Dear <<First Name>>

The latest edition of my e-newsletter contains an update on Covid-19 and my activities across the constituency and in Parliament.

Covid-19 update

It's over a year since Covid-19 first reached our shores
and the UK entered its first national lockdown.

I know this has been a difficult and challenging time for residents. When we first went into lock down this time last year, I don't think many of us would have expected to be in our third lockdown a year later. This has meant us having to live very different lives, from restricting our movements to not seeing our loved ones. I  want to thank everyone in Oldham and Saddleworth for following the guidelines and ask you to continue to be patient as we go through the vaccination roll-out. Good times will indeed return again. The Government has of course set out its road map for the opening up of shops, leisure etc and the opportunity to meet more of our family and friends once again. You can keep up to date here. 

Those of you who follow the work I do, will know that over the last year, I have been critical of the Government’s handling of this pandemic: I shut my offices on 11th March before the Government called for a lockdown to protect not just my staff but my constituents too. There were appalling delays not just last March but last September/October and in December.  And dodgy decisions involving cronyism and profiteering. 

Speaking in the Commons last week during Business Questions I reiterated the need for an independent public inquiry into the Government's response to Covid-19. It is absolutely right that, as we emerge from this pandemic, we need to learn lessons. In particular, we need to understand the reasons for the UK’s “high and unequal” Covid death toll, as described by Professor Sir Michael Marmot.  However, I was extremely disappointed with the Leader of the House’s refusal to even schedule a debate defining the scope of an independent public inquiry. This must happen now so that an inquiry can start in the autumn when we should be over the worse. We need to learn lessons quickly.

In addition to a lack of timeliness and, at times, incoherent decision-making, shockingly poor messaging, and lack of understanding about the basics in pandemic management plus a disregard of the rules by some in Government, their approach to pandemic procurement has been marred by huge waste to the taxpayer, ineffectiveness and cronyism. The Covid contracts handed out to Tory friends and donors has now risen to almost £2billion, with very little done to address the National Audit Office’s damning findings and recommendations. That figure could have provided free school meals to every one of the 1.4m pupils who are eligible - for over 3 years.

I took part in a legal action with the Good Law Project, Layla Moran MP and Caroline Lucas MP regarding the lack of transparency of Government covid contracts. On 19th February 2021, the High Court found that the Government had acted unlawfully and had failed to publish PPE contracts. On top of this, there have growing concerns regarding so called ‘VIP contracts’ revealing troubling evidence of fast-tracking and preferential treatment for friends or acquaintances of members of the Government. The National Audit Office revealed concerns regarding the awarding of the Public First contract, which it turns out was influenced by both Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings.

On 22nd February I asked the Prime Minister about the unpublished PPE contracts and urged him to publish them all in full; but he claimed that they were all published. Later that week in response to an Urgent Question on these contracts.  I asked the Health Minister about making sure all these PPE contracts were published and he said that they were. Then on 5th March the High Court ruled that when the Prime Minister had claimed that all contracts had been published, 100 contracts had not been published and were outstanding. Intentional or not, his statement had been factually untrue. 

The Prime Minister needs to come to the House and make a full apology as required under the Ministerial Code. I have written to the Cabinet Secretary with Layla Moran and Caroline Lucas to raise our concerns on this.

The revised Health Protection (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021 debated this week, have introduced some big changes to the January regulations. I’m concerned about the ban on foreign travel and what constitutes reasonableness, especially given the difficulties I have had on behalf of constituents in dreadful circumstances in recent weeks. The compulsion regarding vaccination passports is another concern. It is worth having a look at how Keir Starmer tried to amend these regulations, but as I write, I fear this will be overlooked.

I want to pass on a massive thanks to all NHS and care staff, whatever job you do. Not only am I so grateful for all that you have done/are doing under such horrendous circumstances, but I’m incredibly proud of you (as I know so many of us are). I know speaking with former NHS colleagues and from the work of the APPG on Coronavirus which I’m a vice chair for, the toll that this year has had on you. I will be fighting to make sure that you are properly remunerated and recognised.

