It rained on the Queen’s Parade but the pomp and ceremony was no less impressive for last week’s State Opening of Parliament. The Government announced 21 Bills for the forthcoming session on a wide variety of subjects and I have given a brief description of each on my website. I particularly welcome the Children & Social Work Bill which carries on the progress to date on giving children in care and care leavers a better second start in life than they are getting at the moment.
There are also important measures in the Prison and Courts Reform Bill which aim to rehabilitate and educate prisoners much better rather than just contain them in the failing revolving door syndrome that is the prison service. As I have seen from my work on the Home Affairs Select Committee a rising prison population may be a temporary solution but it is a long term failure and radical solutions are long overdue.
There was a packed audience at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast referendum debate where I pitched the case for Brexit against Peter Bottomley defending the ‘all is rosy in the Brussels garden option.’ He does like his hopeless causes! Anyway we had a full, frank and respectful exchange of views which I hope shed some light in what has been an unhelpfully opaque and negative campaign so far. Interestingly the vote at the end of the debate the audience was split 50-50 with only one undecided.
There was a good turnout too at the meeting of Old Shoreham Road residents at Swiss Gardens School last week where we tried to get safety measures back on track to make this busy road safer for residents and particularly pupils at the school. So far the County Council have agreed a lollipop patrol but have been unable to recruit anyone to do the job. With the possibility of a building development at Ropetackle North and the school being forced to take on an additional class from September the road is only going to get busier and the problem more acute.
The following day I was a at another Shoreham School, this time the excellent St Nic’s & St Mary’s where Google were giving a really punchy and effective presentation on how and why kids need to be much more savvy when using the internet and social media. It is an important message but parents need to do their bit to make sure their kids are safe online too and not just leave it to schools.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse the conductor strikes and sudden spate of staff sickness have made the already appalling Southern Service even worse. Frustrated commuters have been writing in with their experiences and I have written again to the head of GTR and MPs have another meeting with them at Westminster shortly. I have published my letter on my website.