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VIEW FROM THE HOUSE
21 January 2010
Like most South West Bedfordshire residents I was very much affected by the snow over the last three weeks. I did manage to get to and from the Commons, but driving on hilly ungritted roads is not an experience I would wish on anyone and I hope that we can learn lessons for any snow we get next winter. In Parliament, I asked the Government to halt grit exports during the extreme weather conditions, as there was clearly not nearly enough for UK roads with Central Bedfordshire Council, one of many Councils only receiving a fraction of the grit it had ordered. More grit will cost more money though.
I would like to pay tribute to all those people who did what they could to keep us moving, to keep businesses going and to deliver vital public services to those in need. I have been contacted by parents with children at Totternhoe Lower school and Pulfords Lower School who really appreciated these schools staying open every day. Some members of staff walked more than three miles to get to school. I know that, especially where both parents work, unscheduled school closures can be a real nightmare and cost families a great deal of money in some cases. I hope the children in those schools also had fun playing in the snow.
Turning to non snow matters, but staying on the subject of family income which I have just touched on, I would like to touch on some issues that I have been working on in Parliament and locally in South West Bedfordshire. I have been taking the Child Poverty Bill through the Commons in my capacity as a shadow Work and Pensions Minister. The Bill has admirable intentions which I support and would be a better Bill if it focused more on dealing with the root causes of poverty, such as educational under achievement, worklessness, addiction and family breakdown. In relation to family breakdown the Government’s own figures show that you are twice as likely to grow up in poverty as a child if your parents separate.
Helping to strengthen families is thus incredibly important in reducing child poverty rates which are still far too high. It is also vital in these tough economic times, when the Government is spending far more than it is raising in tax. The costs of family breakdown have been estimated at £22 billion a year by the well respected Institute for Fiscal studies (IFS). Aside from the emotional cost, this is a financial burden that is difficult for the country to bear and which weighs down businesses from creating the extra jobs we need to get out of this painful recession.
It’s not just think tanks like the IFS that draw attention to family breakdown. Over three quarters of the South West Bedfordshire eighteen year olds I have surveyed, also agree it’s a big problem in the UK. That’s why I am pleased to be able to welcome the Marriage Course that Two in Tune (our local Community Family Trust) are running next month to coincide with Marriage Week. Two in Tune runs many courses on strengthening family relationships, including parenting courses and not just for married couples.
This course starts on 5th February with a meal at 7.15 pm at Delta House in Leighton Buzzard. You can register on mail@twointune.org or on 01525 372 419. If have an MOT for your car every year, shouldn’t you invest in maintaining your marriage too ? My wife and I have done the course, everything between couples stays confidential, and we would thoroughly recommend it.
Andrew Selous is MP for South West Bedfordshire and be contacted on 01582 662 821 or selousa@parliament.uk
