On Tuesday 3rd November, Oldham West and Royton MP, Jim McMahon, hosted three virtual Parliament Week events with young people from across Oldham. Over the course of the afternoon Jim was joined by Year 7 pupils from The Radclyffe School in Chadderton, a mixture of Junior and Senior pupils form Oldham Hulme Grammar School and rounded up the day by attending a virtual meeting with the Oldham Youth Council.
UK Parliament week is an annual festival that seeks to engage people from across the UK with their Parliament, explores what it means to them and encourages them to get involved. This year marked ten years of Parliament Week and provides an important opportunity to be part of the UK’s democracy and look to the next ten years. Community groups, local organisations and schools across Oldham West and Royton have signed up to take part in events this week.
Jim said, “I really enjoyed my opportunities to talk to young people from across Oldham about what it means to be an MP and how our Parliament works yesterday afternoon.”
“As a longstanding campaigner for Votes at Sixteen I know just how vital it is that we get our young people involved in our democracy and I’m so glad so many groups have signed up to take part this week.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t join all of for the same questions sessions we’ve had with Radclyffe, Hulme and the Youth Council, but I am almost certain there will be lots of interesting and engaging events taking places virtually.”
“I’d encourage all schools and youth groups to go to the UK Parliament Week website and just have a look at the wealth and range of activities available. It’s not all boring talks and presentations, there are some fun games and activities to play as well.”
Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has written to the Health Secretary asking him to apply some common sense to Oldham’s local restrictions. In his letter to Matt Hancock, the Oldham MP states that ‘there is real confusion about the complexity of the rules applied to differing areas’, the letter contains two key asks.
Firstly, that the government rationalises the rules around guests at funerals so that 30 people can attend in Oldham as they can elsewhere. Secondly, that people in Oldham be allowed to meet their friends and family outside with social distancing in place.
Speaking after the letter was sent Jim said, “The patchwork of restrictions is a mess, it doesn’t make sense to me or to any of my constituents that there are places in Greater Manchester with a higher infection rate than ours but they are subject to different restrictions.”
“When the government changed the guidance nationally they recognised just how distressing funerals are at the moment, and whilst they changed the limit on the number of guests at weddings, the number of attendees at a funeral stayed at 30.”
“But in Oldham it’s even lower at 20, I don’t think it’s at all unreasonable to ask that Oldham is brought into line with other areas and we show a bit of compassion at the moment.”
“The pandemic has been hard for all of us, not being able to see our friends and family for months and then having to keep up with changing restrictions. Since the social lockdown was introduced in Oldham five weeks ago our infection rate has trebled so my constituents are rightly asking that whether they are having any impact.”
“So allowing people to meet outside, with social distancing and other appropriate common sense measures in place, will be good for our mental and physical health.”
“All future measures must be supported by the evidence, otherwise people are just going to continue to be confused. I’m not arguing that Oldham should be released from all of the extra-restrictions, it’s clear from the infection rates that we do have a problem but we also have to be realistic and recognise that these measures need to be clear and make sense to people otherwise they just won’t trust us.”
MY first and main responsibility in Parliament is to give a voice to people in Chadderton, Oldham and Royton, and that means always being willing to take on the government if they are failing our community.
What is clear, that aside from the chaos that surrounds the messaging on Covid, and the confusion on what restrictions apply in different areas, is that the “machine of government” worryingly seems to have ground to a halt.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve asked the government a number of questions relating to Oldham and the government’s Covid-19 response. There is often no indication of when we’ll get an answer beyond “as soon as it is available”. This has been the case when asking how many tests have been carried out in each part of the country, which shouldn’t be that difficult.
The system is a mess, and the government must surely know it when Oldhamers are sent as far as Sheffield, Leicester and even Scotland for tests, when we have many pop-up centres locally, many within walking distance.
It became even more bizarre when members of parliament from all over the country lined up to point out that their constituents couldn’t get a test locally, but they could apparently travel to Oldham for one. It is unbelievable that the government appears to be unaware that this is happening.
For some time now, I have been highlighting the importance of the risks to people in certain jobs in our fight against Covid-19. Certain industries and roles are at a much higher risk of contracting and even dying from Covid-19, so, I asked whether the Department for Health and Social Care would publish occupational data for those testing positive.
The simple version of the answer I got was: No, the government wouldn’t be publishing the data because it requires “careful assessment” to make sure it is accurate. Basically, they just didn’t know.
