This month, I’m leading Labour’s scrutiny of the Government’s Care Bill. We’ll be going through the Bill line by line, and I’ll be pushing to improve it – including on help for carers. The Bill includes many new rights for carers that I welcome, but parents who are caring for […]
On Sunday 12 January I was on the BBC’s Sunday Politics in the East Midlands alongside the Conservative MP for Sherwood, Mark Spencer. We talked about the potential job losses from local authorities in the region, how we address the serious issue of problem gambling, and the priorities of our constituents […]
For Parliament to be effective, it’s absolutely vital that MPs listen to, and understand, the wide range of communities we represent. This is especially the case for a city as diverse as Leicester. I made this point when I recently spoke at the launch of the All Party Parliamentary Group […]
Last year, 811 older patients spent Christmas Day in hospital. This experience was made more bearable by the generosity of NHS staff and local people who donated presents for patients as part of the hospital’s “Making Christmas Special” campaign. This year, the campaign is backed by Age UK LeicesterShire & […]
Improving care and support for elderly and disabled people is one of the biggest challenges we face in Leicester, and across the country. I recently spoke in a debate about the Government’s Care Bill, in my role as Labour’s Shadow Minister for Care and Older People. I welcome the new […]
I set up the Leicester West Health and Care forum to improve NHS and other care services in this area. The Forum also provides direct input from local people to my work on Labour’s Shadow Health Team. Last week at Barley Croft community centre, the forum met to discuss the […]
As winter sets in, I’m really concerned our NHS isn’t getting the support it needs to cope. Last week alone, 2,500 people attended Leicester’s A&E and more than 10 per cent had to wait more than four hours before they were seen and treated. On Friday, I visited the Royal’s […]
The 7th December was the first “Small Business Saturday” to take place in the UK. It coincided with one of the busiest shopping days of the year. To mark the occasion, I joined Leicester South MP, Jon Ashworth, as we shadowed a market trader and helped sell fruit and veg. […]
I recently helped launch Leicester’s Carers’ Charter at an event organised to coincide with Carers Rights Day. Too often, unpaid family carers end up paying a big price for looking after their loved ones. Carers are twice as likely to suffer from poor health, because of the stress and […]
On 28th November I spoke in a Parliamentary debate about the G8 Dementia Summit, which will take place in London in a couple of weeks. I welcomed the fact that the G8 summit seeks to boost international efforts on clinical research, as it is essential we work towards developing effective […]
On 27th November I had the pleasure of meeting a group of youth work and community development students from De Montfort University, who came to visit the Houses of Parliament as part of their studies in social policy and politics. We had a very interesting discussion about the future of […]
I recently visited Park’s Primary School, to see the work they do as part of their ‘Aspirations Week’. The teachers had put on a brilliant range of activities, for children of all ages. For example, there was a ‘Vets clinic’ for the youngest pupils, using toy animals. The older pupils […]
