Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

The government has announced the extra sums payable to Education authorities for school PE and sport. In 2010 the government discovered that school sport and PE were not well supported in many primary schools around the country. Ministers decided to offer additional money to schools to allow them to extend their hours of PE and improve their offer of competitive sports.

This year  Wokingham receives £299,950 for primary school sport and PE and West Berkshire an additional £414,885.  This money is on top of the main grant to run the primary schools.

Constituents have asked me to encourage higher standards of road maintenance. I was pleased to report some time ago that West Berkshire (and Wokingham) received additional money from the government to help deal with last winter’s damage to the roads. I have now received the following from the Council. it is good news that the government thinks they have done a good job. It also serves to remind constituents that if you still find an annoying pothole, please report it so the Council can fix it.

The Council writes:

“West Berkshire Council’s policy of fixing potholes right first time has won praise – and cash – from the government. In July, West Berkshire was awarded £800,000 from the Department for Transport to help with pothole repairs across the district’s roads. Now, a letter from the department’s head of highways maintenance, has confirmed that West Berkshire’s approach of mending road defects right first time combined with its good asset management for preventative road maintenance, were among the reasons it got more cash than many other councils, and why it is ranked in the top quarter of councils in the country that were considered for pothole repairs. The department’s complex scoring system for the rankings included an assessment of whether councils have an efficient system in place for road users to report defects – which West Berkshire has through, among other things, a ‘report a pothole’ link on its website where people can pinpoint the location via an online map.”

Some constituents asked me to attend the badger culling debate in Westminster Hall yesterday. I went to hear the Opposition Spokeswoman and the Minister. I put to the Minister the need to work with farmers to improve bio security on farms, so there is less contact between badgers and cattle. The Minister agreed and said they were working on this as part of a package of measures to stop the spread of TB.

No vote was taken, as is customary in Westminster Hall debates.

A number of constituents wrote to me asking me to support this Bill. I voted for it today. It got the backing of the Commons by 181 votes to 1 against, with most MPs abstaining. Bills introduced under the 10 minute rule do not usually get any further, because they are not awarded further Parliamentary time.

Following unwelcome  reports in the press about the private Conservative MPs conference on Thursday evening and Friday in Oxfordshire, I would like my constituents to know that I did attend the useful discussion sessions. Contrary to some reports about unnamed MPs  I drank no alcohol at the event. I took part in a range of useful plenary and break out sessions  about current and Manifesto policies and our approach to issues in the run up to the General election.

I had another meeting with Equitable Life policy holders in Wokingham this morning. I reminded them that I was one of the MPs who had successfully called on the Conservative party to offer some compensation to EL savers, in recognition of the regulatory errors made. Labour in office spent many years considering the issues without offering any money.

The incoming government set up a compensation scheme as promised. They offered up to £15oo million It does not offer full compensation to all policyholders, and we never promised full compensation. The government did decide to give better  compensation to with profit annuity holders, who were locked in and who suffered most therefore from the regulatory as well as the  investment mistakes.

I understand the worries of some who suffered in this crisis that they are heavily out of pocket from what has happened. I am happy to take up any individual case where someone thinks the compensation scheme has not paid out the correct amount to them under the terms of the scheme. I am afraid it is most unlikely that any party will offer a new and enhanced scheme in the run up to the 2015 election. I understand the unhappiness of people who saw their savings badly damaged by the events at EL, but no government can stand behind all savings and protect everyone against all  loss.

For pensioners who were going  to rely  on their EL savings who now find themselves in  financial difficulties there are a range of pensioner payments and benefits from the state to ensure they can meet their essential bills. There is the state retirement pension itself, Pensioner Credit,  housing benefit, Council tax assistance,  travel concessions, free tv licence, and assistance with heating bills in cold weather. Most  individual pensioners will be eligible for some or all of these depending on circumstances. If my office can help we are willing to do so.

The national representatives of Equitable Life AG who attended argued that Equitable Life was insolvent in 2000 when they think the Labour government should have wound it up and paid full compensation. They did not do so and Equitable Life has continued to operate without going into insolvency. Current Treasury Ministers hold  the same government view that Equitable Life “did not become insolvent and continues to operate” (Econ Sec to Treasury).

Last Friday this private members bill passed its second reading. I am glad it did so, and thought it would as it has government support. Some constituents have written in favour of the Bill, as it seeks to tighten the law to help prevent people fly grazing or otherwise failing to look after their horses properly. It will be difficult, unfortunately, for it to pass all stages in the time remaining in this Parliament.

I  faithfully attended Parliament in the last session  to support Mr Wharton’s private member’s bill to give us a referendum on our membership of the EU .  It was stopped in the  Lords by Labour and Lib Dem peers.

In this session I attended to vote for Mr Neill’s private member’s bill. This was an identical bill. If it passed the Commons it could become law under the Parliament Act without the Lords being able to stop it. Instead, this week, the Lib Dems in the Commons refused to support the necessary motion for it to  make progress as a Bill.

I am most disappointed that the Lib Dems have stopped us legislating to give British people what they want, an In/Out referendum on the EU. The Lib Dems in the last Parliament officially called for an In/Out referendum. Now they are in a position to bring one about they have changed their minds and prevented us from passing the Bill this Parliament.

It will now become a General Election issue, where only the Conservatives of the 3 major parties in Westminster  will offer the public an In/Out referendum in  the next Parliament.

A number of constituents have contacted me about the Recall Bill. Last night, the Bill was debated in committee by the whole House.

I supported the amendments put forward by Zac Goldsmith. I did so because I wanted a more democratic answer than Mr Clegg’s draft Bill. Unfortunately there were a number of problems with the amendment, which put many MPs off.

I asked again if the government would amend their Bill to give voters more of a say in the process of recall, but so far they have not done so.

The amendment was defeated by 340 votes to 166. I will continue to press the government to amend their Bill, though now they have won this vote so easily they may decline to do so.

I have been told by the Post Office that they have found a potential new postmaster and premises  for a Maiden Place post office.  The Post Office will launch a consultation next month. If this results in approval by the local community the Office can open in the early part of next year.

I will advise people through this site of the details of the Post Office consultation when it is announced.