Moves to bring in poverty busting change

The welfare reform bill has been back in the Commons last week and it has moved a step closer to becoming law.  The bill brings in universal credit next year which will ensure that people are always better off in work than on benefits.  It is incredible that up to now, we have spent hundreds of billions on a welfare system which has left people better off on benefits than in work. 

The bill also brought in a benefit cap which will ensure that no household on out of work benefits will receive more income from the state than the average household receives in wages.  The cap will be £26,000 a year which is equivalent to a salary of £35,000 a year.  Many of my constituents, particularly those on lower incomes have told me they are strongly in support of these measures.  I would also like to see a living wage paid to many more people and I am encouraged that a number of employers like Unilever, HSBC and KPMG have committed to do this. 

I was pleased to learn of the strong support for the welfare reforms from a head teacher of a school in Preston this week.  He was listing the challenges his school faced and the first issue he raised was the dependency culture.  He told how an able, healthy, thirteen year old boy had told him that he did not need to work hard at school as he would be on benefits when he left.  Another child in his school was ridiculed by his father for going to school as his father was not working and thought school was a waste of time.  That attitude hugely undermines the work of dedicated teachers. 

The head teacher also spoke of the challenges schools face from the breakdown of families.  I hear similar stories from head teachers in South West Bedfordshire and that is one reason why I am so grateful for the work of Two in Tune, our community family trust that gives families the skills and support to stay together.  The “Let’s stick together” courses for new parents, supported by the Department for Education and being piloted in Bedfordshire and Luton are also hugely welcome and very necessary.

Another great poverty busting and enterprise enhancing institution is the new Central Bedfordshire University Technical College coming to Houghton Regis for 14 to 19 year olds.  At present there are due to be 24 by the end of this Parliament but that is not enough if we are to get better technical vocational training than Germany.  We need University Technical Colleges across the country and I will be lobbying for more innovative ways to fund them that do not put all the cost on the public purse as we are still living way beyond our income as a country.

Linslade mother Nikki Harding who lost her twins to Group B Streptococcal (GBS) infection 12 years ago and who wrote a book “To fill a void” on her experiences has lobbied South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous in his constituency surgery to get the NHS to undertake more screening of expectant  mothers.  At present 700 babies a year are infected with GBS, and 10% die and a further 5% suffer long term problems.  In France, Spain and the USA more screening has led to dramatic falls in Group B Strep infections.

Andrew Selous and MPs, Philip Hollobone, Nia Griffith and Edward Timpson met public health minister Anne Milton at the end of last month to urge her to introduce more screening, along with representatives of the national charity Group B Strep Support.  The Department of Health has now agreed to undertake a review of all the evidence by the end of February and to put its findings to the National Screening Committee in June this year. 

Andrew Selous said “I am really grateful to Nikki Harding for very bravely raising this issue with me.  I am delighted that the Department of Health are taking it seriously and very much hope we can introduce this screening to reduce dramatically GBS infections in the UK, as has happened in other countries.”

South West Bedfordshire MP, Andrew Selous, today warmly welcomed the decision of the Planning Inspector to reject the appeal by Paul Newman New Homes to build on land at Valley Farm, which would have seen 900 houses built next to Derwent Road, Linslade.  Andrew Selous said, “I was made very well aware how unpopular this proposal was by an enormous number of people in Leighton Buzzard and Linslade.  I spoke against the developers at the Public Inquiry last year and I am delighted that commonsense has prevailed and that these houses will now not be built.  This was always a wrong development in the wrong place. “

“Central Bedfordshire Council is planning to build other houses elsewhere in our district to meet local housing need and this will bring the necessary infrastructure with it because of the introduction of the New Homes Bonus.”

Andrew Selous went on to say, “This whole saga has taken over three years and seven months to resolve and this has been a very worrying time for all the residents affected”.

A varied parliamentary week – from bedpans to the West Bank !

