Stephen's week
January 23, 2007 10:50 AM
By Stephen Williams MP
By Stephen Williams MP
MONDAY 15th January 2007
Up bright and early in Liverpool. Off with Select Committee colleagues to visit St Francis of Assisi Academy. This is a new school, jointly sponsored by the Church of England and the Catholic Church. While that was interesting, we were there to see the design of the new building and hear about the construction project. This is part of our enquiry into the government's Building Schools for the Future ("BSF") project, which is meant to rebuild every secondary school in England at a cost of many billions. As well as a tour we met with the Bishop of Liverpool (who had done Radio 4's thought for the day that morning) and a group of children.
Then we were off in our bus to Knowsley. This was to meet with local heads, council officials, building contractors, etc to hear about how all of Knowsley's secondary schools are to be replaced by a network of new "learning centres".
To Runcorn station for a Virgin train back to London Euston. I get to travel about quite a bit by our country's trains and Virgin and GNER offer a vastly superior travelling experience to our awful First Great Western. We were back in Westminster in time for an evening division on the
Planning Gain Bill, which the Lib Dems voted against as another central government interference in local government.
TUESDAY 16th January
Was a largely uneventful day spent dealing with correspondence and attending internal meetings! But I still didn't get home till about 11pm...
WEDNESDAY 17th January
Walked to Parliament in a howling gale and pouring rain. Education Select Committee had our first session on a short enquiry into the setting up of the new diplomas for 14 - 19 year olds. These will be rolled out in stages starting in September 2008. Eventually there will be 14 diplomas each with core learning in maths, English and IT along with a vocational specialism, for instance in construction or health and social care. The Liberal Democrats support this attempt to give a boost to vocational education. However, we would have preferred it if the diplomas incorporated the existing GCSE and A Level subjects, bringing together academic and vocational subjects in a common series of diplomas. As it is, we will now have a continuation of separate qualifications for children, with a risk of lack of parity of esteem. The witnesses were from the QCA (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority) and various industry reps.
Then off to the Commons Chamber for the second PMQs of the year, with Ming turning in another good performance.
In the afternoon I walked in sunshine to the Connaught Rooms in Holborn to take part in a panel discussion at a conference of students from Further Education colleges.
THURSDAY 18th January
Mainly in the office, lunch with a lobby journalist. Late afternoon to Millbank media centre to record a short piece with Roger Berry MP on mobile phone masts, to be shown on "The West this Week". This is a tricky topic - almost everyone has a mobile phone, but nobody wants a mast near their home or a school. There is no evidence that mobile masts harm health. But as I point out, the mobile phone industry is still very young so we don't have any long term evidence.
Unusually, I stay in London tonight as there is a Friday sitting of Parliament.
FRIDAY 19th January
Fridays are occasionally used for Private Member's Bills. The main debate today was on a Tory MP's attempt to introduce the Sustainable Communities Bill. This Bill has been around for a while, looking for a Parliamentary champion. I spoke at a public meeting about it in Redland over a year ago. It is classic Lib Dem stuff about giving more power to local councils and communities. No Lib Dem MPs were drawn in the private members ballot this year. We know that the Tories are trying to steal our clothes on environmentalism. They've now discovered an interest in localism too. I was a councillor when the Tories were last in power and know that their record was anything but supportive of local decision making! Speeches are limited - in part due to a Labour attempt to "filibuster" and "talk out" the Bill. But I make a short intervention on local planning categories to deter second homes and streets having too much multiple occupancy houses. There were enough Lib Dem and Tory MPs present (100 needed) to make sure that the Bill could move to the Committee Stage. As the government will have a majority on the Standing Committee, they may try to amend it so as to wreck its main provisions.
Train back to Bristol by early evening. For a change, have night off and went to see "The Last King of Scotland" - about Idi Amin, which I heartily recommend!
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