Bruce George MP, Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Skin yesterday announced his support for Julie Morgan MP’s Private Members Bill on Sunbed use. The bill aims to prevent under-18s from using sunbeds and is sponsored by a cross party group of MPs.

Bruce, as chairman of the APPG on Skin, has for a number of years been campaigning for mandatory regulation of the sunbed industry and in 2008 a major report of the APPG Skin called for the government to ban under-18s using sunbeds. Bruce is therefore very happy to see a Private Members Bill introduced aiming to achieve this goal.

Speaking today Bruce said:

“I am pleased to announce my support for Julie Morgan’s bill. As Chairman of the All Party Group on Skin I have been campaigning on issues surrounding skin for quite a few years and in the last few years I have become quite concerned about the unregulated nature of sunbeds. In 2008 a report of our All Party Group called for government regulation of the industry to include a legally binding minimum age for sunbeds and I am pleased that Julie Morgan’s bill will seek to make this change.

Sunbeds can be extremely dangerous to children’s health and yet many under 18s seem to be using them on a regular basis. We must act to prevent young people having access to sunbeds. And I will be giving my full support to this Bill.”

Research commissioned by Cancer Research UK in 2008/09 found that more than a quarter of a million children have used sunbeds in the UK. Indeed the research found that in some areas (including Liverpool and Sunderland) sunbed usage was as high as 50 per cent among 15-17 year old girls. We have clear evidence that sunbed use increases the risk of developing skin cancer. In addition, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has re-classified sunbeds into its highest cancer risk category, putting it alongside tobacco.

First of all let me offer my best wishes to you all for the New Year, I hope 2010 is a prosperous year for Walsall and its people. Despite many people being away over the Christmas break I continued to work during the recess and had quite a busy time. Over the break I paid visits to the different emergency services to thank the men and women for their service over the last year and their continuing commitment to the people of Walsall. On Christmas Eve I visited Walsall Police station and on Christmas Day I visited Walsall Hospital and the local Fire station. At all three I was immensely impressed by the hardworking staff who continued to work while we all enjoyed the break.

I was particularly pleased to visit the police as it gave me the opportunity to talk with them about the new policing structures recently put in place in Walsall. I have long believed that the two police operating units in the town should be merged as it would be more effective and beneficial for the people of Walsall. So I was delighted to hear that the new Chief Constable of West Midlands Police was planning to realign local policing to reflect council areas. In effect this means that instead of the two Operational Command Units that used to cover Walsall we now have one combined Local Policing Unit. The aim of this move is to improve local policing and the service that the West Midlands Police provides to our communities. I’m very pleased to hear that there will be a renewed focus in the region on neighbourhood policing.

This week in Parliament perhaps the most important bill that we are considering is the Children, Schools and Families Bill which had its second reading in Parliament on Monday. The bill includes plans for guaranteed catch-up support and one-to-one tuition for children falling behind in the 3Rs and stronger discipline through tough home-school agreements.

These new guarantees which are aimed at both parents and pupils include catch-up support in the 3Rs for pupils falling behind in English and maths, including one-to-one tuition; online information for parents on their child’s behaviour, progress and attainment; the right to learn triple sciences at GCSE; and the opportunity for every primary pupil to learn a musical instrument.

In Walsall we have already seen the impact of the guarantee regarding one-to-one tuition for those falling behind in literacy and numeracy with the government providing an extra £1,506,070 of funding this year for schools across the Borough. Education has improved significantly in Walsall over recent years, especially since education provision was taken away from the Council and placed with the company Serco. But we cannot be complacent, we need to continue our efforts to ensure our children and future generations receive a world-class education and that is why I was pleased to support and vote for the current bill making its way through Parliament.

Bruce George, MP for Walsall, has hailed a further rise in GCSE results for local schools in Walsall following the publication of secondary school results today.

However, schools across Walsall have seen big improvements in results, according to today’s figures. Over the last year (2009 compared to 2008) there has been:

A 5.6% percentage points rise (from 59.4% to 65%) in the number of pupils getting five or more GCSEs at A*-C grade. This is a big increase of 30.4 percentage points from just 34.6 % in 1998.

A 3.4% percentage points rise (from 40.6% to 44%) in the number of pupils getting five or more GCSEs at A*-C grade, including in the vital subjects of English and maths. This is a big increase of 18.2 percentage points from just 25.8% in 1998.