Not knowing this will seriously hamper our ability to get ahead of the virus and contain outbreaks before they become a serious issue. This is why I wrote to the Health Secretary two weeks ago asking him to make sure users submit occupational data upon booking a test through the national system.
I asked the Treasury what impact assessments have been done regarding the end of the furlough scheme in October, the Chancellor’s one-size-fits-all approach could be devastating and withdraw support from thousands of jobs in Oldham West and Royton before they even have chance to recover.
The answer the Treasury Minister provided did not even attempt to deal with the question I posed, no mention of the economic impact that this would have. It would be deeply worrying if the Treasury has not considered the potential impact that pulling the rug from under these jobs would have.
If all that was poor, the head of the test and trace system gave evidence to the Select Committee, where she said that they were surprised by the increased demand for testing as schools returned. It’s a good job she isn’t the Christmas buyer for the local toy shop, there would be a lot of unhappy kids in Oldham. But this is far more serious, literally a matter of life and death.
The government just does not have the answers to questions it really ought to know. Oldham cannot afford to be let down because of the incompetence of ministers. We are making enough sacrifices here in Oldham and we need the government to pull their weight too.
We know the Prime Minister isn’t big on details, he has displayed that continuously, but we really need the rest of government to step up. We have had enough mixed messages over the last six months. Now is the time for clarity and the time for answers.
Finally, you do have to take the wins; and this week a big one came for local people, after a month of lobbying we finally got the government to realise the folly of the restriction of family members looking after children, especially when they issue a call to return to work. It’s a small win but important to support working people with children who depend on family to help with childcare.
The Education Policy Institute’s 2020 Annual report on the state of education in England recently found that the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers in Oldham has barely improved since 2012.
The study finds that when compared to non-disadvantaged pupils nationally, disadvantaged pupils in Oldham are up to five and a half months of learning behind in the early years, nine months behind at primary school and by the end of secondary school a mammoth nineteen months of learning behind their peers.
Commenting on the findings of the report, Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon said, “These stats are really quite troubling, for the first time in ten years the national attainment gap has stopped closing. This loss of momentum could have a really devastating impact on closing it again in the future.”
“We can’t afford to be pushed back in this fight, government should be doing everything it can to eradicate this gap completely. But as we saw with the recent A-Level results fiasco and we narrowly avoided with GCSE’s thanks to another U-turn, government seems unwilling to grapple with the reality for disadvantaged pupils.”
“It’s not fair that by the end of secondary school disadvantaged pupils in Oldham are over eighteen months behind their peers. The attainment gap at all levels of education in Oldham has barely improved and for early years has actually increased by over a month. The findings in this report do not yet take into account the damage that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on our education system, there will be a lot of hard work to in catching kids up anyway.”
“Oldham already has the highest rate of child poverty in England, with nearly forty percent of kids living in poverty and kids in Oldham being six times more likely to live in poverty than those in wealthier areas of England.”
“We were supposed to benefit from the Opportunity Area Fund, but stats like these show that it has failed to bring about the sustained improvement that our town needed. Education is supposed to be a route out of poverty, but with attainment gaps this large our kids don’t have a fair chance.”
“After a lost decade of Tory austerity and our education system facing a funding shortfall of £12m this year alone, whilst the government wasted money on failed free schools and the failed university technical college in the past, we should be wary of sound bites about levelling up. They have been in government for ten years and have had plenty of opportunities, their failed experiments have already played havoc with pupils’ education.”
Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has this morning written to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, The Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, detailing three key asks based on Oldham’s experience of dealing with Coronavirus.
In the letter Mr McMahon asks the Health Secretary to urgently reconsider the way the Department collects the data of those working in high risk occupations and repeats his call for routine workplace testing to get ahead of any outbreaks. The third and final ask is regarding childcare, an issue that many constituents have been in touch with Jim about given the social restrictions here in Oldham. Jim asks that the Department reviews the restriction which prevents extended family members to provide childcare to support parents going back to work.
Commenting afterwards Jim said, “We’re more than six months into the pandemic now and it’s time for us to start looking at the lessons we’ve learned along the way to better improve our response.”
“One thing that’s clear to me is that our efforts to build a robust evidence base on the source of transmission is being hampered by the lack of occupational data being collected. Simply making this information be a required point when interacting with the online booking system would give us a much clearer picture of high-risk occupations.”
