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Chris Heaton-Harris MP's
Westminster Report:
February 2018

VISIT TO NEWNHAM PRIMARY SCHOOL
 
I recently visited Newnham Primary School where I gave an assembly for pupils and parents and participated in some interactive classes. The pupils were having a lot of fun as we carried out a mock debate in the House of Commons, chatted about Parliament and my role as an MP. There's no doubt I met some leaders of the future!

It's great to see so many children engaging in politics at such a young age and I would always encourage any young people to follow the goings on in Parliament and politics more generally. There very well could be a Prime Minister in waiting somewhere in 'Daventry's' talented schools.

 With this in mind, I am always happy to have work experience in my office where young people over the age of 16 can experience first-hand the work of an MP, attend debates and help me with some of my work. If you're interested in work experience drop me an email.
OPENING OF DAVENTRY MOSQUE
 
I was proud to help open Daventry's first mosque this month. 

Thanks to this welcome news, Muslims in Daventry will no longer have to travel to Rugby or Northampton for their nearest mosque. This inconvenience left Daventry's Muslims hindered in expressing their religion. This development acts as an important step for the growing population of Muslims in Daventry. The mosque can accommodate this growing population with prayer space for 200 worshippers and a teaching facility. 

It was great to chat to so many from the local Daventry community including Christian leaders from the Cross Church Daventry and the Daventry Methodist Church. Imam Badar-ul-Islam highlighted the importance of this when discussing interfaith coexistence, this is testament to the sense of community and spirit in our town, that those of all faiths can come together to celebrate this wonderful achievement. It is commendable that Daventry's Muslim Association is bringing religious communities closer and in doing so setting an example for other communities to follow.

I would like to take this opportunity to formally welcome Daventry's Muslim community to their new look place of worship.
Invited guests included Sergeant Sam Dobbs, Town Mayor and Chairman of Daventry Town Council Lynne Taylor and the heads of the town's Christian faith establishments.
REACHING OUT TO THE PEOPLE OF DAVENTRY
 

Over the next few months I am going to be contacting and meeting with many of my constituents from all over the constituency to get a better idea of the concerns and problems that the people of Daventry are facing. 

I'm going to do this in a couple of ways. Firstly, I will be sending out a survey to many of the villages in the constituency asking what local and national issues residents are most concerned by. There will also be the opportunity to write some more personal comments. I appreciate that sometimes all your thoughts and feelings cannot be condensed down into a few lines and a tick of a box, with this in mind I will be running a number of coffee mornings across the constituency so I can hear your questions, queries and problems first hand. I'll be sending out more details about these in due course.

Whilst I want to know more about you, I also want my constituents to get a better idea of exactly what it is that I do here in Parliament. Therefore I will be releasing a series of videos where I will discuss a number of topics, ranging from my office and how we work to help you to my life as a Government Whip. Hopefully these provide some insight into my life as an MP. You can follow find these on my social media outlets weekly for the next month or so but you can watch my first video just below. Details on how to follow me on social media can be found below.

An introduction to my Parliamentary office
LOCAL BROADBAND

Broadband is an issue which I hear a great deal about from my constituents, particularly those from the more rural areas, many of whom encounter poor access to internet. I have published some of the responses I have received from Superfast Northamptonshire and BT Openreach about this issue on my website. Of course more must be done to resolve this ongoing frustration for constituents but I would say Daventry is heading in the right direction. 

According to some recent statistics, Daventry's average broadband speed is 8% higher than the national average and superfast availability has increased from 78.3% in 2016 to 85.8% in 2017. Full fibre, which offers very high speeds, is available to 6.6% of premises in the constituency which is more than two times the national average of 2.3%.

Although this is positive to read, we must continue to push for better broadband. It is an integral part of modern day life in the UK, and the constituency of Daventry should reflect this.

 
If you wish to view the whole report, you can find it on my website using the following link: https://www.heatonharris.com/news/daventry-broadband-speeds.
VAT EVASION UPDATE
 
Anyone who follows my work in Parliament will know that I have done a great deal to highlight the issue of online VAT evasion, which costs the UK economy up to £1.5 billion a year in lost tax receipts.

Since the 2016 Budget, Government measures have had a decisive impact on this area, resulting in more than 25,000 VAT registration applications from online non-EU based businesses. HMRC has issued more than 1,000 notices to online marketplaces resulting in the removal of non-compliant sellers and as of the 31st December 2017, HMRC has issued VAT assessments against online overseas traders for unpaid VAT amounting to about £98 million with a further £80 million in the pipeline.

I am pleased to inform you that in addition to these positive steps, the Government has taken further measures which were included in the 2017 Budget. For example, the requirement of online marketplaces to display a valid VAT number for businesses on its platform if provided with one. 

In total, these measures combined are estimated to raise just under £1 billion by 2023. I think we can all agree that this is an improvement but rest assured I will keep pushing for progress. No company is above British law. This is money that is finding its way into the wrong pockets, it should be in the Government purse where it can be used for our vital public services. 
COLD WEATHER PAYMENTS

In light of the recent cold and snowy weather we have been experiencing I thought it may be helpful to briefly mention Cold Weather Payments.

These have been triggered for postcodes starting with ‘NN11, NN12, NN2, NN3, NN4, NN5, NN6, NN7, NN8, CV23, LE16, LE17’ in the constituency. The alert was triggered on the 23rd February for the period until the 1st March, eligible residents will receive £25. Don't worry about applying for these, you will automatically receive these if you are eligible. Find out if you're eligible at: https://www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment.
CHRIS' JOKE OF THE MONTH

Why does Jeremy Corbyn only write in lowercase? He doesn't do capitalism.

Please Note: Due to the number of constituents this email is sent to, responses directly to this email will have their contents noted. For specific casework queries, please use my Parliamentary email address, as listed above.


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Chris Heaton-Harris MP · House of Commons · London, SW1A 0AA · United Kingdom

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