Michelle Donelan

#bbc #wiltshire #queen #speech

Last week I spoke on BBC Wiltshire radio about my question to the Prime Minister on getting more money into Wiltshire schools for Wiltshire pupils. We also discussed the upcoming General Election.

Appearing on the Westwood with Iford Primary School radio show

Discussing the need to push for more money overall for schools as well as introducing a fairer distribution plan

#Melksham #Sports

#nursing #nhs #bbcwiltshire

Michelle Donelan MP taking part in the EU (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill debate in Parliament.

Speaking in the Homelessness Reduction Bill

#doorway #wiltshire #homeless

The engineering sector and STEM careers fail to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds and women. We must challenge perceptions and stereotypes to address our productivity crisis. In September I am hosting Wiltshire's first Festival of Engineering, to inspire the next generation of designers and engineers from all backgrounds and genders. Yesterday I asked the Secretary of State for Education if she would be interested in attending the event http://festivalofengineering.com/

Yesterday I spoke in an Urgent Question asking about delays in the Government implementing Fair Funding for Wiltshire Schools. Last year I coordinated a petition signed by around 8,000 local residents who shared my concerns that the current way that schools are funded is ludicrous. The system has lasted for decades and led to a situation where Wiltshire pupils receive over £2,000 less than pupils in the best funded areas. I asked the Secretary of State to recognise the optimism that the schools in my Chippenham constituency felt when a fair funding formula was announced and to confirm that she remains committed to the pupils in Wiltshire who have lost out for too long. I am concerned that delays will cause uncertainty for local schools when it comes their funding and will work to ensure that there is clear information sent to schools as soon as possible.

WILTSHIRE Police have closed an investigation into Chippenham MP Michelle Donelan, having found no evidence that she broke General Election spending rules. An investigation was launched following reports by the Daily Mirror and Channel 4 that Conservative MPs failed to declare expenses regarding the party's Battle Bus, which visited constituencies during the General Election last year. Police concluded that the Battle Bus in question did not visit Chippenham during the election campaign, despite receiving a number of complaints from members of the public.

This morning I appeared on the Victoria Derbyshire show with two other members from my intake. I spoke about my excitement for us building on Cameron's legacy under Thersea May by tackling inequalities head on and helping improve life chances. I also addressed the speculation that she might adhere to a 50% gender quota for her cabinet. I must say that I find this suggestion preposterous and demeaning to women - capable and competent women. Theresa May herself is our new PM because of her determination, efforts and skills and I am sure she will promote a range of very skilled people including a large selection of very talented women. Maybe this will reach 50%, maybe more or maybe less. However as the party that has delivered the only two female Prime Ministers I do think we have proved that the answer lies in encouragement and quality, not in quotas.

Last week I once again raised the issue of Corsham station with the Rail Minister. I asked if the Department of Transport has looked into the potential impact on tourism and thus economic benefit to the region of re-opening the station. I will continue to ensure that this remains a priority and I have been working hard as part of the Corsham Town Station Team to get the station opened.

This week in Parliament I raised the issue of electric cars again and how important they are for our economy, environment and local businesses. A higher uptake of electric cars offers one way to help tackle Bradford on Avon's air pollutions problems from the traffic congestion. There are currently issues in terms of the initial high cost and having enough charging points and these do need to be addressed so they are more accessible and practical. The UK manufactures 1/5 of all purely electric cars sold across Europe. The sector offers massive economic opportunities for the UK and locks businesses so it is is vital that we are at the forefront of this technology. I pushed for the Government to invest in R&D in the sector and will continue to push for more.

Contributing to the debate on the policy that means parents can be fined for taking their children on holiday in term time. I want a smarter policy which places the trust in teachers and parents with the Head evaluating the child's age, stage of learning, absences to date and academic needs to assess if the holiday would be beneficial overall. Travel is an excellent source of education and a lot of families can not afford to go away during school holiday time, meaning that the policy often punishes the socially deprived. Teachers need to be trusted to grant a sense or not on a case by case basis after all we are trusting them to educate and safeguard our children everyday.

Yesterday a former member of my staff was verbally abused and attacked whilst out shopping in London, because of the colour of his skin. He was chased down the road by a lady shouting about how we had ‘voted out’ and that people like him ‘shoot others’ and ‘blow up people. I asked the Prime Minister to reiterate the committment he has already given this morning, to do everything in his power to eradicate this evil hatred and reiterate that leaving the EU should not be used to breed racism but infact the opposite and provide us with an opportunity to be much more international rather than just european. #pmqs

Today I spoke about the importance of raising the profile and awareness of carers. Fundamentally there is still a lack of understanding about the role of a carer and the support that is available especially for pensioners. I mentioned the fantastic local charities that we have including Carer Support Wiltshire, The Independent Living Centre and Fun For All. I also stressed my support to include young carers in the criteria for Pupil Premium. It is extremely hard to be a carer at any age but struggling to cope whilst trying to grow up and study must be unimaginably difficult and place a great deal of emotional pressure on young careers. The pupil premium aims to help level the playing field – it is time we made sure young carers are on the pitch too

Yesterday I asked the Chancellor about the importance of working with our business community, to tackle our productivity gap and especially to ensure that we have a skilled workforce in engineering and design & technology to further boost our economy.