The NHS and social care sector has been under immense strain throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, and although daily death and infection rates are now falling across the country (albeit more slowly in Oldham), the lockdown and impact of the virus has not yet ended for our NHS and social care workers. 

After so many mistakes with the Serco Test and Trace programme, the roll out of the NHS vaccination programme has been a great success. Issues with low uptake by some communities, for example, Black, Asian and Ethnic Minorities have been overcome with local pop-up community-based sessions. Again a massive thanks to the clinicians that have been delivering this, many of whom have either come out of retirement or who are doing the vaccinations on top of other surgeries and clinics. As of the 23 March there has been 95,877 (49%) of Oldham’s registered population aged 18 or over vaccinated with their first dose. I visited Moorside Medical Centre and a pop-up vaccination clinic in Glodwick last week and I want to thank the local NHS teams for assisting local residents through the process.

I will continue to fight for the best support for my constituents while keeping you safe. Keep up to date on local information here and please take care.

Sarah Everard: The fight to end violence against women and girls

Nobody will have failed to be shocked and saddened by the death of Sarah Everard earlier this month

Many women and girls also came forward to speak about their experiences and this also led to vigils across the country. Whilst many out of the capital were able to go ahead, socially distanced, I was concerned at the way women were arrested in London. The Met Police need to answer for their decisions on this.  

I live in hope that Sarah's tragic death will be a turning point in how violence and harassment against women and girls is prevented and tackled. This is the job of each and every one of us, as well as statutory agencies, educational establishments, work and leisure places.

On International Women’s Day on 8th March and the 3 events I spoke at, I mentioned that in spite of the universal declaration of human rights spelling out over 70 years ago that we are all born free and equal in dignity and rights, in the UK, 2 women a week are killed by a partner and that 9 out of 10 victims of sexual violence (predominantly women) do not report incidents to the police. Women’s rights are Human rights. We deserve no more, and certainly no less.

Better support for victims is needed as set out in the Victim’s Law tabled by my Labour colleague, Peter Kyle MP.  He asked the Prime Minister to not just commit to the idea of this, as the Government had previously done in its last three manifestos, but to guarantee a tight timetable for its implementation. He highlighted three cases of rape, two of which were against minors, and all of which received between 7 and 9 year sentences. At PMQs, Keir Starmer set out a Ten Point Plan and Victim’s Law. Much needed changes to legislation are needed and quickly.  

Tackling violence against women and girls has been a key priority for me and my team. I continue to work closely with local organisations such as Inspire Women Oldham and Keep our Girls Safe.  I will always advocate for the rights of women and girls as well as improved relationship education in schools.

The Domestic Abuse Bill is due back in the Commons after the Easter Recess where I hope we can make amendments to strengthen this legislation. The time is now for the Government to act and take action to put an end to violence against women and girls. 

Budget 2021

Britain needed a Budget to put the country on right road to recovery and address widening inequalities exposed by the pandemic.

Whilst there was some good news with the extension of furlough and business grants, there was not enough to tackle the long term issues exposed by Covid-19 and resulting from it. It lacked any depth or vision.

The Office for Budget Responsibility confirmed that the Conservative Government’s economic and pandemic mismanagement has left Britain, not just with the highest death toll in Europe (and one of the highest in the world) but that we have also had the worst economic crisis of any major economy. There is no plan for the NHS recovery so we can get people the health care they badly need. Or social care. That the Government has announced a reorganisation of the NHS in the middle of a pandemic, which gives the Health Secretary sweeping powers, in the context of increasing cronyism, is very alarming. There was also no mention of schools or teachers. Or restoring Britain’s high streets.