“Just knowing that certain occupations are high-risk is only the beginning of the story, and so we urgently need to start doing routine testing in the workplace to find any cases before they spread and cause a spike. One of the things I picked up whilst out with Team Oldham was that many people working in transport, retail, factories and warehouses just hadn’t been tested yet and that can’t be allowed to continue.”
“My email inbox has been full of questions from constituents asking how they’re supposed to get back to work, as the government is encouraging everyone to do, if members of their extended family aren’t allowed to offer the support they usually do. Childcare can be expensive and unpractical with the shifts that people work. I think that this restriction, as a result of it being impractical, is not being observed and is undermining the basis of other restrictions too.”
I’ve been thinking about this story a lot since I read it on Sunday, and it has left me with a few thoughts. Oldham needs levelling up, and that means investment not withdrawing support. Ending the furlough scheme in October will be a mistake that could potentially devastate our town even more.
Data from the House of Commons Library shows that there are fourteen thousand jobs – which works out at around 30% jobs – in Oldham West and Royton ‘furloughed’, the pandemic will not have gone away in five weeks’ time when the scheme draws to a close. What we do know is that many people on low wages, as unfortunately too many people in Oldham are, are extremely vulnerable at the moment, the Office for National Statistics shows that less than 10% of the lowest paid earners can work from home.
I do not understand the thinking behind the government’s one-sized-fits all approach, there are certain industries that cannot, with social distancing and with government imposed limits on attendance, get back up and running at capacity. What does government expect these workers to do once the furlough scheme ends?
Since March those claiming unemployment benefits here in Oldham West and Royton has doubled to just under seven thousand people. It’s not out of the question to say that come October it could double again, or even worse: triple.
Surely someone in the Treasury, someone in Government recognises that these people will then need support from the government in one way or another. Is it not better to keep providing this support, to keep people in jobs for a while longer rather than having to deal with a sudden increase to the number of people claiming universal credit?
It’s worth reminding ourselves at this point that universal credit is not a simple system, it has not been designed for ease of access. Since it’s rollout my office and I have been helping constituents battle through the process, and the same is true over the last few months. We have seen too many instances where constituents have lost their job or self-employed people have been ineligible for support and Universal Credit – the system designed to be our safety net has failed them – how many more times will we see that if 30% of the town suddenly lose their jobs?
We know that retail outfits are struggling, Debenhams (one of the last big anchor brands in the Spindles shopping centre) is at risk of going into liquidation, Boots have been making job cuts, and these are major businesses there will be countless other smaller and medium businesses who have fallen through the gaps of all the schemes across our town for whom reopening and carrying on as before is not an option.
Our retail, manufacturing and hospitality sectors will need time to get back into anywhere near a healthy state, the October cliff edge for the withdrawal of the furlough scheme will not help these sectors. It is time for government to think again, to tailor it’s approach to the sectors and employers that need help still.
We are already in the middle of a job’s crisis; government can prevent it getting worse. There is no magic solution to the problems our town faces, and there is certainly not going to be an oven ready, one-sized fits all approach that works in Oldham and works in the other nine towns in Greater Manchester.
Place matters and communities’ matter, Oldham was already struggling with a fragile economy before the pandemic. To remove the props and push us off down the river would be unforgivable.
A copy of the text of the letter sent to supermarket chains
Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon has this morning written to all major supermarkets with stores in the constituency urging them to do more to increase compliance with wearing face coverings. From his own experience in shops around the constituency, comments and tweets from constituents on social media, and his casework inbox Jim knows that there are still lots of people shopping without masks.
In the letter Jim encourages supermarkets in Oldham West and Royton to ‘take immediate action to ensure there are adequate staffing levels to promote effective social distancing and public health measures with dedicated and trained staff able to enforce the wearing of face coverings for those required to wear one.’ And states that ‘Where there is no exemption in place entry should be denied.’
Commenting afterwards, Jim said “I know just how difficult it can be for staff in supermarkets and shops to enforce the laws that I help set in Parliament. As a Labour and Co-op MP I’ve been fighting for greater protections for our shopworkers in these exact situations and sought tougher sentences for those who abuse and assault frontline retail staff.”
“I understand why staff don’t want to get in a confrontation with customers, so that’s why I’ve written to supermarket bosses to ask them to do more. To increase the number and size of signs that are in prominent places as you enter a store, enforcing the need to wear a face covering and to make sure there are enough staff with adequate training to be able to enforce the wearing of face coverings.”
