Today sees the State Opening of Parliament for the 2013/14 Session.  Members of Parliament, me included, will walk down to the House of Lords to hear the Queen’s Speech, in which the Government will set out its legislative plans for the coming year.   This splendid occasion reminds us not only of the formal role of the Sovereign but also of the hard-won independence of our Parliament.   As well as being a ceremonial event, the Speech will also be a very important indicator of the Government’s priorities for the next twelve months.

The Queen’s Speech is finalised well in advance and cannot be rewritten at the last minute to take account of events, except in exceptional circumstances.  As one commentator elegantly put it, the Speech has already been ‘inscribed on vellum’ and can’t just be re-printed on a sheet of A4 paper!   The Speech is expected to include some vital measures, for example an Immigration and Deportation Bill.  The government has reduced net migration and will be introducing further restrictions, as well as making it easier to deport foreign nationals who are here illegally.  The new measures will restrict their rights of appeal and will limit the grounds on which people can argue that they should be allowed to stay in the UK.

The Queen’s Speech is expected also to contain the Care & Support Bill, which heralds radical reforms to the system of care for elderly people and vulnerable adults.  There will be reforms to the law relating to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders that will streamline the system, plus changes to dangerous dog legislation to cover instances such as the dreadful incident in Swindon last year.  A Bill to reform future State Pensions will also be introduced, as will further measures to reform banking regulation that will be based upon the final conclusions of the Banking Standards Commission.

As well as new Bills, the new session of Parliament will see further debate on a number of measures introduced last year but carried over to the new session.  One such example is the Children & Families Bill.  I have spent much time sitting as a member of the Committee that debated its detailed provisions, line by line.  The Bill covers a range of issues but at its centrepiece is the bringing together of education, health and adult social care to ensure a more comprehensive provision of services for young people with special educational needs.  These are radical and welcome improvements which will help to improve the way in which services are delivered in this area and which will help to address the problem of the  ‘cliff edge’ faced by many young people whose support is withdrawn almost overnight when they leave full time education.

Today’s Queen’s Speech isn’t a comprehensive list of everything that will become law.  Some items of legislation are proposed by backbench MPs or members of the House of Lords.  In the last Session, ten Private Members’ Bills passed all their stages through Parliament and became the law of the land.  Whilst the Government has much business to transact, there has still been time for backbench Bills to make it, too.

(This article was first posted in the Swindon Advertiser on 8th May 2013)

On Monday I attended the jobs fair organised to help employees affected by the redundancies at Honda.  The event was put together by the Honda Task Force, which was set up in January as soon as the job losses were announced.  North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson and I were both invited to join the group, along with representatives from the Job Centre, Council, Forward Swindon and other organisations.   The Task Force invited about 750 people to the event at Stanton House Hotel.  Crucially, these were not just Honda associates directly affected by the job losses, but also workers in the supply chain whose companies are feeling the knock-on effects.

More than 2,000 vacancies were on offer from 23 different employers.  Given the nature of the event, it was good that carmakers Jaguar-Land-Rover and Nissan were represented, since many of the skills of the Honda associates will be directly transferable.  Also at the jobs fair was Amey, the company that has won the contract for the electrification of the Great Western mainline.  It will create up to 150 jobs, and Swindon will be the hub for the project with the electrification fanning out from here.   There were also several smaller employers from further afield including a small firm that makes specialist diesel pumps in Gloucestershire and a number of businesses on the A419 corridor.  Of course not everyone will have the flexibility to move due to family commitments, but it was important that all options were available.  It was a very encouraging event, and thanks are due to the businesses for coming and to the Task Force for all the hard work they’ve done to make the event a reality.

A very different event I attended in the last few days was the Old Town spring clean on Sunday.  About 70 residents took to the streets to spruce up the area.  The Pipers Way Residents Association and local businesses had raised £1,200 to pay for improvements including planting flower beds and providing colourful displays.  There was also a lot of litter picking, weeding and general tidying.  It made a real difference to the area and everyone involved should be congratulated.

Finally, this Friday I am holding a residents’ surgery at a new venue.  I’m very keen to hold surgeries at locations where people who may just be passing by can stop for a chat, rather than having to make a special trip to a community centre, for instance.  So on Friday from 3pm to 4.30pm I’ll be at John Lewis at Home on the Mannington Retail Park.  No appointment is necessary, but if you have a complex case it may help to phone the office first on 01793 533393.

(This article was originally posted in the Swindon Advertiser on 1st May 2013)

I’m a big supporter of our schools and colleges and regularly visit the campuses to meet staff, students, pupils and managers.  One of the messages I always take away is the challenge to find alternative sources of funding.  That’s why I was delighted this week by the news that Swindon College has been successful in its bid for a pot of money from the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills.  It’s one of 46 colleges across England to get a share of the £550m in new funding announced in the Autumn Statement just before Christmas.

Colleges were asked to place bids for the money and priority was given to those in greatest need and with the greatest potential to support growth in the areas they serve.  Swindon College has secured nearly £800k of that public money, but importantly it unlocks the door to an additional £1.8m of private funding as well.  That means a £2.6m project of improvements can now go ahead.  This funding will make a real difference, helping Swindon College to modernise and update their facilities and giving them a much-needed boost at a time when their role in the community could not be more important.  This investment will make a significant difference to learners and, vitally, employers in Swindon.  Congratulations are due to the College for their successful bid, and it will be good to see the investment starting to make a real difference soon.

On a separate matter, on Saturday I was delighted to present the awards at the end of the Harold Jolliffe One-Act Play Festival at Swindon’s Art Centre.  Harold Jolliffe was the Chief Librarian and Curator of Swindon Borough Council for 23 years. He died in1969 at the tragically young age of 54.  Harold oversaw the opening of the country’s first dedicated municipal Arts Centre, here in Swindon and is often referred to as the father of the town’s cultural life.  It’s fitting, then, that this festival is dedicated to his memory.  The standard was incredibly high and served to demonstrate yet again that the arts scene in Swindon is among the most vibrant of any town of its size.

One other event I was delighted to attend was the fifth birthday celebrations of community radio Swindon 105.5.  I’m a huge supporter and am full of admiration for Shirley Ludford and all her volunteers.  They’ve had some really positive news recently, with a licence extension and new transmitter coming on stream – both thoroughly deserved.

Finally, a reminder about this Friday’s surgeries.  You can make an appointment between 0930 and 1100 at the Milton Road office by calling 01793 533393.  Or see me at the Central Library from 1230 to 1.30pm.

(This article was originally posted in the Swindon Advertiser on 17th April 2013)