Meanwhile the Chancellor is freezing pay for most public sector workers who have got us through this crisis. Instead of giving our NHS staff the pay rise they were promised, the Conservatives are now giving NHS staff a real-terms pay cut. And this is when there are already 40,000 nurses’ vacancies and 7,000 doctors’ vacancies. I'm joining Labour colleagues in calling on the Conservatives to reward NHS staff with the pay rise they deserve and to put their proposed NHS pay cut to a vote in Parliament.

Rishi Sunak has also forced through a council tax hike that will hit households across the country forcing many local authorities to increase council tax by not giving them the funding they need to deliver services. Oldham Council has lost £50m, over half of its funding from central Government since 2010; in spite of all the Government’s promises to ‘do whatever it takes’ in reality they have only repaid £3 out of every £4 that Oldham Council has spent over the last year. 

The Government has prioritised stamp duty cuts for second home owners over support for key workers, people on the lowest incomes and public services including the NHS and social care. There was absolutely nothing on the Conservative’s manifesto pledge for a ‘Dementia moonshot’.

While eligibility for the Self Employment Income Support Scheme has been widened, there’s still no support for the estimated three million self-employed people forgotten by the government response so far. These include freelancers, limited company directors, and the self-employed with more than £50,000 in trading profits. 

The Universal Credit uplift of £20 a week has only been extended for 6 months whilst there was no announcement for disabled people and others on legacy benefits who have received no additional uplift. Together with a number of charities and the money saving expert, Martin Lewis, I have consistently raised serious concerns about this, writing to the Chancellor before the Budget with recommendations to #BuildBackFairer. 

This Budget showed that in spite of their manifesto promises, the Conservatives has no vision and no commitment to reducing inequalities or ‘levelling up’. They want to go back to the same insecure economy and unequal country that’s been so cruelly exposed by the virus.

A Labour Budget would have put the NHS and social care at the centre of a new settlement to build a country fit for our Coronavirus heroes. We need to learn the lessons of this pandemic, not go back to the insecurity of the past. Poverty and inequality and political choices, and Labour will make different choices.
 

Constituency update

The Government's Levelling Up Fund was introduced to great fanfare, instead it is pitting regions against each other.

Local areas are being made to fight for crucial funding whilst the Government is supporting wealthy areas (such as the Chancellor's constituency of Richmond) ahead of those in greater need. This piecemeal funding does not make up for failure over the past decade, which has seen services decimated as £15 billion of cuts have been made to local government including Oldham Council. Sadly under the Levelling Up Fund, our regions will be getting less than they did before the crisis and unlike before they will have to fight against each other for every penny of investment. 

Greater Manchester will now take control of its bus network for the first time in decades following the great work of Andy Burnham and local council leaders. It means Greater Manchester will become the first place outside of London to have a regulated system since the 1980s. Buses on the local network will still be run by private companies but the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) will have control over fares, timetables and routes, and will integrate ticketing across buses, trains and trams. Read more here.

Data released by the House of Commons Library shows there were 3,260 more people claiming unemployment support in February 2021 across Oldham East and Saddleworth than in February 2020, before the first lockdown in March last year. Young people remain disproportionately affected. It is deeply worrying that unemployment continues to rise, and is at a higher level than the rest of the country.  Every increase in unemployment is a person whose financial security has been turned upside down. The Government must do more to ensure we have quality, well paid jobs, focusing on growing new jobs in the green economy, whilst providing training to help with developing new skills.

I met virtually with Denshaw residents, Oldham Council, Highways England and Greater Manchester Police. Residents in the village have been suffering with issues of traffic and speeding for some time and I have been working with them and agencies to affect change in the area. The teams were able to update everyone on measures to reduce speeding, prevent M62 diversions through Denshaw and improve safety by the school. I'll continue to work closely with everyone involved.

For International Women's Day (IWD), I took part in virtual discussions with young people in Oldham and an international event on women and conflict in Kashmir. This United Nations theme for IWD is "Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world."  A report from the UN Secretary General showed that women’s full and effective participation and leadership in of all areas of life drives progress for everyone. Yet, women are still underrepresented in public life and decision-making. This year, the UN will be holding a Generation Equality Forum which kicks off in Mexico City from 29 – 31 March, and culminates in Paris in June 2021. It will draw leaders, visionaries, and activists from around the world on a virtual platform, to push for transformative and lasting change for generations to come. Find out more here.

