Letter from Parliament - Paul Rowen MP

Last week’s news that young people spend nearly eighteen months on the dole before finding a job compared to nine months five years ago is a tragedy for young people across Rochdale.

Two weeks ago during National Apprenticeship Week I met four young apprentices employed by ROK. The company, now part of a national company, was originally set up by Alan and Pat Richardson and has an excellent reputation for taking on apprentices. During my meeting I was told that, as part of a contract they have recently won from Oldham Council, they are planning to take on another 20 apprentices.

The company Carillion, that have just won the Building Schools for the Future contract to rebuild our secondary schools, also plan to employ another dozen apprentices.

Both companies have won contracts from local councils which have specified that local people and local companies have to be employed as a condition of the contract. This is one way that the Council can help improve the employment prospects for young people. However manufacturing companies and service companies continue to employ the largest number of people in Rochdale. They have been hardest hit by the recession and have been cutting back rather than employing more staff.

That is bad news for our young people and we need to see government action to reduce regulatory burdens and positively promote manufacturing. Sadly Labour placed too much reliance on the city and banks and we have seen where that has got us.

Last week I led a delegation to see Schools Minister Diana Johnson to discuss the problem of asbestos in schools. It was our second meeting and we made excellent progress. She agreed to our suggestion to set up a working group to ensure that asbestos in schools is properly managed. The first meeting will be this month. I was able to update the All Party Asbestos group meeting in Parliament this week on progress. Jason Addy and Tony Whitson from the Asbestos Victims Centre in Manchester were welcome attendees at this meeting.

Also last week I launched a report on Light Rail as Chair of the All Party Group. Five years on from when Alistair Darling had cancelled Rochdale’s tram we were keen to see what progress had been made.

It is always good to get visitors from Rochdale to the House of Commons and over the last couple of weeks I’ve met students from Springhill High led by teacher Andy Kennedy and Hopwood Hall College with Sarah Whitehurst. Springhill’s students were interested in Darfur, Sudan and I arranged for them to meet the Chair of the All Party Group on Sudan David Drew MP. David and I were both at Nottingham University so we’re good friends.

Yesterday I met the new Chief Executive of the Primary Care Trust Dr Julie Higgins to discuss the impact of the proposed £20 billion cuts on Health Services in Rochdale and tonight I’m due to speak at the Altrincham and Sale Liberal Democrat Annual Dinner.