Peter Aldous leads a debate on Colleges Week to celebrate the great work that colleges do, highlight where Government policy and support are working and examine the areas where more work and attention are required so that colleges can realise their full potential for the benefit of the people and the communities they serve.
Peter Aldous questions the Government about improving access to public sector procurement processes for small and medium-sized businesses and, specifically, if the new online platform is on schedule for operation in October.
Peter Aldous seeks assurance from the Government that it is committed to the collaborative partnership needed between the private and public sectors to ensure the transition of offshore energy from fossil-based fuels to renewables brings investment and jobs to communities all around the UK.
Peter Aldous calls on the Government to take into account the severe unintended impact on the funding of horseracing if the affordability checks designed to protect vulnerable online gamblers go forward in their existing form.
Peter Aldous outlines challenges facing hospitality businesses in Waveney and calls on the Government to help ease the financial burden by introducing measures such as a 3% cap on the increase in business rates for larger premises and reducing the lower rate of employer national insurance contributions to 10% to share the cost of the increased national minimum wage.
Peter Aldous welcomes the development of multi-sport grassroots facilities, but outlines the challenges faced as such developments are very often led by one sport, which then faces a variety of obstacles in getting other sports authorities to participate. He asks what is being done to promote collaboration between different sports authorities so that much-needed facilities can be built?
Peter Aldous acknowledges amendments put forward for Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill designed to reduce flaring and venting of methane by new offshore installations, but takes the view that these issues are better negotiated by the independent North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) which has a good record on delivering net zero, works with the industry and is not impeded by the four-to-five-year political cycle.
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 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.