Bruce George MP said:

“This year’s GCSE results show a great increase over the last year and a real transformation in school standards across Walsall since 1997. Improvements to the local system in Walsall have been particularly noteworthy since education was taken out of the Council’s hands and given to Serco. I have been visiting the local schools in Walsall for over 30 years and I can see the positive changes that are taking place. I would like to congratulate the local teachers and pupils on the success they’ve had this year.

Thanks to extra investment and the hard work of teachers and pupils, there has been a revolution in our local schools. There are 230 more teachers and 670 more teaching assistants across Walsall. Exam results are up, school buildings and facilities are being transformed, and more young people are staying on in education or doing an apprenticeship at 16.”

Bruce George MP today welcomed the government’s announcement of a new ambitious strategy aimed at tackling violence against women and girls. The new ‘Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy’ marks a greater focus by the government to prevent such violence from happening. As part of the strategy schools will include in personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education lessons on preventing violence in relationships. This will be accompanied by a high profile marketing campaign.

Speaking today Bruce said:

“I am glad to see that the government is taking a more joined up approach to this vitally important issue. It is extremely important that all the relevant bodies, whether local councils, the NHS, the police and government departments work together to see that violence is prevented as much as possible, and that where it does occur there are sufficient specialist services in place to help and support the victims.

As part of this new strategy the government will be encouraging local authorities to appoint a Violence Against Women and Girls champion at Director level, and I would encourage Walsall Council to follow government advice and appoint someone as soon as possible to better ensure Walsall can provide excellent services in this area.”

Bruce added:

“The Council’s record on domestic violence isn’t very good. For the last few years the resources allocated to Walsall Domestic Forum have been significantly reduced, forcing cuts in services. I suppose the Council are currently considering next year’s budget for the Forum and will be thinking about cutting it again – it was halved last year! If you look at the statistics it is pretty obvious that during the current economic crisis the number of cases of violence within the family has been on the increase and the Christmas and New Year holiday will also see an increase in cases if previous years are any indicator. So now is not the time to be considering cutting funding. I just hope the Council will protect the very many vulnerable members of our town by enabling this excellent service to survive.”

Bruce George MP is calling on members of Walsall Council’s Development Control Committee to throw out the proposal to get rid of most of George Rose Park in Herberts Park Road, Darlaston to make way for the proposed new build for the Grace Academy, Darlaston.

Bruce George said:

“This is the only major public open space in this locality and to take it away from the local community is an absolute disgrace. Young people in the immediate vicinity of George Rose Park complain about the lack of facilities in the area for them to use. Getting rid of most of this open space is a recipe for more anti-social behaviour and general nuisance to local residents ny young people roaming the streets.

I hote also that the Environment Agency has concerns about the lack of a Flood Risk Assessment. These concerns should not ne ignored.

I urge the elected members of Walsall Council’s Development Control Committee to reject the recommendation to grant permission to the change of use. This public open space is a facility that belongs, in my view, to the local community and Walsall Council has no right to dispose of it in this way. I am sure there are other sites that could be considered. Indeed Walsall Council should be encouraging more use of our open spaces and not getting rid of them.”

Bruce George, former Chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee, today welcomed the government’s decision to reinstate the funding for training in the Territorial Army. Bruce, who is currently co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Reserve Forces, had earlier this week tabled an Early Day Motion calling on the government to reconsider its initial decision to cut the funding by £20 million and suspend training for six months.

Furthermore on Monday, when the Armed Forces Minister raised the issue in the House, Bruce was one of a number of Labour backbenchers to urge the Government to rethink. In the debate he said:

“I am not known to be hostile to the Government on defence, but I am very concerned about the Territorial Army, knowing its importance. Three Honourable Members signed an Early Day motion that is very modest in its aspirations, not over-the-top.

What I would ask, despite having heard the explanation, is whether, even at this stage, such a small amount of money, which must be minuscule compared with the overall defence budget, can be looked at seriously again. Does this not send the wrong message? Are we not talking about the most effective element of our entire defence budget? Surely some other area could be plundered if necessary in the short term, instead of sending that erroneous, potentially damaging message.”

Bruce was therefore delighted to see the government had a change of heart today and announced that it had decided to maintain the TA training regime at its current levels through this financial year and that the funding for this would be ring fenced.

