Peter Aldous visited WS Training Ltd's Lowestoft Supported Learning Centre to discuss the courses on offer to young people on Study Programmes aged between 16-19 (up to 25 with an EHCP) and how the courses are individualised to help support young people into further education or employment.

https://www.wstraining.co.uk/

Peter Aldous visited Nationwide’s Lowestoft branch to meet the staff and discuss Nationwide’s branch strategy, their model and how they are supporting their members. 

Peter discussed the importance of retaining face to face services. Nationwide now have the largest branch network and remain committed to keeping our branches open for customers.

Peter Aldous has joined the RSPCA and the Marine Conservation Society in welcoming the UK Government’s announcement of a forthcoming ban on disposable vapes.

Five million single-use e-cigarettes are thrown away every week, and many of them end up as litter in our environment, our rivers and the ocean where they can cause harm to animals and marine life. These vapes contain materials and poisonous substances which can be hazardous to animals including plastic, lithium and nicotine.

The RSPCA says the announcement will help "create a better world for every animal".

RSPCA Public Affairs Manager Harriet Main said:

“We’re really pleased that Peter attended our event to pledge support about how he can help make a ban on disposable vapes a reality.

“Too many single-use vapes are simply being tossed away in our communities, putting animals needlessly at risk; they could ingest the liquid from discarded, disposable vapes; while strewn devices can also impact habitats.

“We are calling on MPs to ensure the UK Government follows through on its announcement to introduce legislation to put an end to these polluting and dangerous items, which will be such an important move as we all strive to create a better world for every animal. Without action, animals remain at risk from carelessly discarded disposable vapes.”

Research from Material Focus suggests the number of disposable vapes being discarded each week has increased to five million - with three percent of UK vapers - including eight percent of 16-18 year olds - admitting they drop single-use vapes on the ground.

An RSPCA survey - part of its #VexedAboutVapes campaign - showed 94% of respondents supported a ban on disposable vapes.

Peter Aldous said:

“I am appalled at how many of these single-use e-cigarettes end up as litter on land as well as in rivers and the ocean. But it’s also heartening to know that there is such strong support for banning these dangerous and polluting disposable vapes amongst the public.

“I’m proud to support the RSPCA and the Marine Conservation Society with this important campaign, and I will be doing my bit to help secure a ban on disposable vapes.”

More information on the RSPCA’s #VexedAboutVapes campaign can be found online.

Peter Aldous calls for multi-year financial settlements for local government, calls for recognition in the settlements of the added cost of delivering services over large rural and coastal areas such as Suffolk and calls on the Government to provide a sustainable long-term plan for social care, with care workers being fairly paid and provided with proper career paths.

Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)

This settlement is welcome because for many councils it staves off financial armageddon. However, as we have heard, we need a far more strategic approach to the funding of local councils and to how they deliver the crucial services that they provide. Year after year we go through an annual routine of the Government issuing a provisional local government funding settlement in December, which presents many councils with significant challenges. That is followed by an intense period of lobbying by councils, their representative bodies and MPs. The Government then find some more money to solve the short-term challenge. We then agree the settlement, as we will do tonight. Life goes on, and we repeat the whole exercise again the next year. I think there is consensus across the Chamber that we must break out of that cycle.

A county such as Suffolk faces significant challenges, including an ageing population, which means that there is an ever-increasing group of vulnerable people who require care and support. It is right that my right hon. Friend the Chancellor increased the national living wage in his autumn statement but it was wrong that, in the first instance, councils such as Suffolk were asked to fund most of the increase themselves from their existing resources. We need to pay properly and support the thousands of workers going out in all weather conditions to care for and assist vulnerable people in their own homes.

Like Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset, Suffolk covers a large geographical area. In such circumstances it is expensive to deliver services, including, as we have heard, home to school transport and SEND provision. Faced with those challenges and an inadequate provisional settlement, Suffolk County Council cut its funding for arts and heritage. The latter in particular leaves the Waveney and Lowestoft area inadequately served and resourced with regard to archives and records. I am sure that I will return to that issue in due course.

