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.