One of the reasons I am incredibly privileged to do my job is the sheer variety it brings with it. This last week in Parliament is a good example.  On Saturday I visited the Open Day at Houghton Regis Leisure Centre along with 700 other people.  I was thrilled to see so many people there including many who were signing up to get back into a wide range of sports.  I run before work every day Parliament sits and definitely feel better for it.

The day before I visited Intraining in Luton who are providing back to work support as part of the Government’s new Work Programme for all my constituents from Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable and Houghton Regis.  I was really impressed with the commitment of the staff and their determination to help get their clients into work.  The jobseekers I met spoke positively of their experience.  Intraining only get their final payment once they have found their client a job and helped them stay in work for a year or more.

On Tuesday morning I attended a debate on care for the dying and expressed the hope that older people would never be made to feel they were a burden and should end their lives to lessen the load on their families.  One of the most shocking stories I heard in that debate was from my colleague Penny Mordaunt, MP for Portsmouth North, who is also a hospital visitor.  She raised the case of an elderly constituent who had needed a bedpan in hospital and on the sixth time of asking was told to wet herself as it was nearly suppertime and the nurses were all busy.  I would not have mentioned this had not someone very close to me had to lie in a hospital bed in London for 45 minutes  two weeks ago with a burst stoma bag close to a large post operative wound, which he was worried would get infected,  before he was helped. 

I always love being able to give praise where it is due and last week was able to do just that for Bedfordshire Police.  Most nurses do an excellent job, but instances like the two episodes I have just recounted do need to be raised so that we can have universally high standards of hospital care.  That was why I brought up the whole issue of nursing care in the Commons on Thursday, a subject that the Prime Minister has recently raised.  We need to take some of the paperwork off nurses and ensure ward sisters are closely supervising care insisting on the highest possible standards.

On Monday night, President Abbas of Palestine came to talk to MPs.  I was very impressed with his search for peace as were the 70 or so MPs and Lords who turned up to see him.  He was very exercised about the Israeli settlement activity on the West Bank which is against international law.  If it continues, there will not be the land left for a two state solution, something which many moderate Israelis recognize.

South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous has welcomed the news of a 10-year deal between Royal Mail and the Post Office, securing the future of services without resorting to the failed closures programme which dominated Labour’s time in government.

The deal follows the Government’s other measures to protect Post Office services including additional funding, new local and national contracts, a successful piloting scheme to transform many local post offices and improvements in the services offered.

Andrew Selous said: “Over the last decade 6,500 post offices have closed nationally including post offices in Linslade, Hockliffe Street, Leighton Buzzard, High Street South Dunstable, Luton Road, Dunstable, Totternhoe, Eaton Bray and Studham.  I am delighted that there is now a commitment to keep the network at its current size of 11,500 branches.  I know how much my constituents value being able to get to a Post Office.

Friday January 27th will mark the 67th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Nazi concentration and extermination camp which is the site of the largest mass murder in history – and in the weeks running up to the day, the Holocaust Educational Trust placed a Book of Commitment in the House of Commons, giving MPs the chance to honour those who were persecuted and killed during their Holocaust and encouraging constituents to actively speak out against prejudice and bigotry today.

In signing the Book of Commitment Andrew Selous paid tribute to the extraordinary men and women who having survived the Holocaust, work to educate young people about what they endured, through the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Outreach programme.

In the weeks around Holocaust Memorial Day, thousands of commemorative events will be arranged by schools, faith groups and community organisations across the country, remembering all the victims of the Holocaust and subsequent genocides. This year, people will also be encouraged to take a stand against racism and prejudice today – and to speak out against hatred wherever they encounter it.

Andrew Selous  stated, “The Holocaust stands as a reminder to our generation that we must always stand guard against man’s inhumanity to man.”

South West Bedfordshire MP, Andrew Selous, today praised the massive 67% reduction in crime achieved in Central Bedfordshire over the last 7 months of 2011.  Andrew Selous went out with Bedfordshire Police officers on patrol in Leighton Buzzard and Dunstable last Friday evening when he learnt of this great improvement in the crime figures.  He was also told about the “Police Station Exclusion Policy” brought in by Inspector Frank Donnelly to make sure as many police officers as possible are out on the streets rather than in the police station.  This policy is particularly applied during the darker evenings from the Autumn to the Spring when most burglaries occur.

