I started the morning of Tuesday 20th June in Westminster with a Teams meeting with the (PCC) Police and Crime Commissioner’s team. This discussion included the usual points around anti-social behaviour, but I was very pleased that lobbying by myself and others resulted in confirmation that the entire Newton Aycliffe Police team are going to remain in the Fire Station base until a town centre option is available. This clearly need to be the case and I pressed my dissatisfaction again that we are in this uncertain position. This has been a well-known risk for a considerable time and reignites the concerns raised when the new custody facility near Spennymoor was hotly debated and questions were raised about the overall estates strategy.
Following the Teams meeting I attended a roundtable discussion about supporting the post pandemic rail industry. This is extremely important to me because of both Hitachi and my desire to see progress on other rail agendas like ‘Restoring Your Railways’ and in particular Ferryhill Station. I continue to have regular engagement with both the Rail Minister, Huw Merriman MP and the Secretary of State for Transport, the Rt Hon Mark Harper MP.
Treasury Orals also took place on Tuesday 20th June. In the same way as the Prime Minister takes questions in the House of Commons Chamber during Prime Minister’s Questions, the Chancellor and his team do the same in Treasury Orals. As you are aware I am a PPS (Parliamentary Private Secretary) in the Treasury so I assist in this process, the one drawback to being a Treasury PPS is that I cannot raise questions in this forum, however, I have direct access to the Ministers should I need to ask questions.
Parliamentary Drop-ins this week included Protecting Critical National Infrastructure; Domestic Abuse Services; Levelling Up 2.0 and DEBRA UK. The latter of these is the national EB (Epidermolysis bullosa) charity. EB is a painful genetic skin condition that causes the skin to become very fragile and tear or blister at the slightest touch. It affects around 1/50,000 people and you may have seen that Graeme Souness and the team swam the channel to raise over £1 million for people living with EB. He and other celebrities were also in attendance to help support the charity and promote awareness.
I also had the chance to catch up with the Conservative Party Chairman to remind him of the important agendas we are pursuing in my Sedgefield constituency.
The Finance Bill went through the house on Tuesday 20th June and a colleague was PPS in attendance. Last week we also had the usual Transport Select Committee meetings – private on Tuesday 20th June – followed by public on Wednesday 21st June. The Minister for Rail was in front of us, and we questioned him on all aspects of his departments work.
The evening of Tuesday 20th June was the AFPS (Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme) dinner. These always have a senior military speaker; on this occasion it was Air Vice Marshall Ian Gale MBE and some colleagues. These dinners are conducted under what are known as Chatham House Rules, this is where nobody gets attributed to having said anything, which allows much freer discussion and conversation. The dinner is always both cross party and includes members from both Houses.
As well as the Transport Select Committee on Wednesday 21st June, I also went to PMQs before the highlight of my week. I do not get that many visitors from the Sedgefield Constituency because of the distance from Westminster and it is always a pleasure when I do. Last week I had visits from a father and daughter from Middleton One Row as well as the Ferryhill Ambassadors. The Ambassadors are primary school children from four schools in Ferryhill – Dean Bank, Broom Cottages, Cleves Cross and Ferryhill Station. The Ambassadors went on the standard tour before I enabled access to the Speakers Chambers, this is where Mr Speaker entertains dignitaries from all over the world. After they left I had quite a busy afternoon with two of the Treasury ministers needing surgery support. This is where they meet other colleagues to discuss anything in their portfolio.
Week commencing Monday 26th June starts with Defence Questions before we have the Financial Services and Markets Bill, amongst others. Defence questions are scheduled, like all departments, well in advance but with the events in Russia last weekend are particularly timely. The Secretary of State, Ben Wallace, took questions before the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, updated the house on events in Russia
On a related military agenda, I recently met people from the International Centre for Moral Injury (ICMI) at Durham University. We have all heard of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) which can affect military personnel and others after typically a physical experience. Moral injury is when you have done or seen something, possibly under orders, which may conflict with your own moral code. This can be extremely disturbing and send people in a downward spiral, if you have experienced this and would like to be directed to support, please get in touch.
If you want support on this or any other issue, please reach out to us on Aycliffe 790580 or by email to Paul.Howell.MP@Parliament.uk