport should judge the success or otherwise of this trial on evidence, and the new NWAS advice is clear: the scheme is causing issues for the delivery of their service. The temporary measures are coming out next week but there absolutely needs to be an urgent investigation into these concerns before Stockport Councillors decide whether to install permanent features in Heaton Chapel. The NWAS information is a critical part of that, and I want and expect to see these concerns addressed to the residents’ satisfaction.”

Read More of This Week's Stories ([link removed])
Andrew in the Constituency


** Getting active with Living Streets 🚴‍♀️ 🚶‍♀️
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This morning I’ve been out with the team from Living Streets ([link removed]) at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School Reddish ([link removed]) to promote walking and cycling to school.

It was great to meet “Strider” and the pupils, who use the Travel Tracker app to show how they got to school. What a great, fun, initiative by Living Streets and Transport for Greater Manchester ([link removed]) ! 👟


** A festive Worker Bee Market 🎅🏻
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On Saturday it was fantastic to visit the Reddish Worker Bee Markets ([link removed]) - the last one until March, and with 60 stalls offering all kinds of festive fare this was the biggest yet!

Well done to Clare Simpson for organising another great event which always attracts great local producers, and for inviting me again. #ShopLocal ([link removed])


** Celebrating the fantastic British Motorcycle Preservation Society 🏍
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On Saturday I also went over to Dukinfield to catch up with Alan Coates and the British Motorcycle Preservation Society at the Globe Cafe.

Alan is handing over a cheque for £2,256 to Prostate Cancer UK ([link removed]) .

In total almost £16,000 has been raised by the group for this good cause. A fantastic achievement by all. Seriously well done! Jonathan Reynolds MP ([link removed]) and I are proud to support you.👏🏻

Andrew in Parliament
📺 WATCH: The extra funding to tackle the cancer backlog is welcome, but where’s the promised implementation plan to get on top of the problem? Meanwhile, the targets continue to be missed which can have devastating consequences for patients.
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📺 WATCH: At Home Office Questions I ask about the increasing use of hotels for asylum accommodation. The root cause is the Government’s abject failure to process applications quickly. Despite the rhetoric, decisions made within 6 months have fallen from 87% (2014) to just 20% (2019).

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🧺 It was great to head to a parliamentary event on Tuesday and show my support for The Microplastic Filters (Washing Machines) Bill. If successful, this Bill would require manufactures to fit microplastic-catching filters to new domestic and commercial washing machines.

Microplastic fibre pollution is one of the most pervasive and preventable forms of pollution. The Tame Valley is one of the most polluted rivers in the country, and I feel really strongly that we need to be doing more to protect our rivers and local environment.

This Bill, being supported by the Women’s Institute and introduced by Alberto Costa, is a cross-party effort and would make a real difference if implemented.

Andrew in the media

📰 READ: Thanks to the Tameside Reporter ([link removed]) for allowing me to give my thoughts on the Health and Social Care Bill, which was debated in Parliament this week. You can read my full article here ([link removed]) .
Community Board


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Local author Leanne Brown has started writing a fantastic series of books to promote, help and raise awareness for mental health in children. Leanne wants to bring these books to schools, parents and organisations to help promote mental health in children.

You can find out more, including how to buy the books, on her website. ([link removed])

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Andrew Gwynne
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Manchester, Greater Manchester M34 3DY
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