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Welcome to this week’s constituency newsletter for residents in Reading West and Mid Berkshire. It was great to be able to visit Beenham Pre-School on Friday to chat with staff, and take part in some fun activities. Also, in the constituency this week, following concerns raised by residents, I have launched a rural mobile coverage survey – you can find details of how to take part below. And, there was great news for young people this week with the launch of the Government’s National Youth Strategy alongside the expansion of our Youth Guarantee. To keep up to date with what I am doing in Parliament and in the constituency, you can follow me on Facebook or Instagram. |
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Beenham Pre-School visit It was really lovely to visit Beenham Preschool earlier today and to chat with the Manager, Paula as well as Tina from St Peter’s Preschool in Bradfield. It is a fantastic setting and I enjoyed the wonderful singing from the children as well as the chance to take part in some fun activities, including being served with a regular supply of play dough “cookies”! Rural mobile signal coverage For rural communities within Reading West and Mid Berkshire, limited mobile coverage means unreliable data connections and difficulty accessing essential online services, affecting not only personal communication but also remote workers and local businesses who depend on stable network access. Most importantly, I know that poor mobile coverage poses a serious safety concern. In emergency situations, the inability to make a timely call can lead to dire consequences. This is particularly concerning given the transition away from analogue landlines. I have written to West Berkshire Council and to the Minister of State in the Department of Science, Innovation, and Technology highlighting the concerns that residents have raised about poor mobile phone coverage. If you have issues with mobile signal coverage in your community please tell me about your experience along with your views on how to address the issues by completing my survey. Great British Railways Following the freezing of rail fares at that Budget, it’s all change for trains this week. The Railways Bill, which is currently going through Parliament will create a new publicly owned company Great British Railways to run and manage the tracks and trains used by passengers every day – driving up reliability and clamping down on unacceptable levels of delays, cancellations and waste seen under decades of failing franchise contracts. Locally we’re also seeing improvements to our rail network with the opening of the lifts at Tilehurst Station after pressure from local Labour Councillors. The Bill will also give passengers a powerful new voice with a Passenger Watchdog. Along with the simplification of fares and the elimination of bureaucracy, we are taking back control of our railways and putting them back in the service of passengers. A landmark ten-year plan for the next generation There was great news this week for young people with the launch of the Government’s National Youth Strategy. The ten-year plan will make sure that every young person in Reading West and Mid Berkshire has someone who cares, somewhere to go, and something to do:
The National Youth Strategy puts young people at the heart of decision-making and begins to rebuild the youth services that were decimated over the past decade. …and better support for young people to earn or learn I know many young people in Reading West and Mid Berkshire need better support to earn or learn. Figures show that 300 local young people are stuck on benefits, and I do not want to see them left behind as they were under the Conservatives. That’s why Labour has expanded the Youth Guarantee – with £820 million of funding to provide opportunities for young people not in education, employment or training with 350,000 new workplace and training opportunities, and a Jobs Guarantee for 18–21-year-olds who are long-term unemployed. Banning abusive conversion practices Being gay or trans is not an illness that needs to be cured. I was appalled by the BBC’s recent documentary on the historic use of so-called electric shock therapy, and thanks to my colleague Alex Barros-Curtis for giving me the opportunity to address this inhumane practice in the chamber. Abusive conversion practices are still happening in this country today, and this Government will ban them. Backing our armed forces personnel I’m proud to be part of a Labour Government who are backing our armed forces here in Reading West and Mid Berkshire. 35,000 service personnel, including around 10,000 in the South East will get the cost of their travel home covered this Christmas. Alongside a transformational £15bn investment in AWE in our community, the biggest pay rise in two decades, and a landmark £9bn plan to renew armed forces housing – we’re on the side of those men and women serving our country. £3.5bn to tackle homelessness Every five minutes, a family in the UK is made homeless, or threatened with it. Everyone deserves a roof over their head, which is why the Labour Government has launched a National Plan to End Homelessness, backed by £3.5 billion of investment, including an extra £148m here in the South East. By the end of this Parliament, we will deliver on three key pledges: halving rough sleeping, banning the use of B&Bs for families, and crucially, preventing more households from losing their home in the first place. Celebrating our brilliant small businesses Following on from Small Business Saturday and my Summer Small Business Roadshow, in the new year I am going to continue to highlight the brilliant entrepreneurs and business owners we have here in Reading West and Mid Berkshire. On Friday I popped into the lovely Aldermaston Tea Rooms for a vanilla latte between constituency visits So, from cafes to craft shops, from plumbers to producers email me to let me know about your favourite business in Reading West and Mid Berkshire. Date for your diary Meet Your MP, Aldermaston, 1.30pm to 2.30pm on Sunday 25 January If you live in Aldermaston or nearby and would like to come along for a chat with tea and biscuits between 1.30pm and 2.30pm, you can register here. My team will confirm the venue to those registered in advance of the event. Best wishes for the week ahead Olivia |