The Public Accounts Committee pressed Home Office officials on the delays with the Windrush Compensation Scheme, which has paid out only very few claims. It is clear that the scheme was rolled out before it was ready to receive applications – two years later and victims are still facing long waits to receive their final compensation payment.
A number of constituents wrote to me regarding arms exports to Israel.
I wrote to the Government and have recently received a response from the Minister for International Trade, Ranil Jayawardena MP, on this issue.
Click the pdf link below to read the response in full.
I am clear that there is no place for this dangerous and harmful practice in the UK. I am disappointed that nearly two years after first pledging to ban this practice, the Government has not yet done so.
I wrote to the Government to press it on this issue. The Minister for Equalities, Kemi Badenoch MP, has recently replied to this letter. You can read her response in full by clicking the pdf link below.
I will continue working with my frontbench Labour colleagues to urge the Government to introduce a swift ban on this practice.
So grateful and excited to have had my second vaccine. Quick and painless and one of the best moments in my life.
If you are in groups 1-9 and have hesitated - do book your appointment. It's not too late. It's safe, quick, and vital with the more transmissible variant now spreading.
The Public Accounts Committee looked again at the supply of PPE and heard from companies that routinely supplied the NHS and the social care sector but who didn't get a look in from the Government in March 2020. We also learnt that there is nearly 10,000 shipping containers worth of PPE on our docks unused. See here to read a transcript of the meeting.
Today I publish my Annual Report as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
This report is published 12 months in which Whitehall has been tasked with addressing the most significant strategic issues the UK has been presented with in several generations.
Read the report in full by clicking the pdf link below.
Read my Monthly Report for May 2021 here.
Homes should be homes – not speculative investment opportunities for finance vehicles or absentee landlords who have no interest in it being a home.
The Government needs to step up and fix the housing market.
I restarted my Hackney doorstep surgeries this week where inadequate and overcrowded housing continues to dominate as a top issue. I’ll keep pressing the Government to build more decent and properly affordable homes.
Thank you Sustainable Hackney for an interesting discussion with lots of expert insight.
I'll keep pressing the Government to spell out the detail behind the path to Net Zero.