2015 September

On 19 September 2015 I met with representatives from Wolverhampton University Students’ Union to discuss the Government’s decision to cut maintenance grants for students going to University from 2016/7. The Lobby was part of the National Lobby Day coordinated by the National Union of Students.

On Friday 18 September 2015 I hosted the launch of the Epilepsy Passport at the House of Commons as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Epilepsy on behalf of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH). It is an important development in the treatment of Epilepsy for children. The passport is an easy-to-carry paper record of relevant and up-to-date clinical information about a child or young person’s epilepsy. It includes an emergency care plan, medication history and key professional contacts which can be used by medical staff when families access emergency healthcare and to provide information to schools, residential or respite care services.  It was developed by the RCPCH under the leadership of Dr Richard Appleton and Dr Amit Bali, following the recommendations of the Child Health Review into Epilepsy.

I attended the graduation ceremony at the University of Wolverhampton on Saturday 19 September 2015. I watched the conferment of awards for graduates from the Faculty of Education, Health and Wellbeing. Many of my constituents attend the university at the campus in Wolverhampton and at the Walsall Campus.

I met representatives of Walsall Adult and Community College (WACC) immediately after it was announced in July that all funding for English Language tuition for jobseekers had been withdrawn with immediate effect. They told me WACC will lose £380,000 from its budget as a result of the decision. I wrote to the Skills Funding Agency on 30 July 2015 asking for this short-sighted decision to be reviewed but I am yet to receive a response.

On 8 September 2015, I asked the Home Secretary a question following a statement on the Migrantion Crisis.