Last week, I attended the Department for Work and Pensions Committee Evidence Session regarding the Plan for Jobs and Employment Support. I used this opportunity to raise the suggestion of continuing support beyond the point of obtaining employment. I am keen for the government to learn from initiatives such as ‘Thrive into Work’, a schemeContinue reading Employment Support Needs Improving
This week I asked the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills about the £600 million levy returned to the Treasury due to the drop of apprenticeship starts this year. Given the skills shortages affecting our economy, it would make sense to let businesses in my constituency and elsewhere utilise at least some of that returned moneyContinue reading What is the Government doing with the apprenticeship levy?
As a Labour MP, I believe those who can work should work. In his budget, the Chancellor announced “universal support”, which he described as a new approach to helping more people with disabilities into work. He has yet to tell us how he plans to fund “universal support”, an issue I raised in the budgetContinue reading Compassion and Fairness
WHAT’S the fascination with outsourcing that makes so many managers and consultants offer it as the solution when they’re asked to make improvements or find savings? Public is not always best but there’s no guarantee private is either. There have been some spectacular government failures with prisons, probation, and tagging of offenders. In Birmingham weContinue reading Peril of failed outsourcing
Steve McCabe MP has recently visited Speciality Minerals in Lifford Lane. It follows some local complaints about noise from the site. The actual site has been there since 1898 and Steve first visited back in the early 1990s when he was a councillor for the Brandwood Ward. There have been some lurid stories on social media aboutContinue reading Steve McCabe MP visits Speciality Minerals
KEIR Starmer has come under fire over the rail dispute for sacking a junior spokesman for acting outside his brief. It doesn’t seem to matter that the Labour leader proposes the biggest increase in worker’s rights for nearly 70 years. His plans for fair pay agreements will end poverty wages. They’re part of Labour’s newContinue reading NEW DEAL TO BENEFIT 31m
I haven’t seen empty shelves in supermarkets near me but have noticed it can be a little harder to find one or two things and I do remember the panic buying and lack of items like toilet paper at the start of the first lockdown. Like many people, I’ve been struck by warnings about foodContinue reading Drive to keep stocked up
The Prime Minister came to Coventry last week and rambled on about levelling up but failed to announce funding for a Gigafactory, the one thing that could save the West Midlands car industry. Despite our successes, the spectre of unemployment continues to haunt Birmingham and the wider region. There are too many low paid, insecureContinue reading Poorest hit the hardest
It’s great that Mondelez, who now own Cadbury, have announced a further £15 million investment at Bournville in addition to the £80 million programme since 2014. It means production of Dairy Milk is coming home with workers gearing up to produce 125 million bars per year. Some like to say Dairy Milk doesn’t taste theContinue reading A sweet future depends on research opportunity
Steve McCabe MP, Birmingham-Selly Oak, is a member of the Work and Pensions Select Committee who in a report released today, recommend that the Chancellor must maintain for another year ‘at the very least’ the £20 per week increase in Universal Credit (UC) and Working Tax Credit introduced to support families during the coronavirus pandemic. The report notes that sinceContinue reading Universal Credit uplift must be extended to prevent hundreds of thousands falling into poverty
