- Andrew_SelousMP: Convincing messages on the benefits of marriage for children from Professor Scott Stanley and Judge Paul Coleridge in Commons tonight. February 6, 2012
- Andrew_SelousMP: Delighted to learn that the Linslade extension of 900 houses on Valley Farm has been turned down by the Inspector. Not the place to build. January 31, 2012
- Andrew_SelousMP: Two thirds fall in crime in Central Bedfordshire credit to Bedfordshire Police and their station exclusion zone policy to get officers out. January 17, 2012
- Andrew_SelousMP: Congratulations to Leighton Linslade Homeless Service volunteers aged between 9 and 72 who slept out all night to raise funds last Friday. December 6, 2011
- Andrew_SelousMP: Very touched that retired public sector husband and wife from Leighton Buzzard have offered to help out during the strike tomorrow. November 29, 2011
View From The House By Andrew Selous MP
VIEW FROM THE HOUSE BY ANDREW SELOUS MP
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.