“I’ve mentioned face coverings a lot over the course of the last week, but that’s because it’s a simple tool which we can use to defeat the virus. It’s something that for the most part we can all do that helps protect ourselves and protect each other. As it becomes more normalised and more shops are denying those without exemption from entry, more and more people will follow the rules.”
“I know compliance is getting better because I’ve seen the numbers increase, but even when you take into account the people who are exempt from wearing a face covering for medical grounds there are still far too many people not following the rules.”
“So, I ask of supermarket bosses and all of us, let’s come together to protect lives and advance our common endeavour to beat this virus.”
MPs have been working with the council and its public health officials, Greater Manchester Combined Authority and the Mayor, and Government to seek an evidence-based intervention to reduce the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
News that we have narrowly avoided a full lockdown will come as a huge relief, but we need to be clear that unless infection rates decrease further, we remain firmly on notice.
A widespread economic lockdown would have been the wrong decision. Far from helping to defeat the virus it would have diluted resources and needlessly closed businesses which were not a factor in the spread of the virus.
In Oldham West and Royton, the positivity rates are currently showing highest in Werneth, and so increased testing has been carried out to track the virus. As we are seeing younger adults more likely to carry the virus, at the moment, many do not display symptoms which would usually be the catalyst to get tested. This is why the testing scheme has changed to focus on high risk groups, for instance because of the public facing job they do, contact tracing, full household testing and neighbourhood testing.
This is important because we have to accept that the virus will be circulating for what could be another year or more. In that time where it spikes will reflect many factors and we need to have a properly resourced system in place to identify those infected early, and to fully track those they have come into contact with.
I have requested more resources to allow proactive and routine testing in high risk workplaces. This way we can pick up where the virus is among those who are showing no or minimal symptoms. This stops its further spread and reduces the risk of those more likely to be much more affected by the virus being exposed to it.
We also need to see more support for businesses, and further enforcement to ensure the rules are adhered to. This means inspections for compliance on the wearing of face coverings and household mixing. It is impossible for businesses at times to be able to enforce some of the rules. For instance, restaurants knowing if it’s a single household booking a table or understanding what a legitimate support bubble is.
One thing that has come out repeatedly is the confusion caused by mixed messages. We all like a bargain, and our hospitality industry does need a boost, but the demand created by the “Eat Out to Help” Out scheme means restaurants are often packed out. This makes distancing difficult and means often close contact with strangers, when at the same time you are denied the chance to sit with extended family and friends.
There is also conflict with the often-changing requirement to self-isolate. With little financial support people are being forced to choose between health and putting food on the table. More should be done to support people to self-isolate when they are required to do following a positive test result.
We also need firmer workplace protection for workers. A significant feature of risk is intense and high contact jobs. These include transport workers, security staff, care staff, retail workers and warehouse and factory workers. More resource to inspect these (hundreds) of premises, offer advice and guidance, enforcement and improvement is important. This also would support workplace testing.
And we must see enforcement on face coverings. My comments feed, my email inbox, and my own experience living in the town is that compliance is not where it needs to be, in some cases far from it. Inspections on trams and bus stations will increase (and they will need to even more so if schools do return in September).
But large supermarkets can and must do more to have trained (and properly resourced) staff to restrict entry. It’s important to say that some people will have a legitimate health reason not to wear a mask. There is also a significant issue with local shops and takeaways where the rules are routinely ignored. Perhaps it’s that we are better prepared for the ‘big shop’ and see nipping out to the local shop as less important. Either way enforcement will have to be increased.
I have been out with frontline staff and volunteers over two days, and will join them again next week. They have been working incredibly hard to keep us safe and deserve our thanks.
Though we’ve escaped a full lockdown, I can say with confidence that if not for the work locally, we could well have been facing the prospect of businesses closing again. We are not in the clear, we can not believe the risk is over. Far from it.
We need individual action now. This means we all follow the rules to the letter and to the spirit. The sooner we bring the virus rates down, the sooner we can meet extended family and friends again.
I know we have all made sacrifices, and I know many of you have really been affected by the virus and the lockdown restrictions. Stay safe and look out for each other.
Together we can beat the virus.
The new restrictions are;
Oldhamers should only use public transport for essential travel, that is to go to work and school.
You should not mix with people you do not live with in homes, gardens, public parks, restaurants or pubs.
There will be greater restrictions on the number of people that can attend weddings and funerals.
Oldhamers should only use public transport for essential travel, that is to go to work and school.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 