This week in Parliament

Back in Parliament this week after the Christmas break. I hope everyone across Oldham, Chadderton & Royton had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It was a busy first week back.

𝗗𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗼𝗴: I intervened in the Commons on the Road Safety Strategy which is out to consultation. There is much to welcome such as action on pavement parking, ghost number plates and drug driving and more, but I’m not convinced asking drivers to wait 6 months between theory and practical tests is the answer. The fact is that more is needed to tackle the unacceptable driving test delays affecting our area, and pressed Ministers on the government’s newly announced plans to prevent dangerous driving and get waiting times down. People need fair access to tests, not the current 24 weeks of delays holding them back.

𝗕𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝘂𝗯𝘀: I also raised the case for proper banking hubs in Chadderton and Royton. With so many high street banks gone, communities and small businesses still need face-to-face banking services. I’ll keep pushing this hard and hope to secure a debate in Parliament to really get to the bottom of the criteria and how we can ensure that every town has access to a bank.

𝗧𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗸𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗲 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲: this has been a big constituency issue alongside gang activity and child criminal exploitation. I met this week with researchers from the University of Manchester to discuss evidence-led approaches to preventing youth knife crime. This is about early intervention, support, and making sure young people have better opportunities and safer futures.

𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: MPs representing Metropolitan council areas like Oldham met to discuss the current consultation on Fair Funding. Significant progress has been made to redistribute funding to areas of higher need, but some modest changes could make life much easier for councils struggling with rocketing demand for services in adults, children’s and temporary accommodation who’ve generally been badly hit over the 14 years of the previous government.

𝗖𝗼-𝗼𝗽 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗺𝗲: we’re covering so much ground on really great things like growing the co-operative economy, expanding community ownership, and building out more to support credit unions and building societies. There is a lot to come in the weeks and months ahead and the first week back was planning ahead for that.

𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆: Members voted on the Cyber Security and Resilience (Network and Information Systems) Bill, an important piece of legislation to strengthen protections for vital services and infrastructure in an increasingly digital world.

As usual we run through the list of ongoing cases, campaigns and projects.

Plenty more to do as I head back up North for the rest of the week, and I’ll keep speaking up for Oldham, Chadderton & Royton every step of the way.