My right hon. Friend the Levelling Up Secretary is right to set up an expert panel to advise on financial stability, and to ask local authorities to produce productivity plans, but more is required. As I have said, we need to move away from the current short-term approach to local government funding. To do that, I suggest the following changes should be considered. First, as many Members have said, there should be multi-year financial settlements rather than the annual settlements that we have had for the past six years. Secondly, we must recognise the added cost of delivering services over large rural and coastal areas such as Suffolk. Thirdly, working in conjunction with the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities must provide a sustainable long-term plan for social care, with care workers being fairly paid and provided with proper career paths.

There should also be a review of statutory responsibilities in such areas as home to school transport, to ensure that they are properly funded. Finally, as we have heard, the Government should carry out the relative needs and resources review—the so-called fair funding review. The review should look at not only the opaque and complicated formulas used, but the data used for the assessment of relative needs, which, as we have heard, dates way back—much of it to the last century.

In his summing up, I hope that the Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare), who has taken extremely well to his new role, will be able to herald in the long-term strategic approach that local government so desperately needs.

Hansard

Peter Aldous welcomes Suffolk’s police funding increase of 6.7%, with hotspot response finance of £1 million, but calls on the Government to speed up the long-promised funding review to address the fact that Suffolk is the fourth lowest funded force in the UK, overturn the funding cut for the safer streets initiative and amend the Data Protection Act 2018 to reduce the bureaucratic burden of pre-charge evidence redaction.

Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)

Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Speaker. I am most grateful for that clarification.

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend the Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire for setting out the Government’s proposals for the police funding settlement for 2024-25. Suffolk is due to receive an increase in core funding of 6.7%, and hotspot response finance of £1 million. Those settlements are welcome, but I will briefly raise three issues, two of which have already been addressed in some detail.

The first of those issues is the funding review. At present, Suffolk constabulary is the fourth lowest funded force in the UK, and as such, we are looking for the long-promised funding review to be carried out as soon as possible. Many of the challenges that we face are similar to what we have heard is happening in Cornwall. At Home Office questions on 27 November, I asked my right hon. Friend for an update on the progress of the review. He responded by stating:

“I completely accept the need for a new police funding formula”

and said that his team had been

“working on it extremely hard, with colleagues across government”

and that he hoped

“to have something…to say on the topic shortly”.—[Official Report, 27 November 2023; Vol. 741, c. 545.]

It is in that context that I would be most grateful for a further update on the progress of the review and on when we can expect the draft proposals for the new formula. There is a worry, as we have heard, that the review is being kicked into the long grass. I hope that the Minister can allay that concern in summing up.

Let me come to my second point. For police and crime commissioners such as Tim Passmore in Suffolk, budgeting presents considerable challenges. He and other PCCs are entitled to expect consistency in Government commitments. In that respect, the changes in funding for the safer streets initiative are disappointing. Initially, the Home Office offered Suffolk £1.4 million. It then reduced that by £400,000, and it is now taking away a further £180,000. That approach is, I suggest, unfair, and it penalises smaller forces such as Suffolk constabulary, which, through no fault of its own, now faces a funding gap without any explanation or justification being given. I therefore ask my right hon. Friend to review that decision, which affects not just Suffolk, but forces all across the country.

Finally, as we have heard, this is not just about money. A policeman’s lot can be made considerably easier and, I hope, happier, if red tape is reduced. In that regard, I applaud the work of Ben Hudson, the secretary and treasurer of the Suffolk Police Federation, who is ably supported by my hon. Friend the Member for Loughborough (Jane Hunt) in their campaign to amend the Data Protection Act 2018 so as to mitigate the impact of the bureaucratic burden of evidence redaction that is imposed on police officers when they seek charging decisions from the Crown Prosecution Service. A further amendment to the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill is being tabled in the other place by the noble Baroness Morgan. I urge the Government to consider this matter closely and do all they can to accept those measures. Doing so would free up thousands of policing hours every year, as pre-charge redactions would not be required, and would enable chief constables to better utilise allocated budgets, which, as we have heard today, are restricted and not quite as bountiful as we would all hope.

