Alison Bennett's Monday Mail: Plans Change

Welcome to my final Monday Mail of 2024! 

Next week the Monday Mail will be enjoying a mince pie induced snooze, ready to return on Monday 6th January.  One thing I have learnt about Parliament, is that you start the day having one plan, and by the end of it, something entirely different has happened.  This happened twice last week

Plans change (round 1)

On Tuesday at 11.30 I got a notification that at 12.30 there would be a statement on (and I quote), Government Response to the PHSO Report on Communication of Women’s State Pension Age. It was quickly confirmed that this would be an announcement about potential compensation (or not) for WASPI women. I hot-footed it to the House of Commons expecting compensation to be announced. I was really shocked that the government had decided to go against the recommendations of the PHSO (Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman) and would not be paying out compensation to those affected.

I think this is a terrible decision, not just for the women who have suffered financial hardship as a result of past governments’ botched administration of changes to the state pensions age, but because it will further undermine trust in public bodies generally, and politicians in particular. I put this very point to the Secretary of State Liz Kendall in response to her statement. 

It is my hope that in the new year the government will make time for this to be properly debated and voted upon.

Plans change (round 2)

…and so to Thursday, the final day that Parliament was sitting before the Christmas Recess. 

I woke up and switched on the news to hear that water bills for Southern Water customers (like us in Mid Sussex) are set to rise by up to 53% by 2030. I assumed that a government minister would come to the House of Commons to deliver a statement on these eye watering rises that will leave many people wondering how they can afford them.

I was wrong.

So instead I ‘bobbed’ for forty minutes during Oral Questions to the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs hoping that I would be able to ask a question about it. 

I wasn’t called. 

Instead, I got an alert informing me that at 10.30 there would be an Urgent Question on Hospice Funding. Now this is something that I have been expressing my concern about since the general election. 

I was called to ask a question this time, and I pressed the health minister about whether the new funding she was announcing would cover the extra costs that hospices are worried about because of the increases to Employers’ National Insurance Contributions announced in October’s budget. 

Like other MPs I didn’t get a definitive answer.

You can see from this thread, that following the question in the morning, the afternoon took an unexpected turn with me raising a Point of Order because the verbal statement in the Commons had not been clear. Once the accompanying written statement was published, what transpired was that the extra £100m for adult hospices was for capital expenditure (e.g. buildings) rather than day to day running costs (e.g. staff salaries and NICs contributions).

This capital funding for hospices is of course welcome but goes nowhere near far enough to tackle the crisis in our hospices. For many hospices the issue is a shortage of staff and the cost of providing care, not the state of the buildings.

I will continue to make this case in 2025

Plans change (part 3… what about you?)

Are you looking for a new job in 2025? 

The Mid Sussex and Horsham Liberal Democrats are looking to recruit a Campaign Organiser. It will be a brilliant and exciting role working with two teams both of whom I am very fond of.

Applications are open until 13th January. Find out more here

Plans change (part 4… because of you)

2024 has for me been a momentous year, having become a Member of Parliament in the General Election. It is an incredible job, and one that I am so lucky to be doing. So I want to close by thanking all the people who made this possible. I am so very grateful.

Getting in touch

My parliamentary email address is: alison.bennett.mp@parliament.uk. If you need my help, please get in touch and I will do my best to help. 

I am pleased that the backlog of letters and emails that built up immediately after the general election is getting smaller thanks to my lovely and dedicated staff. Response times are still not as quick as I want them to be, but we are making progress. 

Best wishes,
Alison

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