My team and I continue to receive a large number of casework queries – we are still seeing a tripling of demand but also an increase in the seriousness of these cases. I would like to thank my team for all they are doing to meet this challenge. I also want to thank you for your patience. We are doing our best to get through our backlog and have a triage system in place, dealing with the most urgent enquiries first.  Please do bear with us – as I’ve always done I will respond to your correspondence. In the past month, I have received a number of enquiries regarding the third national lock down that has been introduced by Government. In addition, we have received queries on employment, education, environment, social care, housing, Council related queries, policing, immigration, social security, businesses and health-related matters. My team and I will do all we can to continue to support constituents at this difficult time.

I joined patrons, staff and young people from Mahdlo youth zone for a virtual event on their 9th Birthday celebrations. 

It was great to be invited to the Parent Power virtual question time with Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, Cllr Sean Fielding, Cllr Shaid Mushtaq and Oldham Youth Mayor, Samah Khalil. Thanks to Najma Khalid and organisers for a brilliant event and to the parents for all their questions and discussions. I look forward to seeing you all again soon.

I want to give my congratulations to  local heroes, Frank Rothwell and Kevin Sinfield who will be be given the Freedom of the Borough by Oldham Council.  Kevin Sinfield  ran 7 marathons in 7 days to raise funds for his friend and former team mate, Rob Burrow. Rob was diagnosed with motor neurone disease and has raised over £2.6 million following an initial target of £77.777. Frank Rothwell, 70, became the oldest man to row unassisted across the Atlantic Ocean. The 3,000-mile challenge took two months to complete – raising over £1 million for Alzheimer's Research UK in the process. They both truly are an inspiration to the rest of us. 

On the 6th May, Local Election will take place across Oldham and across the country. These elections are a chance to vote Labour and support our NHS staff. Given the Covid-19 situation you may also want to consider applying for a postal vote so you can vote early and avoid queues at polling stations. You can apply for a postal vote here. 

Parliamentary update

The Work and Pensions Select Committee's inquiry into pension scams.

The Work and Pensions Select Committee which I am a member of has been undertaking an inquiry into pension scams. The report will be published this week with recommendations on how to protect people in or approaching retirement from becoming defrauded from their occupational or personal pension. It’s estimated that billions of pounds of people’s pensions are defrauded every year. In addition to this, we also have inquiries underway on the disability employment gap, child poverty and the future of work. You can read the Health and Safety Executive’s response to the letter the Select Committee sent to them on Covid in the workplace and the evidence they gave to the Select Committee here.

At the end of February, the APPG for Health in All Policies that I chair, published a report from the inquiry investigating the health effects of the 2016 Welfare Reform and Work Act on children and disabled people. The inquiry found that welfare changes since 2010, including the 2016 Act, were directly and causally responsible for increases in poverty particularly for children and disabled people, with £33bn less in financial support to working age households since 2010. The increase in poverty was also directly and causally associated with a decline in physical and mental health. For every 1% increase in child poverty an additional 6 babies per 100,000 population fail to reach their 1st birthdays. We also found that the culture within the Government’s Work and Pensions department was too often demeaning and demonising claimants, which had an additional deleterious impact on their mental health. Our recommendations were sent to the Chancellor prior to the Budget. You can read the report here.

Earlier this week, I co-sponsored and spoke in a Commons debate to stop online abuse via the use of anonymous accounts.  Although we know of the capacity of social media to do good – and this year has shown how it can keep us all connected - online abuse and even online hate, including racism, antisemitism, and misogyny, is prolific with horrific impacts on individual’s mental health. It has even been associated with suicide. In addition to harming individuals, propaganda, misinformation and ‘fake news’ are threatening the health of populations and the security of democracies across the world.

