Henderson's Highlights (and low points...) Febuary 2012

Thought for the month

How can a company encourage its employees to work for a month knowing that there is no likelihood of them being paid for their labours?

Parliamentary highlights

I had meetings this month with, among others, Tim Lyver from the Highways Agency (raised the issue of nonsensical direction signs on the A249); Bob Neill, Minister for Local Government (to discuss setting up an enterprise zone on Sheppey); Vince Cable, Secretary of State for Business Innovation and Skills (raised issues leading to Thamesteel going into administration); Mark Prisk, Minister for Business (to discuss Thamesteel); Major General Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (Briefing on the Territorial Army and Reservists); General Sir David Richards, Chief of Defence Staff (for briefing on current situation in Afghanistan); Lt Gen Sir Bill Rollo, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (for briefing on the current round of redundancies in the Armed Forces); Paul Carter and Alex King, Leader and Deputy Leader of Kent County Council (to discuss various matters, including Thamesteel).

I attended the launch of the Stalking Inquiry Report. This is not the end of the campaign to make women feel safer, but the beginning.

Following the visit last months by Rodmersham Primary School and Holywell Primary School, from Upchurch, I was delighted to see Lower Halstow Primary School take part in one of the tours organised under the Parliamentary Educational Scheme, which included a question and answer session with me. Excellent session!

On 22nd February I attended one of the shortest parliamentary committee meetings on record. I was a member of the 4th Delegated Legislation Committee that met to consider The St Albans and Welwyn Garden Hatfield (Boundary Change) Order 2012, the intent of which is to transfer a few houses in one cul-de-sac from one local authority to another. There was no dissent so the meeting took about 90 seconds!

A far more important meeting was that of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Steel and Related Industry Group, of which I am a member, to which were invited members of the Community Union to discuss Thamesteel and our collective action.

This month I also met with the Thamesteel Administrator for a heads up on what progress is being made towards finding a buyer for the site. I am becoming increasingly pessimistic about the future of the plant and can only hope that somebody can be encouraged to take over the site and at least start producing steel billets. Unfortunately, even the best case scenario is unlikely to save any more than half the 400 jobs that have been lost.

The good news on the Thamesteel front is that it looks as if all the redundant workers will have received payments by the beginning of March. The Redundancy Payment Service has a target to process 80% of claims within 3 weeks and 93% of claims within six weeks. Obviously this timescale would have caused difficulties for a large number of redundant workers, which I why I wrote to the Secretary of State, Iain Duncan Smith, asking for his help to fast track the Thamesteel claims. In the event 100% of the claims were dealt with within 12 working days from when the paperwork was received from the Thamesteel Administrator.

Debating question

Government reforms will put an annual cap of £25,000 on the total benefits receivable by any one household; that is the equivalent of an annual income before tax of £30,000. The average annual income for working people in Sittingbourne and Sheppey is around £26,000 before tax. Bizarrely Labour peers and members of Parliament have been campaigning ferociously to stop the reform. Do they live on the same planet as the rest of us?

Constituency highlights

Despite Parliament being in recess during the half term period it has been a busy time in the constituency. Here is a flavour of my constituency work in an average month (excluding all the case work!):

Company visits: Kent National Burials (Teynham), Sweeep (electrical recyclers in Sittingbourne), The Bond Group (refrigeration unit manufacturers in Sheerness) and Inten Ltd (commercial property repairs located in Sittingbourne).

School visits: The Westlands School (Q&A session), Westlands Primary School (tour) and Tunstall Primary School (Q&A session).

Meetings: Swale Borough Council (Jill Reed) to discuss bid for Sheerness to become a “Portas Pilot”; (Mark Radford) to discuss various matters; (Andrew Bowles) to discuss various matters; The National Farmers Union (a quarterly meeting I have with them); Dr Bill Moses to discuss the Sheerness Heritage Dockyard; Sheerness Youth Centre to discuss how we can maintain youth provision on Sheppey.

Visits: Friendship House for launch of refurbished hall; McDonald’s in Sittingbourne for presentation of Litter Angels poster; Bluetown Heritage Centre to present an award to the director and producer of Magwitch (see below) as part of the Swale Film Festival.

Business: Kent Science Park for my quarterly business Q&A session; St Georges Business Park for my monthly Blinkss breakfast Q&A session.

Advices surgeries: were held in Eastchurch Village Hall, Periwinkle Close (Sittingbourne) and an on air session for BRFM.

Social highlights

Louise and I visited Rochester Cathedral to see the 1946 version of Great Expectations. It was proceeded by a short film about Magwitch (a central character in the book) made by a couple of Kent based film makers. I was mightily impressed and hope to convince them to undertake project in my constituency!

Cultural highlights

I enjoyed Masterchef, the very last episode of Hustle on the Beeb and the quirky Eternal Law on ITV. I am still enjoying the latest Stephen King novel 11/23/63.

Sporting highlights

It has to be the Gills versus Hereford match on Tuesday 28th Feb. I didn’t go to Priestfield but got regular updates on my blackberry throughout the evening. 0-2 after seven minutes. 1-2 at half time. 2-2 a minute into the second half. 2-4 with 10 minutes to go. 4-4 by the 89th minute. Penalty to Hereford in the 90th minute. Saved! 5-4 to the Gills three minutes into extra time. What a game to miss!

Personal highlights

Discovering two ducks on our pond, which Louise has christened Frankie (as in Francis Drake) and Lizzie (as in Queen Elizabeth I), and which have now colonised our garden.