31 March 2005

After the Easter recess we return to London on 5 April to hear if the Prime Minister will call the General Election. There is much to be completed and I can only guess which parliamentary business will lapse. 
Rumour has it that the Identity Cards Bill will be one that fails but that the Mental Capacity Bill may be completed. 
From the Health Committee we publish our report on 

• "The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry" on 5 April 
  and we must complete two shorter reports on 

• "NHS Continuing Care" and 

• "The Use of New Medical Technologies in the NHS" 
  before the dissolution.

After the Election is announced I am no longer an MP and my surgeries will cease but I will try to complete case work already started. 
No ex-MP will then be able to use the House of Commons. 
Contact may be made by telephone on 01562 753333 or healthconcern@ukonline.co.uk 

I apologise to some of those who have written to me about pensions as I have not replied to everyone who has written pre-printed letters and postcards as I have had so many of these. There are many problems with pensions including the old age pension, public service pensions and pensions from businesses that have gone bankrupt or are unable to meet their commitments. I expect that that the whole issue will be a major concern in the next Parliament. 

I have received a report from Postwatch, the Consumer Council for Postal Services, about the Post Office's 'Urban Reinvention' Programme, the euphemism for the widespread closure of PO branches, that has caused so much concern to so many. About 2500 urban post offices have closed throughout the UK including 394 sub-post offices in the Postwatch Midlands Region. 
Postwatch believes that the Post Office's policy of using subpostmaster preferences as a major part of selecting which post offices should close has led to a network that does not meet the needs of customers as well as it could. 
This is certainly the case in Wyre Forest and the blame for subpostmasters' preferences to retire lies with the changes in arrangements for the payments of pensions that made many local post offices financially unviable. It is some consolation to know that were it not for the actions of Postwatch, local communities and their representatives, another 500 post offices would have been proposed for closure.

I recently attended a reception in the House of Commons for members of SPW (Students Partnership Worldwide), an international development charity that trains young people from developed countries to be volunteer Peer Educators in health and environmental issues to work abroad with local partner organisations. Volunteers just returned from African countries were enthusiastic about their work with young people in isolated communities and initial impressions of research into their effect on the HIV/AIDS epidemic are encouraging and inspiring.

R.T.

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