Markyate Monthly Article, November 2008
Parliamentary Diary
At time of writing we have just learned that the Government has finally agreed to award the Post Office Card Account – an account allowing customers to collect benefit payments - contract to the Post Office. This is excellent news for our smaller post offices as for many the income and business generated by cardholders helps keep them viable. I am keen to see as many services as possible being available at local post offices, as for smaller communities in particular; they are a vital component of the community.
Apart from that, it’s been another busy month at Westminster and I’ve found myself involved in a wide range of diverse subjects. I’ve taken part in Commons debates on issues ranging from promoting the donation of umbilical cord blood to the maintenance, the maintenance of our canals and the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Some of you may know that David Gauke (MP for South West Hertfordshire) and I share an office in Westminster. It’s worked very well as quite a lot of issues straddle the two constituencies in Dacorum. In fact there are three MPs sharing our office. The third is David Burrowes who is MP for Enfield, Southgate. It was his Private Members Bill that caused me to be debating the donation of umbilical cord blood and I was given the task of winding up the debate on behalf of the Conservative health front bench team.
It is an interesting subject, not least because of the excellent work of the Anthony Nolan Trust (with the added local dimension in that the little boy Anthony Nolan lived in Hemel). David is supporting the work of the Trust which is establishing a new Cord Blood Bank. His Bill would require hospitals to promote the donation of cord blood from women after giving birth. Currently there are only four NHS hospitals with collection points (one of which is the Luton and Dunstable). Sadly the Bill will never become law as the slates are wiped clean when the Parliamentary session ends at the end of this month. If nothing else it will have raised the profile of the issue so that perhaps the Government will add a clause or two onto a new related Bill in the near future?
On a totally different subject, I took part in a debate on Britain’s waterways and called on the Government to ensure that whilst promoting new projects they don’t neglect our existing canal infrastructure.
The Grand Union Canal which passes through Hemel is now pretty much entirely a leisure facility where people can enjoy its mix of industrial history and wildlife habitat. I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time fishing there recently – something I used to enjoy in my youth – and was surprised to discover how much it has silted up. British Waterways has tight budgets and they should ensure they look after what we already have before committing to other major schemes.