I hope that, in winding up, the Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Laura Farris), can allay the concerns that I have expressed: we need that long-overdue funding review; we need funding commitments to be adhered to and kept; and finally, as I have said, please, let there be less red tape.

Hansard

Peter Aldous welcomes the Government’s plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry and calls on the Government to provide funding for a new treatment and training facility in the Norfolk and Waveney integrated care board area similar to the University of Suffolk’s innovative service that is about to open in Ipswich.

Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)

I welcome this recovery plan, which provides the foundation for putting NHS dentistry on a sustainable long-term footing. I urge my right hon. Friend to continue her negotiations to replace the existing NHS dentistry contract as soon as possible, and to provide funding to the Norfolk and Waveney integrated care board so that the University of Suffolk can open a new treatment and training facility in our area, to replicate the innovative service that is about to open in Ipswich.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Victoria Atkins)

I understand my hon. Friend’s point, and I commend him for his work to ensure that his constituents receive the care and help that they deserve. On training, I hope he has drawn out from the plan the emphasis that we are putting on long-term ambitions. We understand that we need to train more dentists and get internationally trained dentists registered in our system. We recognise the critical role that dental hygienists and therapists can play as well.

Hansard

Peter Aldous joined fellow Suffolk MPs to visit the new state-of-the-art dental facilities being developed at the University of Suffolk.

The MPs had a preview tour of the University’s Centre for Dental Development which includes new teaching rooms for its BSc Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy. They also visited the dental practice rooms which will be operated by the University of Suffolk Dental Community Interest Company which is housed in the same building.

The MPs were shown round by University Vice-Chancellor Professor Helen Langton, who said:

“This innovative partnership between the NHS and the University of Suffolk will help to develop a sustainable and multi-skilled dental care workforce for the future that will contribute to supporting the oral health needs of our population in Suffolk.

“It is a fantastic example of how universities can work with employers to develop skills and the future workforce alongside meeting the needs of their local community.”

The first cohort of students on the Dental Hygiene and Dental Therapy course started their studies this week.

The new NHS dental practice is still being equipped and recruiting its new team and expects to offer its first appointments after Easter.

It will focus on the patients in Suffolk and Northeast Essex in greatest need and will eventually provide an additional 18,000 hours of NHS dental appointments a year.

When the service is up and running, it will treat patients referred by NHS 111, improving access to dental and oral health care for local people. It will also offer placements for the students on their degree programmes which is an important part of their learning.

Lorraine Mattis, CEO of the Dental CIC, said:

“We cannot singlehandedly solve the NHS dental access issues in this area, but we will make a real difference to those in greatest need and support the community by delivering the best possible dental care and driving oral health improvements.”

Peter Aldous MP said:

“Access to NHS dentistry has been a major challenge for my constituents for some time.

“It’s encouraging and exciting to see the University of Suffolk taking significant steps to address the problems, both in the short term by providing access to dentists through the Community Interest Company for patients who need to see a dentist and, in the long term, by training dental professionals.”

For more information, please visit www.uos.ac.uk

Peter Aldous highlights the enormous number of job opportunities presented by Sizewell C and asks what the Government is doing to ensure that local people have every opportunity to work on the project and can acquire the skills needed to do so.

Peter Aldous (Waveney) (Con)

T4. Sizewell C will provide an enormous number of job opportunities in Suffolk. Will my right hon. Friend outline the work that the Department for Work and Pensions is doing to ensure that local people have every opportunity to work on the project and acquire the necessary skills? (901349)

The Minister for Employment (Jo Churchill)

Like my hon. Friend, I am excited about the jobs and opportunities at Sizewell. Local jobcentres have been engaged with Sizewell C, and I understand that a local partnership manager will be designated to promote opportunities, and to find people for 1,500 apprenticeships and thousands of jobs. We will invest in local skills through sector-based work programmes and the like.

Hansard