The use of anonymous social media accounts is a way that many abusers hide and get away with their abuse. Research by Clean Up the Internet has shown that the majority of abuse and misinformation spread online comes from these anonymous accounts. Siobahn Bailey MP for Stroud and I proposed a new legal framework for verifiable accounts which we hope the Online Safety Bill will incorporate. You can read about this debate here. 

Last week, I voted against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.  Although there were some measures that I supported, for example, such as the Police Covenant, doubling the sentence for assaulting emergency workers and toughening sentencing for death by dangerous driving, there were many others I didn’t. Labour colleagues and I called on the government to drop its poorly thought-out proposals and instead work with us to legislate to tackle violence against women which is forcing so many across the country to live in fear. There was nothing in the bill for victims of crime and nothing on rehabilitation or the prevention of crime.

The Government also undermined the bill with draconian measures that will impose disproportionate controls on free expression and the right to protest; measures that will have an unfair impact on Black, Asian and ethnic minority people including gypsy, Roma and other travelling communities; and ineffective measures aimed at stopping reoffending. The message that they sent by failing to refer to women in the Bill but increasing the sentence for defacing a statue to 10 years, double the minimum tariff for someone convicted of rape, is that tackling violence against women, is not a Government priority. I have urged them to think again.

I also spoke about the absence of any measures to repeal the 1976 Bail Act and the impact this has on vulnerable women.  As co-Chair of the APPG on Women in the Penal System this is an issue Debbie recently raised with Justice Minister, Lucy Frazer QC. Under this Act, the courts can remand an adult to prison for their own ‘protection’ without that person being convicted or sentenced, and even when a charge can’t result in a prison sentence. These were poorly thought-out proposals that fail to address issues of equity within our justice system.

In addition, the APPG on Women in the Penal System has launched an inquiry into women's health and well-being in prisons. The APPG welcomes written submissions of evidence. Find out more here.

I have spoken (or tried to speak) on various issues including asking why we’re spending £37billion on the Serco Test and Trace programme which doesn’t work, £10billion more on PPE than we should have and why this waste isn’t been spent to give our 300,000 NHS nurses a decent pay rise. See my question in Parliament here. 

At Defence Questions, I asked the Defence Secretary about the UK's role in global peacekeeping - he didn't know.

I also asked the Trade Secretary why my constituent's small business is having such trouble sorting out customs clearance for his woollen goods when the Government promised there wouldn't be any problems with Brexit? Where are the grassy uplands?

Unfortunately, I was unable to speak in support of the genocide amendment in the Trade Bill this week. The amendment would have required scrutiny of trade deals by a panel of judicial experts, to determine whether any proposed signatory to a trade agreement with the UK had committed genocide. The Government opposed this amendment and it was voted down 318 votes to 300 on Monday evening. I worry that human rights will be overlooked in Trade deals by this Government.

I'm proud to be amongst the first 100 MPs demanding decisive action on the climate and ecological emergency by supporting the Climate and Ecological Emergency bill. Find out more here.

As Co-Chair of the Dementia APPG, together with Dame Julie Walters, I'm supporting Alzheimer's Research's campaign asking Government to deliver on their promise to double funding for dementia research. We must protect the future of dementia research. The Government made an election pledge to double funding for dementia research to over £160 million a year. Together, we can make sure they keep their promise. Sign the petition here. In addition, the APPG is accepting written evidence for an inquiry into dementia research and the Government's commitment to implement a Dementia Moonshot. Find out more here.

I took part in the Industry and Parliament Trust's virtual discussion on what work might look like in a post-covid world. There were excellent contributions looking at the multifaceted issues and opportunities in a post-Covid world of work.  One thing it did show is that we can and should do things differently.

Please do continue to follow the Covid-19 guidelines and stay safe everyone.

Wishing you a happy Easter, and for my Jewish friends and family, a happy Passover.