I’m really pleased that we’re starting to see progress in bringing waiting lists down and speeding up tests and operations. This is something lots of residents have raised with me and ministers have been working flat out on. I’ve had some very positive feedback from residents locally that after being stuck on waiting lists for some time, the action taken by the new Labour government has made a real difference.
A resident, who’d been struggling with chronic pain after having his knee operation repeatedly put back, got in touch to say he’d had a call, bringing forward the surgery, thanks to extra capacity being created. Another resident said they were delighted that, having been waiting for an x-ray, Bishop Auckland Hospital offered a Sunday evening slot to get him in more quickly. This is thanks to government funding evening and weekend working to get through the appalling backlog we inherited from the Conservatives.
I’m delighted that Labour Ministers have achieved these improvements by scheduling new appointments during evenings and weekends, allocating £1.8 billion for additional operations, appointments and diagnostic tests and successfully resolving the junior doctors’ strike. These measures have not only fulfilled our commitment to increase appointments, but also reduced waiting lists by over 160,000 across the country. That means the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has delivered Labour’s manifesto promise of two million extra NHS appointments seven months ahead of schedule. Wes has visited Aycliffe on a number of occasions and I know will keep working hard to improve services here, across the region, and across the country.
Regular readers will know that, pushing for more jobs, apprenticeships and opportunities, is my number one priority. So, I was really proud that, to mark Apprenticeship Week, the government introduced changes to apprenticeships, creating an additional 10,000 opportunities for people to train. This will make a big difference in our area, helping open up more high-quality opportunities for people to get into well paid work. The government has achieved this, in part, by reducing red tape and bureaucracy, along with eliminating the current GCSE Maths and English requirements. These requirements too often blocked talented young people from getting on in life because they didn’t thrive in academic tests. Excellent vocational training must be open to everyone and these changes help ensure that.
Another key area where we must tackle the very difficult legacy left by the Tories is in the housing sector. Before being elected, I worked in the social housing sector for six years and saw first hand the crisis caused by government funding cuts, changes to Housing Benefit arrangements and the loss of skilled tradespeople, central to building and repairing homes. In communities across our constituency I’ve been shocked to see the conditions that some private landlords are expecting people to live in. And too many families who deserve good quality, affordable homes are stuck on waiting lists because not enough homes have been built.
I’m therefore pleased that the Housing Minister announced an extra £800 million investment into the Affordable Homes Programme, aimed at delivering tens of thousands of new affordable and social homes nationwide. I’ll be pushing to make sure our area sees the benefit of it.
Another area where the government has made strong progress, since the election, is on processing and removing those who entered the country illegally with no right to be here. Since coming to power, the government has now enforced over 20,000 returns and I was pleased to vote for the Stronger Borders Bill in Parliament that gives the government new counter-terror powers to smash the criminal gangs. The Tories lost control of our borders, but we’re determined, as a government, to enforce the rules and have a firm, but fair, approach.
During the week of parliamentary recess, it’s great to be spending time with some of our fantastic community groups and organisations. I’ve visited the Ferryhill Ladder Centre, which provides outreach services in Newton Aycliffe to assist residents with benefit support and advice. I spent the morning with the Coxhoe community pantry to see first hand their essential work in supporting those in need.