On Wednesday 6th February, I was delighted to welcome Kaitlin and her teacher Niamh from Beaumont Leys School to Parliament.
I first met Kaitlin when I visited her school to hear about pupil’s experiences with social media as part of an inquiry by the Science and Technology Select Committee. You can read more about the report here.
I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to speak to Kaitlin more when she visited Parliament and wish her all the best for a successful future.
On Friday I popped into our local Asda to hear about how the supermarket is helping to support local people.
I heard all about their work supporting our local foodbanks and their Breast Friend campaign with Breast Cancer Now and Breast Cancer Care. One in every two women don’t check their breasts regularly, and one in ten don’t check their breasts at all. The campaign is encouraging every woman to take the Pink Pledge to regularly check your breasts.
On Friday I visited Belgrave St Peter’s Primary School where I chatted to year 5 and 6 students ahead of their Aspirations Week.
The students asked me some fantastic questions on what it’s like to be an MP and what I wanted to be when I was younger. I told them that sometimes I still get nervous speaking in Parliament and they told me about all the times when they feel nervous and how they overcome their nerves.
There are 100,000 people in Leicester and Leicestershire who are looking after a parent, partner, child or friend, including 8,952 in my constituency. I have long backed the calls from Carers UK for the introduction of up to 10 days of paid care leave a year.
New research from Carers UK has found more than 600 people a day give up work to look after a relative who is older, disabled or seriously ill, with nearly half a million people leaving their jobs to provide care in the last two years alone. You can read more about the research here.
On 4th February, I was delighted to meet with Carers UK and Centrica in Parliament to discuss their partnership to support working carers and develop new technology that will help families check on their loved ones.
Last year I visited Centrica’s office in my constituency to meet staff there who are caring for sick and frail relatives and their managers. You can read more about my visit here.
Knife offences in Leicestershire have risen by 63% since 2010, yet we’ve been denied a share of £22 million funding from the Home Office’s Early Intervention Youth Fund to deliver crime prevention programmes with young people and tackle serious violence. In January I wrote to the Home Secretary to challenge this decision and call for some of the remaining £5 million of unallocated funds to be spent in Leicestershire.
On 4th February, Labour secured an Urgent Question on knife crime and I called on the Home Office Minister to give Leicester the resources we need to tackle this growing problem.
I’m campaigning for more affordable housing in Leicester West – including building more social housing – and a fair deal for people who are private renters.
I’m campaigning for better services and support for older people, carers and their families, and a sustainable system for funding our NHS and social care in future.
I’m working to help your family by pressing for faster progress in local schools, more improvements in our NHS, and continued investment in children’s early years.
