It looks like the bad weather this week has already arrived with warnings of further snow and ice. Hopefully we’ll be through the worst by the weekend but do be extra careful driving and look out for those who may need a bit of extra help. Details of local services are available on the Council website.
There have been some interesting and positive developments this week. In education, the Children’s Minister Clare Coutinho made a statement in the House on the new Government improvement plan for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. It’s a good start with more resources, better training and support, including for Somerset, and an overdue recognition that the system has been tough on families who too often feel they are having to fight for every step.
The Education All Party Parliamentary Group, which I chair, fed into this process last year including a meeting with the Minister and various experts and it’s great to see some of that work making a difference. The APPG has just had its AGM and will continue work in this area in the coming year as well as topics like handheld and other devices in schools and Religious, Health and Sex education. I have just co-signed a letter with colleagues asking the Prime Minister for a proper investigation into the latter as it is something that parents deserve transparency and reassurance on in a few respects.
On Tuesday the Government announced some changes to Lifelong Learning Loans to make them available for a wider range of courses including more technical ones which is a useful change for people seeking to retrain later in life and builds on our focus on skills development to enable people to earn more and fulfil their potential. Details are on the Government website under lifelong learning.
At the end of last week I submitted a response to the Government’s consultation on changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. Although local planning decisions are made by councils, the framework within which they operate is set in the NPPF and it’s important that it is clear and works for all parts of the country. One hope of mine is that the system of having house building targets is modified to be more flexible with better long-term thinking rather than an annual goal. We’ll need to try to ensure the local Council doesn’t over-egg the numbers on purpose the way they have in the past of course though in order for local communities to have more control over what happens in their areas.
Lots of the complaints I hear locally are about housing developments on the outskirts of villages which bring no additional infrastructure and so put pressure on roads, healthcare and schools, not to mention changing the character of the area. For a largely rural county like Somerset it is also important that land is properly categorised and that high quality agricultural land for food and related use is protected.
I have also been making the case to the Treasury about the importance of our engineering sector to the economy and how Leonardo’s AW149 bid is part of that. Finally for this week I have lobbied Michael Gove regarding levelling up and what more we can do locally, how business rates need reform and ideas for policy on regeneration of town centres and residential estates.