Letter from Parliament

Jim Dobbin MP

In earlier articles I had described the welcome news that between nine and sixteen new health centres were to be built throughout the borough. The new £1million centre in Alkrington, Middleton and the new £9million centre in Deeplish, Rochdale began with the turf cutting ceremonies performed by myself and Paul Rowen MP last Friday. The others in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale will follow as part of a planned development programme. These are the visible signs that the government are preparing for new local health delivery centres to provide health services closer to the communities.

This will inevitably free our hospitals to concentrate on those genuine difficult health care needs that require specialist clinical or surgical support. The aim is to provide good cardiac care, cancer care, maternity care, paediatric care, orthopaedic care, mental health care and any other health need in a specialist hospital environment served by specialists in these areas. This changing process is clinically driven and should be supported. The only important consideration is transport, and accessibility should be in place to make this work and make the community feel confident and comfortable with these changes.

I had a joint meeting with David Chaytor MP for Bury North and Dr Peter Barret who heads up the review of the proposed reconfiguration model. This was the second of such meetings where we both registered our concerns, particularly over maternity and paediatrics north of the M62. These changes are necessary to prepare for advances in medical treatment and changing circumstances. Despite the concerns of some, I am optimistic and confident that the huge investment that has gone in has improved healthcare generally and will provide a good platform for future generations. I merely ask for more time to allow the changes so far to settle down. We now await the recommendations from the review panel.

This week Labour’s Trade and Industry Secretary, Alistair Darling, dropped me a line to tell me about our plans for tackling abuse of vulnerable workers. I agree that there is a minority of employers who do not respect the rights of their workers.  These abuses need to be dealt with. We have established an Enforcement Forum bringing together unions, employers and enforcement bodies to establish the nature and extent of workplace abuses. The CBI, Revenue and Customs and Health and Safety Executives are included. Protection on the minimum wage, paid annual leave, discrimination at work and protection for part time workers will form the core issues for this agency’s consideration. I’ll keep you posted on developments.

In 2005 your response to Live Aid and Make Poverty History campaigns showed that the people of Heywood, Middleton, Castleton, Norden and Bamford demanded action to improve the lives of millions of the poorest people in the world. This Labour government has worked hard to focus the leaders of the developed world on world poverty. More than 8 million of us wore a white band and hundreds of thousands marched in the streets to show our support for ending world poverty.

I remember having conversations with my constituents in my Heywood office as I did with MPs in my office in Parliament. We all watched the Live Aid concerts from around the globe. We wanted action not just promise. Well the UK has kept its promise. We are on track to increase the amount we spend on aid to 0.7% of national income by 2013; we have cancelled every single penny owed to us by the world’s poorest. We are pushing other countries to follow our example. Despite occasional lapses, the money is getting to those who need it most.

The UK helps 17 million Bangladeshi children go to primary school and more than 1 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa get treatment for aids. Vaccination programmes supported by the UK should save 10 million lives. Of course corruption is still a problem and has to be stamped out. The country will have a new Prime Minister and Cabinet in less than one month’s time. I should like to hear your ideas about what we should do to pursue the much needed changes to fast track the eradication of global poverty.

In Westminster I had a meeting with MPs and outside groups who have real concerns about the Human Tissues and Embryology Bill that is the subject of a joint House of Lords/Commons committee. This bill will come before the Commons in October and will pose some wide ranging ethical concerns that may need to be opposed. I shall keep you up to date with developments.

As chairman of the National Prayer Breakfast that takes place in Parliament on the 19 June, I finalised the programme last week. It just needs some fine tuning and it will be ready. I met with Pastor Les Isaacs who leads a street pastors’ programme in London and across England. He will speak at an evening reception to be hosted by the Speaker Michael Martin on the eve of the Prayer Breakfast. Les is a very charismatic character and should go down well.

On Thursday, before I returned to the constituency, my select committee had an evidence session with Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary. She is always a very cool, competent performer who never gets harassed.

Last weekend, I met with the Learning and Skills Council representatives to give them my view on how the 16-19 education proposals should proceed to ensure provision for Heywood and Middleton. In the evening, I enjoyed a visit to the Saddleworth Band contest and heard performances from our local music services – young people who are always a credit to the borough. 
Before I returned to Westminster on Sunday evening, I sponsored jointly with Councillor Peter Williams, the Middleton township chairman, the cricket game between Middleton and Heywood. I very seldom sit on the fence, but I do when any of the local sports teams play against each other. I admire the input the clubs have into coaching young cricketers and encouraging them to take up the sport.

The last local event I have left until the end because of its special significance. The local Heywood Heroes awards evening in the Civic Centre saw 6 year old Jade Kilduff become the first young Hero of Heywood, whilst Betty Fisher of Crimble Croft Community Centre was voted the Women’s Heywood Hero and Mike Huck our local landlord and Baptist Minister was awarded Men’s Heywood Hero. All the nominees were worthy of acclaim and it was good to see ordinary local people recognised for outstanding achievements. We had a splendid uplifting speech from Dr Janet Gray, a blind water skiing champion who defied horrendous odds to win top awards in her sport and a wonderful compere in Norman Prince who had everyone in stitches. It was a great evening for Heywood and I congratulate all who organised and sponsored it.