Monthly Report for January 2009
Below is a summary of my work in Parliament and in Southampton for the month of January 2009 Click here to read previous reports.
If you'd like to know more about any of the work I've been doing, or if you think there is another issue you think I should be acting on, you can always contact my office.
Work In Parliament
Attacks on Gaza
I have signed a joint statement with the Britain & Palestine All Parliamentary Group condemning Israel’s attacks on Gaza as disproportionate, as well as the Hamas rocket attacks on Israel. The full statement is below:
Israel's continuing massive military strikes on Gaza are an outrage that the international community must not allow to continue. Palestinian rocket attacks that traumatise the lives of communities in southern Israel are also utterly unacceptable. Both sides must cease fire. Israel's actions are disproportionate and counterproductive to achieving either security for the people of Israel or peace in the Middle East. Physicians for Human Rights (Israel) have warned that "targeting of civilians and of medical facilities is a breach of international humanitarian law. The targets chosen by the Israeli military include also clearly civilian installations."
Gaza is one of the poorest and most densely populated places on Earth. For the past two years, the blockade and previous Israeli strikes had already disrupted electricity supplies and access to clean water. Even before the current attack, Gaza's health system was near collapse. Hospitals are short of medicines, blood and essential equipment. Only half of Gaza's 58 ambulances are functioning.
We call on the international community, and especially the high contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva convention, to intervene to stop the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. We call for an immediate ceasefire by all parties and for an embargo on the supply of military equipment to both sides. The international community must also assert unambiguously that there is no military route to peace in the Middle East and redouble its efforts to create a secure and independent state of Palestine alongside a secure and independent Israel.
A full list of signatories is available on the website of Richard Burden MP, chair of the All-Parliamentary Britain and Palestine Group.
I was unable to attend the peace March last Saturday due to a previous surgery commitment for that morning.
Economic Help
In addition to the measures already announced in the Pre-Budget Report, this week the following measures to help unemployed people were announced:
- £140m to fund 35,000 additional apprenticeships in England (last year there were 324 apprenticeships completed in Southampton, compared to only 137 in 2003)
- £500m to fund a range of measures to get people unemployed for 6 months or more back into work (Southampton currently has 965 people who would qualify for this support today).
This is a comprehensive breakdown for all the additional help now available to someone who loses their job:
Before redundancies happen:
- We give help to people at risk of redundancy to find a new job, even before they become unemployed through our Rapid Response Service (RRS). Full briefing on the RRS and local contact details for dealing with redundancies in your area is available.
- We have doubled the funding for RRS, and will double it again
From Day One of Unemployment:
- The government announced in the Pre Budget Report that they are investing an extra £1.3bn in Jobcentre Plus support. This money will help to guarantee that everyone looking for work will, from day one:
- Help and advice on finding a new job;
- Help to write a new CV and fill in job applications;
- Help on retraining and skills advice;
- Help with their rent and with their mortgage from 13 weeks;
- Help to access to the average of 10,000 new vacancies recorded by Jobcentre Plus every working day.
From 3 Months Unemployed:
- People will get extra help with mortgage payments (SMI) to help them keep their homes when they lose their job. We are giving twice as much help, paid earlier.
- In addition, we step up the help we give with wider job search and more intensive support from advisers.
New guarantee of support from 6 months unemployed:
- We know that the majority of people move off Jobseekers Allowance within 6 months, but we are guaranteeing more help for those that don’t.
- Today we are promising every jobseeker more support if they have not managed to find a new job within six months. As well as extra funds for Jobcentre Plus to allow them to provide more intensive and personalised support, the two year package will include access to:
- “Employers’ Golden Hellos”: incentives of up to £2500 paid to employers to recruit and train unemployed people
- New training places: extra funding for training places to help unemployed people get new skills to maximise their chances of getting jobs from the 500,000 vacancies in the economy.
- Work-focused volunteering options: opportunities to volunteer to help people back into work habits
- Help to set up a business – advice on creating a business plan, plus funding for the first months of trading.
Other Parliamentary work
Parliament returned this week. I took part in the debate on the Supplementary Business Rates Bill. I am working on a Ten Minute Rule Bill on Renewable Content Obligations which will be presented on Feb 26th.
Work In Southampton
Free Nuffield tickets for young people
The Nuffield theatre has been awarded £30,000 by the government to enable it to offer free tickets to under 26-year olds one night of the week from 16th February (the Nuffield has yet to announce what day the free tickets will be for). The Nuffield is one of 95 theatres in England funded through the scheme, which builds on Labour’s previous policy of free entry to museums and galleries. Overall it is a really encouraging scheme and I congratulate the Nuffield on taking part. More information.
Other engagements
Before Christmas I met with early morning postal workers at the Royal Mail delivery office in Shirley and met with British Pakistanis regarding attacks in the Swat region of Pakistan. I also held my regular surgeries and met with the Chief Executive of Southampton University Hospitals Trust.