Following my recent appointment to the Work & Pensions Select Committee, I joined our first open session last Wednesday with the departmental minister, Liz Kendall. This gave me the opportunity to raise the issue of compensation for the WASPIs (Women Against State Pension Inequality). They represent a large group of women unfairly penalised by changes in the retirement age and a cause of great hardship.
Initially the Minister replied vaguely that there was “lots of information” to process. When I pressed further she replied: “I can't give you any more, if I gave you a date then I'd have sorted it. It needs to be sorted, I will do it as soon as humanly possible.”
I take this to be a positive answer. Most importantly it confirms she accepts the obligation, which was not always the case with past governments, and also that she is urgently looking for a solution. On the other hand, it doesn’t give us an official deadline we can hold her to. But given the budget pressures, it was probably about as far as she can go as of today.
On Thursday I had the pleasure of meeting 50 or so Arunside pupils at the education centre at Westminster, following their tour of the House. Clearly the star attraction for the children wasn’t me, but the Speaker. I was obliged to do an impression of him bellowing out, “Order, Order!” Who knows, it could be useful training for me one day. They also seemed particularly keen on being given the right to vote for their own teachers. I’m sure this idea will meet with great interest across Horsham District’s teaching community.
Back in the constituency I met with two other schools, Bohunt and Greenway, where we discussed a range of issues affecting their work. The most pressing issue raised was the ever-deepening crisis in SEND provision. This service is managed out of West Sussex County Council and frankly their record does not compare favourably. It’s an issue I will return to in greater detail because the service we have to put up with today is not in any way satisfactory.
