My Week In Westminster: w/c 23rd February
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Another week. Another newsletter. Another list of ways the Government has improved our country this week!
We kicked off the week in Parliament with the Secretary of State for Education announcing her Schools White Paper.
In part, the White Paper sets out a root and branch reform of the SEND system. I've spent much of the last few months meeting with educators, parents and SEND children alike. They all told me the same thing. The system was broken, and worse, it's been broken for a long time. Successive Governments have failed to grip the issue, but no longer.
I'm proud of and optimistic about the Government's proposals. They have clearly listened to the same conversations I have; they are balanced, considered, and importantly, have real funding behind them - with billions of pounds being invested over the next three years. The new system means more children can attend their local school; teachers are trained to meet a wide range of needs; and specialist support, such as speech and language therapists, is available to schools and families on demand.
I believe deeply that education Is the greatest friend of social mobility. It's why I was delighted with the other elements of the White Paper that set out policies that will give children of all backgrounds access to opportunity.
From updating the curriculum to better align with the modern (and indeed, future) world, to increasing enrichment opportunities outside of the classroom, and investing in and better supporting our teachers and school leaders.
On Tuesday, I was pleased to see the Government launch a £345 million investment in supporting farmers. Specifically, the funding goes to supporting farmers in accessing new technology, improving suitability practices, strengthening their resilience and boosting their productivity.
On Wednesday, the Housing Secretary offered his annual update on his work to implement the Grenfell Inquiry findings. As well as detailing work to improve the operation of the Building Safety Regulator, he also outlined a set of new reforms to the safety of construction materials.
This new 'Construction Products Reform White Paper ' will ensure that all products must be properly assessed before being used in the building process. I'm pleased that the Government is making progress with the Grenfell Inquiry findings - it is critical that everyone has a safe and decent place to call home.
After this, the Minister for Small Business delivered set out his plans to reform the Post Office. Specifically, the Government wants to see our wonderful local Post Offices protect from closure, and retain their status of a key part of our highstreets ecosystem.
The announcement saw the Minister announce plans to invest £483 million over the next two years to modernise the look and feel of branches and roll out new technology across locations. Importantly, the plan will also transfer operation of Post Office systems away from Fujitsu and ultimately replace the Horizon system altogether.
I was also delighted to see the Government announced a further £126 million of support for kinship careers this week.
The money means that thousands of children living in kinship care are set to benefit from earlier, more consistent support, whilst trialling a system to offer their carers more constituent financial support.
I hope you all have wonderful weekends, and thank you for reading. |
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