Last week saw the publication of an alarming report from the Children’s Society. It talks about the huge level of household family debt and how this is affecting children across the west midlands. The report tells us that in Wyre Forest 3,521 families have trouble paying debts totalling £13,540,417. This report is certainly shocking, but it is not breaking news. In the report, the Children’s Society is shining a new light on an old problem.
One of the most profound votes that any MP can take is to commit our armed forces to conflict. This is made more difficult if the MP, like me, has no practical experience of the military. So it is incredibly important that we get that experience and we can do so through the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. By committing to a minimum number of days, MPs get a chance to see exactly how our service personnel live and operate. I am now in my second year of the AFPS and have recently got back from Cyprus, where I was looking at the bases we have on the island.
Wyre Forest MP is delighted that Wyre Forest has attracted huge investment from global auto company Amtek Amtek International will develop a manufacturing facility in Kidderminster at the former Lawrence Recycling Centre. They will invest £5 million initially creating at least 100 new highly skilled jobs in the local area.
Mark Garnier MP has welcomed the latest unemployment figures which show another drop locally Figures released today by the Office for National Statistics show a continued fall in unemployment in Wyre Forest. The number of unemployed claimants in Wyre Forest in July was 1,216 which represents 2.6% of the economically active population.
This week marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. It is right that we as a nation commemorate the start of what was to be called the war to end all wars. Those words sound so hollow with the benefit of hindsight and how we still have many, many conflicts still going on, one way or another, since then.
The term Home Front was initially used during the First World War, and this conference is intended to coincide with the commemorations marking the centenary of the beginning of the Frist World War. Drawing upon the perspectives of women’s and gender history discussion is intended to stimulate debate about not only the British Home Front but also a range of other Home Fronts and conflicts, across diverse historical periods and geographical areas.
Mark Garnier MP is urging local schools and hospitals to source produce locally The Government has announced a new initiative which could see £400 million of new business for British farmers and food producers. The ‘Plan for Public Procurement’, announced by the Prime Minister and Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss this week, will introduce a new, simplified food and drink buying standard.
Education is a subject I take seriously. From time to time, schools enter special measures creating a time of uncertainty for staff, parents and pupils. This was the case for Heronswood Primary in Kidderminster two years ago. The school had struggled for a period and had just taken on a new principal, Matt Ascroft. He had worked as deputy head at a couple of other schools in Wyre Forest, both of which he had helped to bring out of special measures. When he went to Heronswood, he knew it was struggling and took on the challenge of turning the school round.
Pupils in Wyre Forest will receive an extra £97 each from 2014/15 The Government has announced today that the least fairly funded schools in the country will benefit from a £390 million cash boost. Worcestershire will receive an increase in funding of £6.7 million.
Last week saw a day of industrial action mounted by a number of unions. Up to a million public sector workers would strike, against issues such as pay caps and changes to pension arrangements. It is true that there have been pay caps and pension changes in the public sector. They have been brought about to tackle the crises that the government inherited in 2010, where we were having to borrow £1 for every £4 we spent on running the country. But four years later, after the economy has begun to recover it is fair that public sector workers ask why they still need to have pay caps imposed and pensions adjusted.