Bruce George, who has long campaigned on behalf of indigenous people throughout the world, is supporting a campaign by Survival International calling on the Government to ratify the ILO Convention 169. The Convention recognises their rights to remain in possession of their lands, and to be consulted about projects which would affect them.

By today signing EDM 1299 Bruce has joined with Survive in accepting that to ensure the survival of tribal and indigenous people their land rights must be recognised and protected.

Today’s act is just the latest example of Bruce’s past campaigning on behalf of indigenous and tribal peoples. Indeed Bruce has the distinction of having a debate in the Canadian House of Commons in the early 1980s to have him thrown out of Canada for his campaigning on behalf of the native people of Canada, the Inuit’s (formerly referred to as Eskimo’s).

Speaking about the debate Bruce said today:

“Fortunately I was already back in London by the time of the debate, but I told the journalist who informed me of the short debate that I would happily return to Canada so they could throw me out!”

Bruce is seen here with Pleck Labour Councillors Dennis Anson and Harbans Sarohi at the opening of the Walsall Manor Hospital Police Base which is situated at 28 Wilbraham Road on the hospital grounds. Regular police surgeries will be held at this venue which will enable local residents to raise any concerns or issues that they have.

Bruce said “I am delighted with the opening of this police base which will be immensely reassuring not only for local residents but for staff and users’ at the hospital. This base is very much in line with the Government’s neighbourhood policing policy.”

The national media are having a field day, as they do every year, in encouraging people to believe that the twelve week parliamentary recess is little more than an incredibly extended holiday. I’ll tell you how I’m using this period. I’m not really into holidays, and when I do go it’s normally somewhere I can further my research. My wife is incredibly tolerant! By the time you read this I’ll be preparing for the “holiday” of a lifetime leading a Parliamentary delegation to Rwanda in central Africa. Fifteen years ago Rwanda witnessed the wholesale butchery of an estimated one million people in what was one of the largest genocides of the twentieth century. The country is recovering and Britain is assisting in that recovery by being the single largest donor. I’m leading another similar delegation in September to Senegal in West Africa. In between these two visits I will continue to do what I normally do during the recess, spending Monday to Thursday in my London office working with my staff on my parliamentary duties. Then, accompanied by my wife Lisa, I come back to Walsall to continue my constituency work, going to meetings and helping constituents.

The death occurred earlier in the week of the incredibly famous journalist Walter Cronkite, aged 92. He was regularly voted the most trustworthy man in the USA. What is much less known is that in 1983 he came to Darlaston as part of a programme he was presenting on our Parliamentary election. I was originally going to be interviewed by him, but then my bit was cut out. However I was asked if I wanted to meet the great man, I jumped at the opportunity needing no encouragement from my American research assistant and his wife who were even more excited than I was. He and his camera crew arrived late and I was in conversation with some constituents who were deeply impressed by this man coming to Rugh Hay Working Mens Club (now demolished). However despite this pride, they asked me to make sure “he doesn’t interfere with the f***ing bingo!” Cronkite laughed uncontrollably when I told him and he didn’t interfere!

I was deeply saddened to hear of the death in Afghanistan of Corporal Jonathan Horne a former constituent. I have the deepest admiration for our armed forces, present and past. I say at the outset that I support what is being done in Afghanistan and it is in out national interests that religious and violent extremism is defeated. It is in our interests, the Afghan people’s interests and the neighbouring country of Pakistan. As former Chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee I visited virtually every British contingent that was fighting in many parts of the world. I can assure you it was, and remains, deeply distressing at the loss of any soldier, and my heart goes out to the family and friends of a fallen member of our armed forces. It is much much worse when that soldier is local. I’m sure the town will honour Corporal Horne at his funeral at a date yet to be determined. My deepest sympathy is extended to his wife and their children, and to his parents during this difficult time.

I have been visiting schools in Walsall South on a regular basis ever since I became a Member of Parliament. In the last four months I have been to fifteen schools, though for obvious reasons I won’t be visiting any over the next few weeks. I must say how impressed I have been by what I have seen and heard. A lot more money has been pumped in to the education system by central government and it is clearly working. Last Friday I visited a small maintained nursery school in Alumwell. I have rarely visited such a happy atmosphere and I must compliment the staff, governors, parents and Education Walsall. Getting children into this kind of environment when they are so very young is not an option in my view, it is absolutely essential. Reforms, however, are being contemplated but I am working hard to ensure it is to improve the early learning experience of those kids, particularly from disadvantaged areas.

