Weekly Roundup, Sunday 21st June

Before I pack my hand sanitiser and face mask for the journey to Westminster, I wanted to give constituents in City of Durham my weekly round-up of what’s been happening in Parliament.

My run of good luck is continuing, in that I was able to ask two questions in the Chamber. The first was in response to the statement by the Prime Minister regarding the decision to merge the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office without, it seems, consulting with leading aid organisations or humanitarian and development experts. The Prime Minister told me there had been “massive consultation”. It’s not clear at all that this is the case. As a result, I have tabled five ‘named day’ questions asking the Government to make this information public.

I then asked Liz Truss, the Minister for Equalities, when the obligation for companies to report their gender pay gap , removed in March, would be restored. Unfortunately, she didn’t think it was a priority to restore it.

Also, over the last week, I attended 2 oral evidence sessions as a member of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. The first was to question Northern Ireland Minister, Robin Walker, in the ‘New Decade, New Approach Agreement’ inquiry. The next session involved questions to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, and Brandon Lewis, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. The session focused on post-Brexit customs arrangements in Northern Ireland. Although the questioning was very thorough, their answers did little to convince all members of the committee that this was a beneficial deal for many sectors in Northern Ireland.

On Friday I joined a virtual briefing session arranged by Doctors’ Association UK on the effects of COVID-19 on the BAME community and healthcare, as well as the structural racism present in healthcare and our health systems. It was very sobering listening. Thankfully, their strong policy recommendations give MPs the necessary tools to campaign and demand action from Government.

It’s been another busy week, and once again it is proving difficult to get straight answers from this Government, but I will keep working hard and pressing them on the important issues.