#Queen #Speech

#MichelleDonelan #Parliament #DECC #AmberRudd

#bbcwiltshire

Yesterday (07 Apr 16) I spoke to BBC Radio Wiltshire about the results of my recent traffic survey that took place in Bradford on Avon.

#bbc #wiltshire #radio #corsham #station

Pushing the case with the Department of Work and Pensions to help the self employed with an Auto Enrolment Pension scheme. Amongst other things I have been pushing for more support for savers, our pubs, the self employed, women and pensioners in the budget.

We need to tackle the gender pay gap head on. I hope to see more in the budget. I asked The Business Secretary to offer more support to small businesses to train women re-entering the labour market after significant career breaks post children.

On #BBC Sunday Politics West talking about the skills shortage, planning, the Archbishop's comments on immigration and the budget. #bbcsp

Yesterday I intervened in the debate about allowing local councils to decide whether to extend Sunday Trading hours. Currently stores are subject to reduced Sunday Trading Hours if they exceed 280 square metres or 3,000 square feet in size. I would have liked to speak but this was a very popular discussion. I am disappointed that it did not go through and believe that this is a great shame for high-streets in Wiltshire and local democracy. A great shame when our high streets are dying and need help. My key concerns was that those opposing the relaxation to Sunday trading failed to explain why it is fair and right to ensure that we offer Sunday protection for those working in retail but not any other sector. Workers in a number of sectors work shifts on Sundays - the care sector, the NHS, tourism, hospitality, transport and catering to name a few. The point about it impacting on family time was laboured in the debate but the reality is only 1 in 10 people work in retail and a proportion of those are already working the extended hours in the smaller shops. So should we only care about the family lives of this group and ensuring that their Sunday's are special? This seems a strange argument. Also many stressed the need to protect the special extended arrangement for small shops which contradicted their argument of the need to protect the family time of retail workers. You can not have one rule for one lot of people and argue the need for another rule for the rest - it is simply a form of discrimination. I don't believe Sunday is only a special day if you work in retail and a big store at that. It is special for all of us but we must remember Sunday trading already exists. This was done in 1994 so the change proposed would only have given the option for stores to open longer if their council thought it was best for the area. Keeping it in prospective this means those stores that open until 5.30pm in the week would only be open an extra hour and a half with mainly the supermarkets being the ones opening a lot longer. Why is it wrong to open a supermarket late but perfectly acceptable to open several 'Local' and 'Metro' supermarkets in our towns? It offered extra protection to the rights of employees who can opt out of working Sunday's as well as the the chance to help assist Wiltshire's High Streets against the Internet. I am a Christian but I do believe in choice, freedom and trusting people to decide what to do in their own time. I am also a realist and cannot understand the difference of extending a few hours, given we already have Sunday trading hours. Family time is key but stopping this change will not secure family time - we must encourage families to do this. Also what about those people who want to have the chance to earn money on a Sunday when they are able to work? This includes students and stay at home parents who have their partners there to provide childcare. Is it really our job to make it harder to put food on the table for their family? It is a shame and frustrating that the SNP voted against this when they already have these Sunday Trading measures. Their speeches talked about rights and fairness - how is this fair? As a strong champion of our local high streets I am disappointed that yesterday we failed to offer additional support.

Asking the Minister of State for Schools to join with me in recognising the value of the vastly improved scientific based Design and Technology GCSE, launching next year. This will help inspire the next generation to go into technical and engineering careers and in turn help our local and national skills gap and boost productivity.

Yesterday I asked the Treasury to offer more pension support for the self employed who do not benefit from the auto-enrolment scheme. This is crucial given the ageing population and the fact there will be 4.7 million Britons self employed by 2021.

Asking the Prime Minister at PMQ what more can be done to fulfil our moral duty to the desperate Syrian refugees in the camps #pmqs #primeminister

Today I asked the Prime Minister what more can be done to help address the 'Ticking Time Bomb' that is the STEM skills shortage and combat the stigma surrounding STEM subjects and careers

Talking about local concerns over leaving the EU and also staying in on Heart Radio this week [02 Feb 16].