Category: Wokingham and West Berkshire Issues

I visited a couple of supermarkets in Wokingham on  thursday and  today, both to do my usual  shopping  and to  talk to the staff about the pressures they are experiencing.

The shops were busier than usual with car parks full. More people were opting for the very large trolleys and filling them. There has been as reported unusually high demand for toilet rolls, cleaning fluids and gels, pasta and rice and some tinned goods. 

The supermarkets assure us there is plenty of food available, and they have so far done a good job replenishing stocks of most items even where under unusually high demand. In other countries that have entered more severe lock downs, people have still been allowed out to shop or have benefitted from on line deliveries. The aim of policy is to keep good supplies available.

It would be helpful not to buy unusual quantities of some items and to be conscious that there need be  no shortages if we stick to more normal home stock levels. Even longer life food does deteriorate so it is best to buy when you have a need in the next few weeks for the product you are purchasing.

I thanked the staff I talked to for handling the rush. The shelf stackers have been particularly busy lately.

Under The Civil Contingencies Act 2004 Local Resilience Forums meet regularly to assess risks of emergencies and ensure plans are in place to respond. Wokingham falls under the Thames Valley Forum, as they are organised around Police Authority boundaries outside London.

They have been working with the NHS on plans for handling the virus. Parliament is likely to be asked to approve wider emergency powers in the next fortnight to assist in tackling the virus.

I have talked to the Royal Berkshire Hospital and senior management in the local NHS about providing sufficient capacity of care should need arise from the spread of the virus . They tell me they have made more ward space available as a contingency and can convert further wards to virus care if needed.

On Friday I attended a presentation at a business breakfast about the problems created by the new enforcement mechanisms for IR35. The Wokingham Positive Difference networking group met in the Town Hall to hear how companies the Inland Revenue would in future assess whether someone was a sole contractor or in effect an employee working for their client company.

I explained I was against the change of approach by the Revenue. I have written and spoken about the issue. I have lobbied two Chancellors, the Minister concerned and the Prime Minister. I further promised to work with other like minded MPs should  a new Parliamentary opportunity present to relaunch the issue in the Commons. Meanwhile implementation goes ahead.

On Friday I visited the School. 4 students showed me round, I answered a series of questions from a pupil panel, and had a session with the Headmaster.

I briefly visited a number of spirited and informative lessons and met a series of questions about environmental matters and access to politics for young people.

The School would like to add a Sixth Form to its establishment. I am happy to support that aim, as I agree a Sixth Form can provide academic, sporting and general leadership to a student body

I have received this update from the Government:

Dear John

I am pleased to be writing to you to let you know that we have announced today our next steps in improving health and disability assessment services through our Health Transformation Programme.

This announcement builds on our existing commitment to transform the way we will deliver assessments for Work Capability Assessments and Personal Independence Payment that was announced on 5 March 2019.

Our ambition remains to create – from 2021 – a single, integrated service for people who need to undergo a health assessment to determine their benefit entitlement or what is expected of them in terms of work related activity. This will be supported by an integrated DWP-owned IT platform, replacing the current situation where different health assessments are run on different IT systems.

We recognise that our claimants include some of the most vulnerable in society and it is critical that we carefully develop the new service; we understand the importance of getting it right. Given how critical and sensitive this service is, we will be establishing a new DWP-led Departmental Transformation Area which will be a defined area where we can develop this service and rigorously test and learn on a small scale before it is rolled out at greater scale and ultimately nationally. This will start from Autumn 2021.

For claimants in this Transformation Area, assessments will be conducted by DWP, rather than outsourced to providers. This will give us the flexibility to explore new ideas including:

– trialling better ways of carrying out face-to-face assessments;

– how to triage more effectively so that only those people who need a face-to-face assessment will have one;

– how to make it easier for claimants to understand the evidence they need to provide and why;

– how to remove the need for claimants to give the same information twice;

– how to ensure that claimants are aware of the whole range of support available to them both from DWP and more widely.

To support this important work, I am also announcing that we will be undertaking procurement exercises that will put in place contracts for conducting health assessments from 1 August 2021. This will ensure continuity of service when the current contracts for Work Capability Assessments and Personal Independence Payment end on 31 July 2021. We will continue to work with the successful providers to ensure continuous improvement in their service, including how developments in the Departmental Transformation Area can benefit delivery by our contracted providers.

With the transfer of competence from the United Kingdom Government to the Scotland Government for the remaining social security powers taking place in April 2020, with PIP being replaced in Scotland as of Spring 2021, this means that this single, integrated assessment service will not be delivered in Scotland. However, we remain committed to delivering the best outcomes for claimants and taxpayers and we will continue to work closely with the Scottish Government to support the smooth transition from Personal Independence Payment to the new replacement benefit.

This announcement and update today will help us to continue to improve the claimant experience. We will also be engaging with stakeholders more widely on the health and disability agenda. This includes exploring how the welfare system can better meet the needs of claimants with disabilities and health conditions. To this end, we have already announced our plans for a Green Paper consultation exercise later this year and we would welcome your engagement in this important discussion.

Later in the year the Government will launch its national disability strategy to increase inclusivity in all spheres of life for disabled people.

Kind Regards

Justin Tomlinson

I met representatives of the company.

 I urged them to ensure we had sufficient capacity at a time of increasing demands for more power.

I also raised with them how they could help with our local roads problems. They need to put in new larger capacity cables to deal with extra demand per house, especially for those wishing to charge electric vehicles, and to deal with new homes and businesses. When they do so it would be good to route them other than under the middle of our main roads, as that creates so much disruption everytime they  need to maintain, amend or upgrade.

We also discussed national capacity and price.

I visited Royal berks recently and held a meeting with the Chief Executive.

I asked him about Coronavirus preparations, where he confirmed the need for people to self isolate and ring 111. There are contingency plans for those needing treatment.

We also discussed the preparation of a business plan for the development of the hospital, as it is listed as hospital for potential  substantial capital investment.

I met with Grant Schapps to discuss short term and longer term ways of cutting road congestion. He is working on schemes to let Councils bid for more funds to improve junctions, provide bypasses and resurface roads. He was interested in my proposals to get more utilities away from under a main road, to flex light timings to traffic needs and to strengthen local strategic networks.

Some weeks ago I was asked to support a substantial tax increase for the fire service. Before doing so I asked to see the existing budget and the case for how the extra money would be spent. This was not available at the event I was attending but they promised to send me these documents.

When they did not turn up I reminded a senior Councillor involved with the Fire service. He promised to follow up to get them to me. They still did not arrive. I concluded they had either thought better of their tax rise or did not need MP support.

Yesterday my office told me the Fire service wished to talk to me on the phone about this. I said I would be happy to talk to them about their budget once I had read it. They told my office in that case they would send it to me. It has still not turned up. I wonder why it is so difficult to send it. Presumably the Councillors who back this tax rise were shown it before they agreed.