Andrew Selous said several years ago I was the victim of crime when my briefcase was stolen from my car in Leighton Buzzard.  When I went into the police station to report the crime I was surprised to see how many police officers were in the police station.  Last Friday I saw very few officers in the Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable or Biggleswade police stations. I thoroughly commend Bedfordshire Police on this excellent policy.

The exchange in Hansard between Andrew Selous MP and the Leader of the House, Sir George Young MP on Thursday 12 January 2012 was as follows: Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire) Could we have a debate on value for money and effectiveness in local policing, so that other police forces can learn from the example of Bedfordshire police, which has just cut crime by 67%? We could learn about the police station exclusion policy of inspectors such as Frank Donnelly, who has made sure that officers are out catching criminals and not inside police stations.

Sir George Young (Leader of the House): I commend the work of Inspector Frank Donnelly, who has shown that, within the challenging financial settlement that police authorities have had to live with, it is possible to reduce crime by getting officers out of the station and on to the streets. I was delighted to hear of the reduction in crime in my hon. Friend’s constituency, and I hope the example of Frank Donnelly will be copied elsewhere.

Andrew Selous called for

• Park Home residents and others relying on LPG to be fully informed of the costs of heating their homes before they buy or rent
• The Office of Fair Trading to examine more fully competition among LPG suppliers
• For the Government “green deal” on insulation to be speeded up for Park Home owners, and
• For the new renewable heat incentive to apply to Park Home owners

He also praised Aldwyck Housing Association for the photovoltaic hot water heating on all its 179 new properties in Sandringham Drive Houghton Regis which residents said lead to much lower heating bills for them last year. Andrew Selous said, “Like everyone else, I hate being cold. Hockliffe, Whipsnade and Park Home residents have to bear extra heating costs and I want to see them helped in practical and sustainable ways. I also welcome the Government’s new carbon emissions reduction target insulation programme which will also apply to Park Home owners.”

The debate in Hansard was as follows:

Debate on Energy and Climate Change – House of Commons Tuesday 20 December 2011
Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire)
I represent a constituency that has a large number of park homes, which I visit regularly. I am particularly grateful in this regard to a constituent, Mrs Lorraine Bond, who has a Whipsnade park home. She asked me to come to see her a couple of weeks ago, having corresponded with me for quite a while about the exorbitant cost of heating her home using liquid petroleum gas cylinders—this is common for many park home residents. She told me that last winter, when it was cold, she was spending £300 a month on average to keep her park home warm. It is possible to have five extremely cold months in a difficult winter in the United Kingdom, so my constituents are having to spend £1,500 to keep their park homes warm. If we bear in mind the fact that most park home residents are elderly—they tend to be pensioners—and often on low and fixed incomes, the House will realise the significance of that sum. It causes me great concern and that is why I wanted to raise the matter with the Minister today.
The Office of Fair Trading just completed its off-grid energy report in October of this year. It describes the cylinder LPG market as
“a mature and declining market”
of only some 25,000 to 50,000 homes for the 47 kg cylinders of LPG. It points out that bulk LPG is more economical and involves greater ease of delivery and handling, but even bulk LPG is more expensive than other off-grid fuels such as heating oil, about which we hear a lot in this House, solid fuel or electricity. They all, in turn, are much more expensive ways of heating one’s home than a mains gas supply connection, which many rural areas do not have.
The market for liquid petroleum gas—propane and butane in the main—is very limited. There are only three major cylinder suppliers, Calor Gas, Flogas and BP Gas, and the OFT noted that retail arrangements for cylinder LPG
“in effect require dealers to deal exclusively with one supplier.”
It notes, with considerable understatement, that
“these agreements could potentially restrict competition.”
The OFT has said that it
“may return to these issues in the context of the wider cylinder LPG market at a later date”.
It urgently needs to do so, because we are talking about very vulnerable people on low incomes with little choice about the way in which they heat their homes. Our current regulation is purely through the OFT and the Competition Commission, because Ofgem and Consumer Focus do not have a remit for this market.
What can we do? The first thing we need to do is ensure that any future potential park home residents are well aware before they move in of how much it could cost to heat their home. They need to have that knowledge before they take the decision to become a park home resident.
I was encouraged when earlier this year, on 24 March, in column 1084 of Hansard, one of the DECC Ministers said that the green deal and the energy company obligation would apply to park home residents. That is very welcome, but what has happened with the renewable heat premium payment? Some £15 million of Government money, aimed at around 25,000 homes, is due to be spent up to March next year, so have park homes been covered by that payment scheme? If they have not been, can we ensure that they are in the remaining months?
My major question for the Minister concerns whether the renewable heat incentive, which starts in March next year, will apply to park home owners. As I hope I have outlined, they are some of our most vulnerable residents who are in greatest need of the new technology and financial support that the Government are bringing in through that incentive. I understand that at the moment that decision is still, in classic Government language, “subject to policy development”, so I urge my hon. Friend the Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb), as the Minister on the Front Bench, to ensure that this group are covered. As I have said, they are the most vulnerable residents and they need this help.
A couple of weeks ago, I visited a major new development in my constituency in Houghton Regis, on Sandringham drive, where every roof—the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion (Caroline Lucas) will be pleased to hear this—had photovoltaic cells on it, leading to water heating. It did not benefit from the renewable heat incentive, but the residents told me that they had very light heating bills last year as a result of that new technology. Above all, park home residents, who are mainly pensioners and mainly on low incomes, should be the ones to benefit from the renewable heat incentive and the technology that is coming in, which could make heating their homes much more affordable.
Norman Lamb MP [responding on behalf of the Government] Finally, I will deal with the contribution of the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous). I am grateful to him for raising the concerns brought to his attention by Mrs Lorraine Bond. The amount that she and others have to pay over the winter just to heat their homes should concern us all. He is right that the recent Office of Fair Trading report highlighted that cylinder liquefied petroleum gas—
The concern is that the consumers we are talking about are mostly on very low incomes, are often elderly and struggle with their heating costs. I will talk about the steps that the Government are taking. The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change, the hon. Member for Wealden wrote to the OFT recently, asking it to consider how to make markets work more effectively for vulnerable consumers.
Park homes will shortly be able to receive help under the Government’s main home energy efficiency scheme—the carbon emissions reduction target. CERT requires all domestic energy suppliers with more than 50,000 consumers to reduce householders’ carbon dioxide emissions by promoting low-carbon energy solutions. Under CERT, suppliers are free to decide what measures to promote. I recognise that suppliers have chosen not to install measures in significant quantities to date, but there have been successful trials this year of park home insulation solutions that significantly reduce energy use. Those trials have shown what can be achieved. Solid wall insulation for park homes will get a formal carbon score under CERT, which will incentivise energy suppliers to promote these measures to park home residents during the final year of the CERT scheme.
Finally, I have taken on board the concerns raised by the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire about the renewable heat incentive. It is clearly important to ensure that that matter is considered fully. The concerns that he has raised will be taken on board by the Department. Every effort will be made to ensure that these vulnerable consumers are protected as well as possible.
ENDS

What is your government doing for you ?

Keeping interest rates low is vital for people with mortgages and businesses with loans to keep more money circulating in the economy.  Our interest rates are now lower than Germany for the first time in years.  By increasing personal allowances we are cutting income tax for 25 million people and taking 1.1 million out of tax altogether.

We are freezing Council tax again for the second year running, something that has not been achieved for many years. Pensioners will also see the biggest cash rise in their state pensions since 1948, an extra £5.30 per week from April.  We have cancelled the planned 3p rise in fuel duty for January meaning that motorists will be 10p per litre better off, than they would have been under the last Government’s plans.  Last year saw the largest ever increase in Child Tax Credit and there will be a further increase of £135 this year.