This leads to a proposal by the Cabinet of Walsall Council to support a “Young Peoples Centre” on a former bakery site at the junction of Paddock Lane and Holtshill Lane in Chuckery. I very much support the improvement of youth facilities in the area, but in my view there has to be a more significant search for an appropriate site which will be a difficult task. I want to see all the options and all of the arguments. However, on a related issue this building is a danger to anyone walking or living near it. I saw mothers with prams actually crossing a potentially dangerous road rather than walk near a wall that is in my view about to fall down. I visited residents next door on the other side where parts of the wall have already fallen down and damaged their car. I urge the Council and/or the owner of the building to ensure that urgent remedial work is undertaken and not to use the excuse that the building will be knocked down. The building poses a danger now and cannot be left unaddressed.

Bruce George MP today welcomed the publication of a report by the Joint Committee on the Draft Bribery Bill, a committee which he was a member of. In its report published today, Tuesday 28 July 2009, Bruce and the other Committee members strongly welcomed the draft Bill as an important step forward in tackling corruption and fulfilling the United Kingdom’s international obligations in this area. This follows years of criticism being levelled against the current law of bribery by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, among others. The proposals replace the draft Corruption Bill that was published by the Government in 2003 but which failed to win support.

Speaking about the Bill, Bruce said:

“Bribery is a serious problem around the world, with the World Bank estimating that around a trillion dollars’ worth of bribes are paid each year. There is no room for bribery, which distorts free competition, undermines society and the rule of law, and worsens the living conditions of the poorest in society.

“The draft Bill that we have considered will not solve all the challenges we face in terms of corruption, either in the UK or internationally, but as a Committee we are convinced that the Draft Bill will, with some amendments that we have recommended in our report, be an important step forward that will help the Government and the business community to build upon international efforts to confront the problem of bribery.”

The Committee particularly welcomes the new offence that targets companies and partnerships that fail to prevent bribes being paid on their behalf, saying that “the current law has proven wholly ineffective and in need of reform.” However, the Committee remains concerned about the draft Bill’s focus on whether a “responsible person” was negligent, rather than on the collective failure of the company to ensure that adequate anti-bribery procedures were in place, fearing that this would introduce a narrow and complex solution to a pressing problem. The Committee recommends stiffening the offence by making a company or partnership “strictly liable” for any bribe paid by a person performing services on its behalf, except where the organisation proves that adequate anti-bribery procedures were in place. The Committee says this would not be unfair on the organisation, given that it is well placed to demonstrate the adequacy of its anti-bribery procedures. This would also bring the criminal law into line with other leading jurisdictions where, to date, a tougher approach has been taken on corporate criminal liability.

Subject to a number of amendments being made, the Committee endorses the main criminal offences that are proposed by the draft Bill, including a discrete offence for the bribery of foreign public officials. The Committee also endorses the substantial penalties that are available under the Bill, including the power to impose unlimited fines on companies and a maximum ten year sentence of imprisonment for individuals, saying the Bill “must have teeth to be effective”. It calls on the Government, however, to address the injustice that is risked by debarring companies from entering public contracts on an automatic and perpetual basis, which it says undermines the effectiveness of the draft Bill.

On parliamentary privilege, the Committee says that this complex issue should not be addressed “piecemeal” through different Bills, such as the Draft Bribery Bill and the Parliamentary Standards Bill (now the Parliamentary Standards Act 2009). The Committee recommends that clause 15 of the Draft Bribery Bill, which deals with this issue, should be deleted, as the analogous provisions were from Parliamentary Standards Bill. This issue should only be addressed in future as part of a comprehensive Bill specifically on Parliamentary Privilege.

The Committee also considers that clauses 13 and 14, which would “extend the security services’ powers to contravene the criminal law” should be deleted, saying the Bill is not the appropriate place for such a measure. The Committee heard “no persuasive evidence that the domestic intelligence agencies needed an authorisation to bribe”, and also questions whether such proposals would anyway be compliant with the UK’s international obligations.

The Joint Committee, including members of both Houses of Parliament, was set up specifically to scrutinise the Draft Bill. The Committee’s report – published after five weeks of oral evidence – includes recommendations on how the Government should amend the Bill before it is introduced into Parliament.