Reporting Back - February 2011 (updated)
Annette Brook MP, Mid Dorset and North Poole Constituency
The 'hottest topic' raised by constituents recently has been the proposal by the Government to sell or lease the land owned by the Forestry Commission. This proved to be so controversial that the Government has halted the consultation and withdrawn its proposals. This involves withdrawing certain clauses from the Public Bodies Bill. I had indicated that I was prepared to vote against these.
The Secretary of State has also announced that she will be establishing an Independent Panel to consider forestry policy in England with the aim of enhancing protection and biodiversity.
The proposed reforms of the Health Service are also very controversial. I voted for the second reading of the Bill to facilitate further debate and scrutiny at committee and report stage. I do think that there are some good proposals within the Bill particularly in bringing health and social care services together but I am worried about the speed of the reforms and the timing. There is no doubt that many questions are being raised by a large number of professionals operating in this field.
Proposed changes in disability allowances are causing stress and worry for many disabled people. I hope there will be a rethink on scrapping entirely the mobility component of DLA for all people in residential homes and schools. There has been a consultation on DLA in general and any changes will be introduced in 2013 for new claimants and existing claimants will be moved on to the new system after that date.
As you may be aware the Bill on voting reform has had a long and stormy time in the Lords. On Wednesday, in the Commons we voted on the Lords amendments, rejecting most of them. The process is that the Lords then consider their reactions to these votes and can decide to disagree. In which case the amendments come back to the Commons and they can be rejected again and then go back to the Lords – this is called ping ponging. I am pleased to say the process came to an end very late Wednesday night and we will have a referendum on the alternative vote system on May 5th on local election day.
The articles of Annette Brooke are archived below:
2011 - January, February, February (updated), April, May, June
2010 - February, July, September, October, November, December
Say you saw it on "Broadstone NET"