We have also introduced a permanent levy on the banks which raises £2.5 billion every year, far more than the last Government’s one off piffling bonus tax.  We are also providing £20 billion of cheaper funding to small business and have kept business rate relief for small businesses for another year. 

In the NHS, there are now 3,500 more doctors and 5,500 fewer managers in the life of this Government.  Over the course of this Parliament we are cutting £4.5 billion of NHS bureaucracy and investing every penny in front line care.  We have also introduced a new £200 million cancer drugs fund.

The new Education Act will help teachers raise standards in schools and gives teachers new legal powers to root out poor behaviour. Detentions can now be provided to pupils without giving 24 hours notice and pupils can also be searched for dangerous items without consent.

The new Housing Programme will receive £400 million to progress schemes that have stalled due to lack of development finance and aims to bring forward 16,000 more homes and support an extra 32,000 jobs.

We are making progress in ensuring people will always be better off in work than on benefits and in giving the unemployed  personalised welfare to work support where the providers only get paid when people get work and stay in work.  We have started to get a grip on immigration and have protected our national interests in Europe.  Powers can only be moved from the UK to Europe if the British people agree in a referendum, thanks to our European Union Act.  We can also be proud that we helped prevent the massacre of thousands of innocent civilians by Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.

I would like to wish you and your families all the very best for 2012 as we look forward to the Olympics in London and the celebration of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, an amazing record of service to our country of which we can all be proud.

Mr Selous was shown round the Delivery Office by local Delivery Office manager Andy Anderson and was introduced to all the postmen and women who are working hard doing their bit to sort and deliver the area’s share of the estimated total Christmas postbag of over 162 million items in the Thames Valley region.

Andrew Selous MP said: “It was great to meet the hard-working Royal Mail postmen and women at Dunstable Delivery Office and to see at first hand just how much effort they put into delivering for people at this time of year.

“Posties do such an important job at this time of year and I like to thank them for their efforts and wish them all the best over the busy festive period.”

Andy Anderson, Royal Mail Delivery Office Manager at Dunstable said: “Christmas is the busiest time of year, and our people really do pull out all the stops throughout the year to ensure mail is delivered quickly but even more so over the busy festive period. So we are pleased that Andrew Selous MP came along to witness the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.”

He added: “The postal staff do a fantastic job at this time of year to ensure that friends and families stay in touch through their Christmas greetings and gifts. And as usual, we urge our customers to post early so that friends and family have longer to enjoy their Christmas greetings!”

It is also vital that people remember the last posting dates for mail. These are:

• Tuesday 20 December for 1st Class items
• Saturday 17 December for 2nd Class items
• Thursday 22 December for Special Delivery items
• Monday 12 December for airmail items to Western Europe
• Friday 9 December for Eastern Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan
• Monday 5 December for mail to the rest of the world

Customers can help Royal Mail ensure that all their letters, cards and parcels are delivered as quickly and efficiently as possible by taking a few easy steps:

• Use a 1st Class stamp! – Post 1st Class for just 46p and have your Christmas card delivered the next day – anywhere in the UK.
• Post early! – Avoid disappointment by posting your cards and parcels early. The last posting dates this Christmas are: December 17 for 2nd Class mail; December 20 for 1st Class mail; December 22 for Special Delivery.
• Use a postcode! – A clearly addressed card or parcel, with a postcode, and return address on the back of the envelope, will ensure quick and efficient delivery.
• Use Special Delivery – For valuable packages and parcels guarantee delivery with Royal Mail’s Special Delivery, which means your gift is tracked, traced and insured against loss.
• For more information about Christmas with Royal Mail visit: www.royalmail.com or call 08457 740 740.

For Further Information Contact:
Sally Hopkins
Royal Mail Press Office
020 7250 2468
Sally.hopkins@royalmail.com